Stevens Pass 3/1/12

If you’re wondering what mountain has been getting hammered this season, I can tell you Stevens Pass has been getting the goods. The snowbanks are high, the coverage is amazing and today was another powder day. Despite the backside not being open (due to avy danger), the front of the mountain and especially the trees offered up some really fun riding for the day.

I was pretty stoked to get out on the mountain with my new Burton AK Cyclic jacket. I’ve needed something Gore Tex for shredding Washington and finally got this jacket to handle the conditions here. Plus the best choice of today was wearing a helmet on the mountain.

I got picked up by my buddy Erik and his friend KT. Once at Stevens, my buddy Dennis joined us for some shred laps and shared the good spots. The word from Stevens was 7 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours. We hit up Seventh Heaven to see how the snow would be at 11am and found some decent powder spots.

Then it was off to Tye lift to see what was open there. We knew the backside wasn’t open but hoped we could hike to drop into Cowboy but it was fenced off so we ended up heading to Snaggletooth rock as Dennis likes to call it. Both of the boys ended up dropping it.

We eventually made our way into the trees, finding what was left for powder and taking advantage of some really fun banked turns in the process.

For the afternoon, we found the right spot. It was ours for a while and offered up the deepest snow I’ve ridden all year. It was deep, fun with the trees and a blast to keep riding.

Of course with tree riding there are risks involved. You could hit the trees or find yourself in a tree well. I ended up getting air in a spot I wasn’t expecting and landed right into the trees, headfirst into the trees today. I was so happy I had my helmet on since I had a tree right at my head. I also incredibly lucky that KT was right behind me and could help dig me out. I had landed headfirst into the tree with my board and legs higher up in the snow. Above me was the tree branches and I knew that if I pulled on them or moved the tree, the snow would come down. With KT’s help, I was able to get the board off and move around to get myself out of the deep snow and away from the trees. Luckily I had not collapsed any tree wells that were there.

After a lunch break to refuel, we headed back out onto the slopes and hit up the powder again. This time we were joined by Dane and Will to shred with us. We headed back into the trees, doing a more spread out section and having fun with it.

So on the last cat track lap, Erik decided to hit the house wall ride. It was a great idea but he didn’t take into account the huge divot hole that was right in the trail to get there. At full speed, we watched him completely eat it before getting to the house. Definitely laughworthy.

Definitely a great day on the slopes despite the close encounter with the tree. But this is why I wear a helmet. Tomorrow I’ll be heading up to Bellingham to take my Avy 1 course over the next three days. It’s much needed with the season and happy to be able to do it before heading to BC and AK.