Not thinking about the fact that it was a holiday weekend I went skiing yesterday at 49N. I got there 15 minutes before the lifts opened and the parking lot was already filling in fast at Sunrise basin. I did manage to catch the 3rd chair and was one of the first on the mountain making runs and testing the snow conditions. It was nice and sunny for a good portion of the day until graupel showers came through and dropped an inch of it on us while on the chair ride up.
I made 4 runs then headed to my car since Art and Q had showed up. We also waited for Daniel to catch up with us then we all went up on the mountain. The snow was crazy fast on all the groomed runs and the trees were all pretty shitty. The sun has not been hitting the snow under the trees so it is just a sheet of ice everywhere in the wings. I tended to stay on the groomers for a large portion of the day but did get a few solid runs through the trees. I hit my drop a couple of times but had to bolt out to the open areas as soon as I hit it.
Pretty stoked I got 32 miles of distance for the day and a top speed of 52.9 mph. considering the mountain was crawling with people. After my 5th or 6th run we got to the bottom of Sunrise and chair 5 and ended up finding the absolute longest line I have ever seen at the mountain, at least 60 people deep. We ended up waiting in line over 5 minutes before we got a chair. After that I went to the other side of the mountain for a while where there were WAY less people and the lift lines were negligible.
Once the temps warmed up the snow got a lot better off the groomers. I am one of the few people on the mountain who hauls ass everywhere. I get off the top of the lift, go into a tuck, and fly straight down the ridge without checking my speed at all. Then going into the groomed runs I try to maintain my speed and carve as little as possible. I have yet to time myself but I think I can figure it out from my Garmin data. Something I would love to try sometime is Super G racing and I would be in the masters division now. I think that sort of racing really only happens on the West side of the state in the Cascades and not locally.
So now I have only one more ski day before my pass is paid for. The weather has been so mild lately that I am starting to be done with skiing already and am focusing my attention on CLIMBING!!! My home wall and my bouldering area 3 miles north are where I will be spending most of my days coming.
