Washington
INHALE EXHALE at ALPENTAL, WA – 04/06/08
Dates:
April 6th-7th, 2008
Location:
Alpental, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, USA
Weather:
The temps ranged from 21-40 F. Visibility included some mega flat-light coupled with some fog, occasional wet to winter snow, and some glaciated Bluetooth in various parts of the mountain.
Washington Warriors:
666, ZBO, SQ99, girlski0912, Mofro261, Greydon Clark, Schmear, and appearances by Buster Highmen
People who used cameras:
666, Zbo, and Mofro
WELCOME TO ALPENTAL: A short video from your host Zbo
DnB Music: Lynx – ‘Inhale Exhale’
Synopsis: Flat light FUN!!!!!!
I haven’t skied in a while. I have a wife who enjoys getting surgery on her ankle. Luckily for her, I am the world’s greatest nurse. I even let her take me to Seattle. This way I could ski with the PNW crew and tell her all about it afterwards at the hotel. Yep, I’m super nice.
Bumped to First Class…THANK YEWWWWWWW!
Snowbanks were still present on Friday…
Greydon didn’t feel too well. He thought he was just hungover, but as it turned out, he had bronchitis.
On our first run, Zbo fell down a glacier field….so bad that he ripped his Dynafit off his ski…
Zbo decided to ski down on one ski, so I strapped one to my pack. I felt so honored…
What an ATHLETE!!!!
That’s right, HE’S SKIING ON ONE SKI!
After remounting the bindings, we were back on track…666 gets a little close for comfort…
Zbo skis by the only tree at Alpental…
666 gets his first classic Alpental run of the day…
Alpental is fun…
Actually its pretty rad…
…Even in flat light
A quick break to play some Golden Axe on the Wonderswan….
Zbo’s turn…to slay
I think we found a patch of powder…
But when Zbo’s binding came off again… he had this to say:
This guy is so core!
Time to head back to catch the Nirvana concert…
Our hipster hotel…
SQ99 is getting older by the minute…
Space needle in a haystack…
After a long and painful search, we found one of these…
Good thing too, or Sq99 would have turned into his alter ego…
Tunnels are scary….
Best Seattle ski rack system ever!
Getting closer…
I think we’re getting warmer…
Here’s a typical house at Alpental. Notice that the top story is basically buried by the snow…
And the final measurement…..18 feet!
Zbo and I tried to measure in our own way….
Mofro261 is our handsome guide…lucky us!
SQ99 rides a chairlift…
No, really, its 2008!
Girlski0912 making a case for skiing the slopes!
ZBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SQ99 loves skiing!
666 enjoyed this run….
SQ99 didn’t…
666 POV all day long!
666 hates Alpental…
Its boring.
SQ99 is extremely bored…
So bored with this…
YAWN!!!!!
OK, so our guide Mofro led himself to good snow…
Seriously?
FKNA dude…
SQ99 is up next…
SCHUSSSSSSSSS!
Zbo finds a cliff that wasn’t completely buried…
I told him that the landing would be nice…
666 found a deep spot…of snow!
Mofro found another untracked face for powder 8 practicing…
I guess he makes it look enjoyable….
As a guide, he’s worth every penny. I gave him one.
The group…missing girlski because she skis too fast for us!
At lunch, Zbo thought long and hard of what to eat.
He chose chips.
Zbo makes an off-piste right turn…
666 on yet another pow spine…
666 goes nuclear on the mushroom cloud…
Schmear showed up…
He skis down runs in milliseconds. This was the only shot I could capture.
666 hiding from the camera…
ALL YOUR BASE BELONGS TO WA?
Another untracked steep face? Why not eh?
‘Zbo, zbo, zbo why aren’t thy Romeo?’
He split and outran the slough after he heard that…
But when we met up at the bottom, he started to cry..
Look how these dorks stand around each other!
SQ99′s world record ski rack attempt…
OMG, BEST COFFEE IN SEATTLE!!!!
Even while wearing pink, Zbo gets all the chicks!
BYE BYE
TIME FOR BED….
Succulent Sufferfest of Skiing in North Cascades Nat’l Park – 05/28/07
DATES OF SLUSH SKIING:
May 26th-28th, 2007
AREAS OF NATIONAL PARK STATUS IN NORTH AMERICA THAT MAKE YOU HIKE TO SKI DOWN:
North Cascades National Park (Washington Pass – Rainy Pass, Whistle Peak) to (Cascade Pass), Washington State, United States of America, Just South of Canada, North of Mexico, East of Asia, and West of Europe. I hope that clarifies it a bit.
FRIENDS FOREVER:
666, ZdashBoh!, Squirrel99, and Hop – along with 5 cameras, all of which took photos.
WEATHER…ER…DEGREE OF FLATLIGHT:
Clouds on day one, Rain/snow on day two, along with some bluebird on the descent on day three. Temps from 33 F to 50’s in the snow. Light winds, lack of overnight freezing, and wetslide conditions, made the trip a memorable one.
SYNOPSIS OF DAILY UPHILL HIKING/SKINNING WITH SOME SKIING:
Depart Starbucks land on Saturday at 5:00am, pick up Hop in Burlington, and proceed to drive to Rainy Pass, and start the skinning sufferfest. Next, stay in Twisp overnight on Zbo’s buddy’s lawn, and proceed to cross rivers and bootpack in the rain up a couloir the following day. Finally, proceed back to Seattle and wake up at 5:15 am to drive to the washed out road at Cascade Pass.
MUSIC TO NOD HEAD BY:
DJ Mehdi – “Signatune” (T. Bangalter Edit)
DAY ONE: Rainy Pass near Washington Pass, WA
I smelled corporate coffee from the air…
Yes, this is REI in Seattle…SQ99 needed to buy some nuts for the upcoming tour:
Meanwhile, back at the headquarters, Zbo tries to fill some ink cartridges to print out some topos for the planned tours. They never printed….
Its 5 am bitch! We’re going skiing today!
Our view from the start of the Rainy Pass skin-track…promising….very promising
Of course Zbo always starts an uphill climb with some RADN355!
A kind marmot took this pre-suffering pic….
666 loses his footing above a tree-well after saving SQ99’s life…
Zbo hiking while listening to hyphy….
666 never takes anything seriously….even when shear death was right below him
View from our first summit…someone say “winter?”
And looking to the West towards Japan…
Zbo gets first scenic dibs…I hate him.
At least he skis well…
….and from another camera’s memory device…
Looks good eh?
Hop first of many scenic “tele-turns” but however, he’s never going to convert me…
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
SQ99 takes a far right approach with pleasing scenics…
666 goes retro….
Hop finds a field of corn…
666 finds a field of avy-corn…
Zbo has the new “bigger” RedBull….I don’t.
Squirrel really wanted to boot up this thing….
Some scenics at sufferfest summit…
Zbo gets some fresh slurpee madness…
That left arm is getting an “arm shot….
Notice the slurpee slough…?
Hop makes a decision…so stoked to ski the slide path.
“God this is AWESOME!”
Before SQ99 dropped, the mountains were ripping all around us…
….and he gets a ray of sunshine to make a pretty turn
I decide that if I want the fresh before it takes out my legs, I’ll have to hit it with speed.
Zbo in a safe zone, SQ00 slays the epic snow…
Hop gathers some confidence….
We survive and make it to Winthrop for some needed diet root beer and garden burgers…
At our camping spot, Zbo dances with fire…
Hi, I’M ZBO!!!!
DAY TWO: WHISTLE PEAK, WASHINGTON
After a quick breakfast, we hit the road…
At our destination…..no comment.
Rain or shine, Hop is such a great telemark athlete…
Screw it, we’ll make it eventually…
“Where the hell am I going?”
Let the suffering begin….
Gaining altitude….yep, its raining.
My god, the sweet suffering…
Oh great, we’re moving into the clouds…
Here, Hop in his runnel hiking steeze…
Shot of the new 07/08 Stairmaster..
Hop and I laugh…at you know what.
SQ99 looking good on the SNOWY descent….
Hop starts the cloud seeding…
Did I mention that SQ99 loves to ski?
Runnel management is his fortay…
OMG LOL, SKINERD4LIFE!
Ok, so it was actually kind of fun…
666 skis down….
Runnel-ollie?
He makes a turn…
Squirrel, calm and confident…
Hop avoids the runnel of death…
Rain skiing is Rad…
Hop is Rad…
So Rad…
But 666 is Awesome…
The snow quality was a little on the wet side…
On the way home, we found a mound of snow
And to think that we almost skied here…in the sun.
WHAT DO WE DO TOMORROW????
Time for an old west espresso…
Hop is a little kid…but didn’t draw a whale.
Eastern Washington is always sunny…
Zbo drives us back to Seattle…
DAY THREE: CASCADE PASS, WASHINGTON
Pretty convenient, they have one of these near their home…
Rainforest Massive…
Um, hello there….
Please don’t maul me…
Zbo says goodbye to his supermarket plant…
Are we in Hawaii?
Are you sure?
Remember the Dragon storm in December?
Ok, back to Washington…just a couple hours of skinning, booting, suffering, hell…
So fun…
The slayer weather….
More skinning? God help me…
Hop and I were having fun at this point…
OH, THE GLORIOUS SUN, THANK YEWWWWW!
Didn’t see this on the way up…
I bought Zbo a shirt at SFO, and its not blue…
SQ99 slides without skins…
Another tele-turn by Hop…
Kind of scenic…
666 likes Washington….
…a little.
But SQ99 lives here…
And I wonder why?
Another casual day of hiking for Squirrel…
Hop in a familiar spot…
Sweet…
And makes a turn toward the Starbucks on the right.
Hop on the Extremo face…
It’s a double black diamond on the map…
SQ99 chuting it out….
Via Hop’s angle….
So many cameras, SO MUCH TIME TO ORGANIZE AND MAKE A MEGA-TR!
Zbo and 666 have their own agenda…
He’s so hot…
His skillz are ninja-like…
Dynafit Alpine Aggression….
Watch out for the wet slide dude!
Hop shows off…
…the epic corn.
Zbo and SQ99 make some Corn8’s…
666 down the crux…
…and then into the groomed section.
Hop, seriously, I’m getting sick of you…
SQ99 said he wanted to hit this, however, I reminded him that we need to actually eat some food…
Glacier steeze…
I kind of like this area…
GOOD BYE MEMORIAL DAY 2007!
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO WASHINGTON – 12/17/06
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO WA
Date: December 16th thru 17th, 2006
Location: Crystal Mountain ski field, and Stevens Pass ski fun center
Day One – Crystal Mountain – 185" total snowfall
http://www.crystalmountainresort.com/
Kiddie Ski school members:
666, Arty50, and all of the PNW KReW …ALL OF THEM. <insert names here> From SQ99 to Greydon to Monique to BC-Flow to Buster to…….Alka to Ingrid to Kip to Julien Carr to….Squirrel’s buddy C-Huck from Utah.
Weather & Temp:
About a foot of new with some death cookies and rain crusted goodness on wind-exposed areas to funky monkey on some of the steeps. Aspects were KEY and Buster & Northway showed us the goods.
Highlight:
Watching BC-Flow skiing pow right next to the lift yelling "HA HA BITCHES"…that and his seemlessly matching attire.
Music: Orbital – ‘Halcyon On and On’
So I roll to Seattle via Denver to rack up those final frequent flier miles of the 2006 flight season. As I check my mobile while waiting for my first flight, the top story is how Seattle got anal raped by a massive storm. Power outages, trees, people thrown everywhere, including 2 feet of new powdah. Wierdly, I arrive into Seattle without a hitch.
Storm is a clearin’…
SQ99, one of the gracious hosts, braved roads, grabbed my ass, and we were off to EVO and then some food before Arty’s arrival. Arty, on the other hand, was another story. I could go on how he was to fly in at a later time from Reno, but I’m not going to dive into that one….<cough> 11:30 pm arrival.
While waiting for Arty, we arrived at one of the few places with power near the airport to get a snack…hmmm I wonder where all the electricity was going?
Monique, bless her heart, invited us up at her pad near Crystal to stay the night. 1:30 am arrival due to SQ99′s anti-GP3 route finding skills and the complete lack of power via the grid system, we finally arrived to this:
Ghetto filtered Peet’s anyone? Mmmmmmm Major Dickenson’s please…
Lineup at Chinook…who’s that guy in the yellow who busted’ an early chair?
I think I see BC-Flow in line at Rainier..I mean, how can you miss him right?
First turn of 2006-2007 season in Washington….
Chair 6 wasn’t running yet, so we headed to do an Exterminator run down to the bottom, and then hit up some stuff in Northway…<name JONG here>
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Northway gives it a go on Northway…I wonder how he got his handle?
SQ99 on the ridge looking for C H E E S E …
…but finds some blower down lower.
Arty50 – grabs a scenic for the INT3RW335 crew
…and links up some Johnny Cash stash.
666 finds a line through the grabby face above into the flat-white pow…
Next up is the Spook area (correct me if I’m wrong), where Arty disappears at the sight of a str8line into pow, and I find the sketchiest snow in Washington…
Looks great, but that’s "toss n throw you" snow right there…
Meanwhile, Northway is still linking up late in the day powpow…
…into the chute above, and then screaming some Super-G turns through some chunder…
Ccccchhhhhhhainsaw Willie milking some trurns….
The aftermath…now I love Crystal too.
Its now getting late and dark, but why not more powder in Morning Glory?
SQ99 finds a home in bear country…
…don’t even dare spray me there Squirrel!
Northway has a "knack of finding untracked"…I don’t like him.
Now its Uncle Ricco’s turn…making his pal Runethechamp proud.
Hell, he’s even making me proud…
…now he’s starting to piss me off…
A quick Buffalo burger in the cafe, a few pitchers, and its time to head out. Well, so we can catch up with my bestest friend Z-bo:
Day Two: Stevens Pass, Washington
http://www.stevenspass.com/Stevens/index.aspx
Synopsis:
With rumors of the Double Diamond lift on hold the previous day, Z-bo assured us a full day of hippy-tree-pow, with untracked every run….he was correct…as usual.
We "found" a coffee stop on the way…that’s just unbelievable:
Kinda creepy…reminds me of Da King from Burger King aye?
Even more creepy is how Z-bo orders a quad nonfat mocha….
Some destruction from the Thursday storm still readily apparent…
WE’VE GOT BASE!
Yum Yum…me likey!
Arty on his first turn at Stevens…
Z dash in one of those "let’s nail the cameraman" turns…
C-Huck gets into the action…yep, sprays me too.
Arty finds a deep spot…(I wonder how deep Kirkwood was at this moment)
Z-bo shows what happens when you try hugging a tree while skiing hippy pow…
Mmmmm…BACKCOUNTRY!
SQ99 lines up some whipped cream for his mocha…
…and then JUST PLAIN SPILLS IT!
666 trying to get all scenic…
…and then tries to emulate Shugs:
C-Huck getting some in the haunted PNW treezzzzz…
Meanwhile, SQ99 makes a dinner reservation for some POWDUH…
So this is what the Cascades look like when the sun pops out….?
Hmmm…I don’t see any tracks?
Stevens lot and Hwy 2 below…
C-Huck takes a lap while we had the sun…
3-2-1 "LEROY JENNNNNNKIIIIIINNNNNNNNSSSSS"
I was jealous…
Arty getting the goods…
Jesus, now you’re rubbing it in man!
TEH ROD3nT5 angle….
SQ99′s turn to make…..turns…
Neeeerrrrrrrrddddddddssssssssss…..
The last run we rode down to the highway…"goggles messed up, legs burning, skiing like crap" type of run…and Z-bo was just glad to survive…
Hmmmmm…do I want a single espresso or a 32oz?
Scary! I mean Z-bo…especially the blood stain on his ski pants.
Mt. Index is next…straightline the whole thing? Who’s in?
Big ups to Monique for the hospitality, Z-bo for being handsome, SQ99 for being my chauffeur, Tiana from Crystal, and of course Chris from Stevens – You guys rule!
…and in case you have no idea wtf "all your base" is all about:
Sasquatch loves Quad-Mochas @ Stevens/Alpental, WA – 02/26/06
Day One – February 25th, 2006 – Stevens Pass, Washington, Yankland, America (North Edition)
Riders: Squirrel99 (host), Zbo (our guide), peeforward (newbie), Greydon Clark (recent SF to Seattle tranny), and 666 (racking up weekend flight miles).
Weather: Overcast ("should have been here yesterday" weather), beautiful vistas of flat-light, but with Zbo breaking the skin-track you always have a nice view 
Snow Conditions: Powder on the north-facing slopes, and some sun-baked powder on the other aspects. We dug a pit and didn’t like the results….about 12" down, an ice layer existed and made the steeper slopes pretty sketchy. On Zbo’s first turn, anout 6" of slough ripped out of the slope…so we decided to play it safe and stick to the trees.
Gameplan: Start at elevation 4,061 feet and hover up and around 6,000 feet. Total skin distance = around 5 miles. Plan – to ride Hogsback over to Tye Mill, ski down Orion Chutes, traverse under Jupiter Chair, and begin skinning up to Mary Jane, ski down "could a’ skied", skin back up just below Mt. Josephine, ski down, then skin up to "Da Burn," ski down to nordic track, skin about a mile back to the Jupiter Chair, and then to the Bar to throw down some Stevens Ale.
Two cameras shooting on this day….Squirrel99 and 666. 
Music: El-P – ‘Depp Space 9mm’
Washington, king of coffee madness….just look at the right-hand side of the menu. I think I’m in love :
They have snow here….C A K E D.
US Highway 2, up the Skykomish Valley….
The first ascent….Zbo breaking trail:
Zbo making first tracks down "could a’ skied"….the whole face sloughs out on him:
666 in Cascadian fluff:
Peeforward likes to do tele-str8line-turns in pow…we like this guy:
666 places an order for extra powder:
Peeforward living it up….
Greydon Clark with the signature pink poles….
…and now in the other direction….nice!
Squirrel’s turn….
Skinning up to just below Mt. Josephine:
We are up on the looker’s right-hand side, just below the peak:
Peeforward battling Greydon for most refined tele-turn…
666 bored on this lame run….
Squirrel leaps into marshmellow sauce….
Next, we skinned up to Da Burn….some nice stuff just above us..only if we had blue skies and stable snow:
Backside of Da Burn:
"Ok guys…its 2:30 pm…we need to get to that chair before 3:30 pm…oh yeah…there’s about a mile skin once we get down this run" – Zbo 
The snow was a little settled/wind affected on top, but then turned to blower on the way down. Greydon doing his best to save the trees….cool pic IMO:
Zbo showing his hot, hip techniques….
….same technique but in better snow:
Greydon feels left out…..
Squirrel99 schralping the pow…
666 finds an air….to which Squirrel gets hella crazy with his photo techniques:
666 testing out his freshly tuned edges….
666 gets hungry for some toasted bark….
Greydon milks the run to the bottom….the snow got better the further we descended….
And like clockwork, the weather gets good at around 4 pm….the frontside of Stevens:
666 – ACTUALLY STANDING ON THE HWY ON STEVENS PASS!!!!!!!!! right where the webcam looks 
The original plan was to get a shot of espresso at every ghetto coffee stand back to Seattle. However, it got dark, we were all spent from skinning and skiing, so we decided to only go to the HOT spots.
First chance for coffee anyone????
Oh yesssss….the best quad-mocha I’ve ever had…..
Harry and the Hendersons was filmed here…I was star-struck to be quite honest with you. Greydon and I can feel the love at this place.
Harry says "what are you doing, get me the hell out of here."
To give you a perspective, Greydon lends a hand to compare the difference in size to an actual Sasquatch print.
Day Two – Alpental, Snoqualmie Pass – Land of snow, apples, trees, cliffs, and the best spines I’ve ever ridden.
Riders: Squirrel99 (guide), Zbo (finder of RAZR), Pollard (McHuckster), Greydon Clark (a loving man), and 666 (thinks Alpental PNWNS).
Weather: Overcast ("should have been here two days ago" weather), flat-light, with a little more flat-light thrown in.
Snow Conditions: Pretty much consistently soft untracked pow/spines every run. Snow was super stable, much more than Stevens.
Gameplan: Start at elevation 3,200 feet, hit top at a give-or-take 5,400 feet. Major plan….hit the Lower Traverse BC gates as soon as they open and repeat. Squirrel is the tour guide showing us the goods. First runs down include Breakover trees, then a run down Snakedance to warm up while waiting for the BC gates to open. Basically, the rule of the day was to look for "Danger Cliff" signs…since 99% of the time it meant a nice filled-in skiable face below.
Nice rack….
Dnb and drink….
Here’s a pic from Vegas…
Konkr3te Jungle to skiing caked spines in about 45 mins….
Mt. Fuji in the distance….where all the apples come from:
Alpy gnargnar and the goods of ch-ch-ch-chairThr33:
Obligatory Washington roofpack shot….
Mount Denny OB vicinity……ummmmmmmmmmmmmm 
I’m told you have to bootpack this stuff….the ridgline is too gnar to climb….
I really wanted to hit that saddle on looker’s right…..but that would mean starting a bootpack…so we’ll leave it for next time.
The crew traversing up to P.Pass…
so Zbo can hit this……on draft dodger ridge.
666 makes a rare appearance in front of the lens…
and finds a small piece of heaven…
Yes….I think he likes Alpy
Same run…666 finds another untouched pitch:
Next run…over to Knoll 4 – Stokes Bowl/Ghost Bowl areas – 666 schmearing the pow…
Pollard joins us to jump off of things….like this one:
Squirrel’s angle….
666 loves Alpy…
Pollard and I found this chute….so he str8lined it…
Hiked over to 261 and then down Hummox area – 666 loves Alpy.
We found a line for Geoff Small….
and some more goodies down the ridge….
Pollard and I roll up to another perfect air….Pollard points it:
Squirrel uses his state-of-the-art photog’ skills to shoot it:
666 loves Alpy
Squirrel gets mean….
Zbo sanouks the swallow tail…..
Squirrel finds an acorn…..
Pollard gets deep…
…so…as you may have guessed it…POINTS IT! 
Zbo rides the spine to str8line:
666 loves Alpy.
Squirrel gets into the action…to line up for something…
THIS….
A quick stop on the summit for another quad-mocha…ya’ know to test the difference between the Sasquatch one, and then down to the Issaquah Brewery to taste some Rogue Chocolate Stout on tap….
We saw the local hero there as well 
Raaaawwwwwwlllllllll!
BIG BIG BIG BIG UPS for BC-Flow and Squirrel99 to let me sleep on the floor of the ski tuning closet, it was so nice and comfortable in there.
Another one for Mrs. Clark for making us pizza by scratch!!!!
And of course Zbo – he found my RAZR that I lost in the powder in the Alpy backcountry. Love you!
Turn up the Base @ Mt. Baker Opening Day – 11/07/05
Date:
November 7, 2005
Location: Mt. Baker, Washington
Weather: POWDER…
Music: Technical Itch – ‘The Rukus’ (Kryptic Minds Remix’)…
Alarm clock goes off at 4:31am and Girlski is late as usual. Hit up Winchells for some dirty burnt coffee and nasty gut busting cinnamon roll (could have used some of those Dan’s donuts)
15 minutes later, Zbo meets us at the park and ride and were off.
A quick pit stop at Glacier and we find the Kirkwood Vespa Team Captain Skier666. Quadspresso in one hand, a smoking Vespa at his rear and his thumb hitching to WA542 Mt Baker Hwy.
Zbo in trance mode- getting serious
Zbo continuing to scope lines
Skier666 receives love voice mail from Slim- due to his day-trip absence from the Castro
Chair 1 & our morning breakfast on the left (sans quadspresso)
Group photo op after poaching low angle deep tree-well business
666 enters the Elbow
Elbow eats 666
Classic Baker untracked
Girlski packing heat into Lower Elbow
Notice jacket snow markings from his previous deep, scuba diving turns
Girlski files a motion for an extension of fluffy goodness
666 showing what he learned from "Steep Techniques" from Netflix
…then decides to go French on us
airing into a minefield
after dropping in Switch on his first turn, 666 recovers to air out a typical Baker mogul field
squirrel99 tree-limb face shot of the day
Skier666 promptly left on his Vespa and will be back at work in CA on Wednesday morning.