The Snow Troopers

Perfect setting for beginning of a perfect union.

This past Saturday (8/18/18), we had a couple of friends tie the knot. Not much to say, except it was a beautiful ceremony at Gold Creek Pond (where the smoke had cleared out for this special day). After the ceremony, everyone headed up in the the Alpental neighborhood for excellent BBQ and fantastic local music.
 
 

Below are a few clips of the ceremony along with the first dance.

Looking back on the Kendall Katwalk (right).

Some smokey views of my run yesterday to Kendall Katwalk. The Katwalk is apx 5.5 miles from the TH or if you did like me and park on SR906 by Dru Bru and the Aardvark Express it is about 6.5 miles.” The TH is the PCT Northbound from Snoqualmie Pass and the grade is perfect to run most of the way up to the Katwalk. I thought it would be fun to spice in some clips of my homie, Jeff Rich, and myself hitting the skier’s right chute of the Double Barrel Shotgun Chutes (aka the Twins as of a few years ago).
 

Snow Lake overlook… Good place to lunch and turn-around, if the 3.5 is a little far for you.

Here’s a little visual report of one of the most popular trails in the state of Washington, Snow Lake. I didn’t feel the need to give any details on the run/hike this past Sunday (8/5/18), except it is usually busy and is one of the easier destinations at 3.5 miles to the “lake access”. I try to stay upright in whatever I’m doing in the mountains, but crossing one of the talus fields on my way down, I stumbled passing/chatting to a couple heading up, and took a nice deep puncture to the shin. Be careful, carry some medical items at least a small first aid kit and ALWAYS, “Live to Ski Another Day!”
 

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One of the Alpental Bro’s Ryan Gillian, aka Tennessee, spends his Summer months river guiding. When he’s not guiding you might find him playing around with his squirt boat (a low profile kayak), which is designed to dive beneath the surface of the river. Last week, I ran into Ryan, and he’d let me know he found a sweet eddie at the confluence of the North and Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. So, this past Thursday (8/1/18), I met Tennessee down at “Three Forks Park (in North Bend, WA), took the short walk to the river and cooled down (especially in the flow from the North Fork that was at least 10 to 15 degrees colder).
 

BTW if you’re on Instagram please follow us @Snow_Troopers

Compass Outdoor Adventures’ sweet set up.

This past weekend was the first annual, Raging River MTB Festival, off I-90’s exit 27. Saturday they had a cross country race and on Sunday they were rocking the enduro race. On Saturday (7/28/18) I found the time to get off the pass and check out the trails I’ve been hearing a lot about this Summer. I lucked out and didn’t even have pedal because, Compass Outdoor Adventures happened to be running a shuttle for only 20 bucks, which would cut out an hour and a half of climbing. unfortunately, I was solo coming down, as the rest of the shuttled riders, pushed further up the trail, to complete the “lollipop”. I recommend this trail for those of the beginner riding levels and/or those who love a good long climb followed up by a super long flow trail back to the TH.
 
Below is a short vid with a little bit of the sights on the way down.

Moving thru the old growth on the way to Mirror Lake.

The Mirror Lake hike or trail run from the Windy Pass TH, just may be my favorite “close to home”. This trail is apx 4 miles of perfect gain and loss that leads to one of the beautiful alpine lakes, just South of I-90. Always being that guy (in my younger dayz), running was very low on my list (unless downhill, coming back from a hike), however, this trail got me hooked and the up. I did learn a lot about ultra running, 4 or 5 years ago, watching Seth Swanson setting the current “Cascade Crest 100 Endurance Run” record @ 17:56 (breaking the former time of 18:27). What I learned from Seth, was on my run to Mirror lake and beyond, I would run everything, but Seth would power hike all of the steep sections I would run. My goal, was always to keep strong for skiing and ski touring. Yesterday, was my first time actually running with a 50 mile ultra runner (that is ready to step it up to the 100 mile mark), Lisa Green. Lisa is a new local to Snoqualmie Pass (that has always run up here though) and we took our first run yesterday to mirror lake with a couple of bonus tarns too (that you’ll have to find on your own, but you can figure it out 🙂 ).
 
Below is some of the clips from our Mirror lake and bonus tarns run. Enjoy and get out on your own adventure, ASAP!

Brianna Rich (turned 15 this past June), her father Jeff Rich and Jen Tell, standing tall on the summit of Mt. Rainier.

Pretty sweet video of my good brotha, Jeff Rich’s 15 year old daughter getting the summit of Mt. Rainier with skis! Brianna, Jeff Rich and Jen Tell, started their journey from the White River camp ground on 6/22/18, spending a night at Camp Sherman. Making the summit the following day yielding the longest ski of Brianna’s 14 years and a month on the beautiful playground we call earth. 🙂 On a side note, after Brianna’s epic 2017 Summer (in the Cascade Crossfit gym 😉 , she started high school and found herself competing at state for cross country team. Impressive!
 
Below is a short video Jeff put together of Brianna’s big summit!

 
BTW if you’re on Instagram please follow us @Snow_Troopers

Scott Sumner having fun on PBR (Powered by Rudolph).

This past Thursday (7/5/18) Scott Sumner, Adam Beattie and myself took the 2 hour, and very beautiful, drive to Stevens Pass to have fun all day in DOWNHILL mode. As many of you know, I am very new to the MTN bike game and now into my 2nd Summer, finding my favorite type of riding is super flow trails that ride like butter. Well, I have to say for all you beginners out there, Stevens has some fantastic green dot trails, which my two homies had just as much (if not more) fun rocking as any other trail we explored. Hats off the the Stevens Pass Bike Park team, as they have put an amusement park in the Central Cascades, that only will set you back 45 bucks. Best day of biking followed by a night sleeping like a Cascade rock, for this Snow Trooper!

 
BTW if you’re on Instagram please follow us @Snow_Troopers

 
Below is a longer than usual vid, just so you can see the tremendous work the Stevens Pass team has put in so far.

Yesterday (6/30/18), I wanted to get out for a bike ride and then remembered the Needles 50K was happening down in Easton, WA. Part of the course rolls along Kachess Ridge, which happens to also be one of the most beautiful sections of the Cascade Crest 100 too! So, I decided to head for the Silver Creek TH and push/ride my bike up towards the French Cabin. After about an hour and a half going uphill in the drizzle, I decided it was time to put the pads on and have some fun. Below is a mash up of some of the clips I’d captured of the runners. Fastest time was Jesse Lange @ 6 hours and 4 minutes.
 

Well, I finally got the bike out, just in time to link it up with an awesome post solstice party, high on a hill overlooking Leavenworth, WA (one of my favorite Cascade zones). After a wonderful night of BBQ and relaxation, we all met up at the Leavenworth Ski Hill, Sunday morning (6/24/18) for the climb up the new green dot trail the Evergreen boys constructed to perfection! After a nice burner up we were rewarded with the ever so flowing, Rosie Boa. Being my second season into this fun sport, I have to say Rosie Boa has set the bar for my fun factor. After our awesome ride, we all met the gang down on Icicle Creek for a nice beer float.