Month: April 2012

Luckily (I suppose) March wasn't a very busy month.  The first weekend I got a haircut then we had dinner with good friends Bill and Ramona, Kristie and Peter, Christina and Andy, Ellen and Ken.  I had book club on another weekend evening.  Then there was the weekend with a bridal shower, hike with Jenny, potluck at George and Roseann's, and a walk around Greenlake with Terri and David.  Then Nordic Patrol, about which I just wrote.

The last day of March and first day of April we skied up at Sun Peaks with friends who own a house up there.  The skiing was really fun, the people we hung with were really fun, and it was fun.  The drive to and from Sun Peaks, not so much but the roads were clear and the Coquihalla Hwy only left two rock chips in my windshield, which is remarkable I only ended up with so few.  I took my camera up there but failed to take any pictures.  Oh well, we'll have to go again next season!

This weekend I'm catching up on rest, housework and we'll ski uphill tomorrow for some exercise to prepare for an overnight ski trip we have planned early in May.  The mountains are still getting snow but it's warming up.  Spring in the northwest fashion has arrived.  Yesterday I rode my bike to work wearing winter ear covers, gloves, and neoprene socks over woolies but I did not have to wear rain gear.  That's how I know spring has arrived.

Pam and I met 5 years ago on a volunteer ski patrol trip at Mt. Rainier.  We have been good friends since and make a point to volunteer for ski patrol every year so we can have our annual slumber party.  She is also my role model for retirement.  Pam hikes several days a week, travels to exotic locales at least once a year to backpack, trek, and do other fun things.  She backpacks all spring and summer then nordic skis in the winter.  What is not to idolize?

After our first year on Nordic Patrol, Pam has brought some of her Seattle friends into the fold and we try to fill the house that the park provides for us.  Usually there's room for one or two more people but we're a tight group so it's not often other people want to join in.  It's better that way.

Pam and I agreed to co-host this year.  Pam's job was to coordinate with the other volunteers and the very important dishes for the potluck.  I was assigned salad and bread but a latecomer actually brought salad fixin's.  My job was to coordinate with the park ranger, get the truck, then make a loose plan for patrol that would either be accepted or rejected by the other patrolers.  Generally, the loose plans were accepted and we had a great patrol on Saturday.

We all brought snowshoes because the snow wasn't fresh and no one in our group were experienced backcountry skiers except for me.  That's fine; I don't mind getting close and personal with my snowshoes at least once per year.

Our primary job is to patrol the marked routes, reset any poles that have fallen over or are frozen in the holes, talk to all the visitors to make sure they have maps, permits for overnight camping, report pesky fox sitings, and generally make sure all is well in the park.  Mission accomplished for Saturday.

Saturday night potluck is the best part.  Marcia brought yummy split pea soup, I brought bread from the Bread Farm, Pam had provided appetizers which nearly spoiled my appetite for dinner but, sigh, I managed to eat all my dinner and Beth's yummy flourless cake for dessert too.  That and a lot of red wine.  Eivand was a champ and lead the charge on dishwashing.

Unfortunately all that great food left me with a rather vigorous bout of heartburn, which I never get.  I'm sure the red pepper goat cheese I had at lunch had a lot to do with it.  Topped by red wine and chocolate.  Couldn't resist and suffered.  Still, I slept to my surprise.

On Sunday we were prepare to either patrol more if the ranger came by to give us an assignment or clean up the house and leave the park for the groomed Tahoma Ski Trails.  Ranger Dan came by and asked us to make more visitor contacts.  Pam and I opted for the route up to Glacier Vista while the rest were aiming for Mazama Ridge.

The weather was dry but cloudy so we had pretty good visibility both days, which is surprising for that area. The snow was only good on Saturday at a particular elevation band — not high where it was wind-smacked, not low where it was warm but nice in the middle range under the shade of trees.

It was a great weekend and I look forward to next season!  Here are the pictures.

Yes, I realize that President's Day Weekend was more than a month ago.  I am now just getting around to describing that wonderful trip.

Last year our friends Paul and Laurie invited us to join their entourage that stays at the Mazama Country Inn for the weekend and hires North Cascade Mountain Guides to lead them on a day trip for some fun eastside backcountry skiing.  Yes, we happily accepted!

The drive over to Mazama in the winter is a long journey since North Cascades Pass closes for the winter.  The journey is necessarily 2 hours longer because the winter route goes over Stevens Pass, then north up Hwy 97 then back west on Hwy 20 to Mazama.  The drive is pretty but I wouldn't want to do it in the dark during a snow storm.  We took Friday off and left during the day.

Mazama Country Inn is unique because it's like a large-scale bed and breakfast.  Breakfast and dinner are served family style and you can either sit with the group you came with or choose to sit with a menagerie of strangers and get to know other cool people who enjoy staying there.

The Inn has a capacity of about 60, I think.  Mixing and matching during meals and between activities is fun.  The weekend we were stayed, groups who like to cross country ski (Mazama is well known for its network of groomed cross country ski trails) and a yoga workshop was also going on.  Some people were doing both.  Our group of 8 was the only group who were backcountry skiing although one fellow who had recently retired from a metropolitan fire department was heliskiing one day.  Heliskiing is where a helicopter flies skiers up to the top of a ridge, the skiers ski down, the helicopter flies the skiers back up.  Repeat until you can't move, the helicopter has to go in because of flight time limits, darkness, weather, etc.  It's very expensive but untracked ski runs are guaranteed.

Our guided trip was on Sunday so we had Saturday to goof around.  About half of our group of eight opted to cross country ski. Randy, Laurie, Leigh, and I decided to attempt a backcountry ski up nearby Sandy Butte.  The elevation was low so the snow had a crunchy crust on it.  Going up was fine but coming back down was, er, exciting.  We had a great time and felt warmed up for tomorrow's ski tour with the guide.

We arranged to have breakfast ready a little early for our group so we could meet the guides at 0800.  The Inn staff also put out lunch stuff so everyone can pack their own lunches for the day.  The staff is very accomodating for "special" people, like me who have food sensitivities.  They prepared wheat-, dairy-, almond-, and corn- free dishes for me and provided gluten-free bread and cookies for lunches.  It was really great.  I think I gained 40 pounds that weekend.

The guides were ready for all 8 of us and took us through a short avalanche rescue scenario before we got into cars to drive to the end of the plowed road.  At that point we took snowmobiles 8 miles up the closed highway to the bottom of Delancey Ridge.  Larry, our main guide, set a nice upward track to a place where we could enjoy a long ski down without going all the way to the bottom.  Then we skinned back up even higher before skiing all the way down.  It was a great day with a fun group.  Randy and I made our reservations for next year at the Inn already.

Here are the pictures!  And here are more pictures that I forgot to post!