Powder Skiing 49° North, Chewelah Washington

My standard early morning again yesterday saw me able to catch the PDC matches that start at 5am. Round 3 is shaping up into some good matches and a few surprises but also a few givens.

Over night we had gotten dumped on with rain which was just finishing when I woke. .44" in the gauge was a bit surprising but it thankfully snuck us up just past the NOAA average for the month and well past our driest December in the past 5 years. When I went to let the birds out and get the mail I heard the creek pounding pretty hard and found it pretty full. The rains must have washed some of the snow down off Mt. Spokane's lower reaches.

I moved the printer back to it's table and set it to auto level. ~~I thought of something that I am needing to print in ABS last night but now have completely forgotten, I'll ask Hive account@stryeyz when she gets up if she remembers.~~ Ski waxing vises! That's what I need to print in ABS and way more infill! The first ones I did in PLA at 15% fill not knowing better.

While they worked on food before we left I got the skis and accoutrements all loaded into the car. It is way different now than when I was going solo. SO MUCH STUFF to take. And it doesn't matter if it is a full or partial day, still need the same amount of stuff with.

We were on the road north by 11:30 and thankfully we have the east way to go up. The "normal" route for everyone to go to 49N is to go through Chewelah and then up the mountain. To go that way is INFURIATING given how slow people drive, the lack of passing, then the crawl through Chewelah, then the mass of cars heading south... I go up the 2 and then go up the east side which has ZERO traffic! It is SO MUCH NICER.

The mountain was packed with people and we had to park in the 2nd lot. We had half day passes good for 12:30 - 3:30 and it was right at 12:30 as we locked the car and all headed for the lodge.

This was the boys' first time at a ski hill and Hive account@stryeyz only 2nd time. They had tickets for just the conveyor and lift 3 which is the bunny hill. I had a full mtn pass but hung with them for a while at the conveyor. R was by far the better of the 3 of them but J was managing pretty well. After a while I gave in and jumped on lift 2 to go try out my new bindings. I made a run down the hill and found the free heel of the tele bindings to be very little issue. I can carve almost as hard as with my old bindings.

They decided to go get on chair 3 and I was able to get to the lift right as they loaded up for their first times. I headed over to the new high speed quad and headed up to the top of the mountain where it was STUPID foggy. It was insanely thick and made the light so flat there was no definition to the snow. I made my way downhill and popped over to the top of chair 3 where I ended up finding Hive account@stryeyz and then the boys. She was having a hard time of it but managed a good mood through it.

R just pointed his tips downhill and went. J was trying to make turns but kept catching edges.

I went back up the quad and after dropping down into trees I managed to find myself untracked powder to go floating through. The trees are really the best place to ski on the mountain as there is almost always freshness to find. On one of the mountain's busiest days I found myself alone in the powder. Find that at other resorts!!!

I hit the base of the mountain and saw the three of them looking done around 2:30 or so. I headed up the mountain for one more run down which I dropped off into the trees again but pushed a bit too far west and had to take the low road back to the lodge. A ride up the conveyor and I was done myself. I found them in the lodge getting some food but I was toasted myself so called it good and we headed for the car.

I started my watch on the ride up chair 2 but it didn't actually start until I was getting off at the top.

The drive home was rather mellow thanks to a number of cars pulling over to let me pass on the way down the hill. I can't fully express just how much nicer the drive is to the east then down through Chewelah.

We got home before dark and once unloading everything settled in for the evening. I put on Disenchantment episodes for the evening since we had apparently missed the insane comeback of the Kraken over the Canucks in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd period then to win in OT.

Soaking was nice but the water was a bit hot so I was only in half an hour.

Today it will be raining.... AGAIN. PDC is on still, I'll get the printer going on more, if I can get a window in the rain I will be testing my 10/22 prints now that I have a sound meter for my phone to see the actual difference, the r/c remote gets here so can start working on the battlebots, have to water the plants, and possibly pre-order more garlic for next year.