"Thigh Highs" - Kootenay Pass Style

POWDER DAY!  What an amazing day 2/27/2011 was.....the lightest deepest conditions of the season hands down!  After a huge dump throughout the night we arrived arrived at Kootenay pass ready for an epic day.  Plans were to run a lap on the frontside of Baldy Pk before returning to its summit for a descent down towards Crags Pk. basin.  Our third run of the day was from near the summit of Crags Pk.  The pics will tell the rest. 

GPS tracks in blue, approx runs in yellow (Crags Pk left, Baldy Pk right)

A little giddy

Choker- Andrew

Blower - Chuck

Boulder Basin - The "Beretta" Bowl

Upon the conclusion of last weeks D U M P!  The crew and I decided to head up to Willow Creek for what would undoubtedly be the best conditions of season at our favorite local spot.  NOAA called for something like 15-20 inches for the storm total....they were off...just a little...there ended up being  3-4 feet at 6000'!

We started the day off with a warmup run in the Lucky Friday Bowl (named after an active mine which is seen down in the town of Mullan from the bowls top)  It was tempting to stay here all day as the conditions were DEEP.  The group was excited to check out a new area, although we knew the Lone Lake basin and Stevens peak were going to be off limits as stability was likely to be...well unstable.  We climbed over West Willow peak and continued along the ridge towards Stevens.  Wind was 20-25 out of the East, there was a solid wind slab being formed on all east facing aspects.  We stopped short of Stevens summit and ended up skiing west into Beretta Bowl and down to Boulder Basin.  What a great shot this is, takes some effort to get to when starting at Willow creek but well worth it.  After Beretta bowl we climbed up to a peak a bit further west and enjoyed another line back to boulder basin.  Skiing 3 feet of new, exploring boulder basin, being with some good peeps, cant think of  a better way to spend 9 hours on a Saturday.   

The "crew"

Stevens Peak up in the clouds

Bower entering Beretta Bowl

From Sea to Shining......Rain Crust !

Oddly enough this past Saturday was our first time skiing in the state of Washington other than a few November laps up at Mt. Spokane.  Friday night we drove through a warm and soggy Snoqualmie Pass, on our way to visit a friend in Blaine, WA or is it Blaine, Canada...?  Our visit rocked...it literally rocked as we spent the night on a sailboat (MARARA) in Dayton harbor about a rocks throw away from the US/Canadian border.