Posts Tagged seattle
Not many people know how extroadinary the Washington Cascades are. Heck, before I moved here I had no idea just how diverse and immense the Cascades were. Thankfully, I have a much better idea now… This was one of those perfect days of backcountry skiing, when everything aligns just right: deep snow, cold cloudless skies [...]
It’s been a tough year for backcountry skiing just about anywhere in the west. According to avalanche.org, there have already been 22 avalanche fatalities in the US and Canada. Not all of these were backcountry skiers, a couple were rock/ice climbers and almost half were snowmobilers. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our season was slow [...]
This is not the weekend to go backcountry skiing, at least here in the Northwest. Interestingly, the reason for what could be a truly hazadarous weekend for any sort of ski touring, has less to do with the Pacific Northwest and more to do with the Rockies. “This is the weakest snowpack I have seen [...]
I never thought I would be skate skiing to breakfast…in Seattle! Ok, so it’s not exactly an epic backcountry ski tour. But when you consider having to be aware of what’s coming around that next blind corner, it’s almost like exploring a new mountain. And more snow is on the way!
It’s that bad. Dec 7th, 2008, and still no snow in the Washington Cascades. So what’s a backcountry skier to do? How about go for a trail run up Mt Si? Sounds like fun right? We’re getting desperate, but at least the 4,000 ft climb up Mount Si was under clear blue skies and afforded [...]
Time is running out on holiday shopping. Which is kind of scary, because with Christmas only a couple weeks away, there still is barely any snow in them hills! I woke up this morning, as I do every day, looked out the window and the Olympic Mountains are bare bare bare. It will come they [...]
There a lot of folks here in the PNW who actually ski year-round. I’m not one of them. But I do love backcountry skiing and there really is nothing like that first ski tour of the year. Despite a pretty abysmal start to the winter, we were lucky to hit Mt Rainier on a very [...]
It wasn’t so long ago that I was actually looking forward to the onset of spring. An epic winter in Whitefish, Montana, left me secretly yearning for sunny days and warm temps. Let me rephrase that, I just wanted the temps to rise above freezing so I could start training for what would be an [...]
Next Saturday, Nov 8, is the Northwest Snow & Avalanche Snow Summit here in Seattle. The full-day event is filled with talks and stories about avalanche awareness, ski touring in the Cascades, and such topics as “Decision Making in High-Risk Environments”. Martin Volken from Pro Guiding Service is just one of the speakers, so the [...]
