Always seem to be around for this weekend (when ever it falls – Feb. or April ) catching the event for most if not all of the 8 years. The day started with a little light snow falling then overcast skies w/ the sun popping out for only a photo moment or two (which I missed w/ photos but caught on video).

The Grand Prize was awarded to Manual Diaz the Holiest of them all taking away a 1/2 pallet of Oly. Manual has some drinking to do since he’s up here for the competition all the way from South America. One of the categories was for highest air which was won by our friend Jay Kelly. You may have seen Jay going huge in the Alpental backcountry in person or one of our trip reports. Austin Hironaka was out there too throwin’ down gigantic methods(which I got some great clips on vid).

Below are a few pics taken yesterday by our bro Craig Brown aka ( PNW Yeti Photo ) and myself. Video will follow in a few weeks.

The Holy Oly 8

Holy Oly Hill Climb

One of two skiers at the event

Austin Hironaka

In flight

Although most ski areas are closing in April, several are staying open. Here’s what we found for lift served terrain in May and beyond – Get it while you can!

April 29th, 4:30pm to 8pm – Come by the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR after the May Day races or after skiing and meet some US Ski Team and Olympic athletes over some beer and appetizers – all to support the World Cup Dreams Foundation! There will be some games for the kids and beer for the parents.

Spent 2 glorious days skiing the 3000 acres Whitefish Mountain Resort located in the Flathead Valley just 31 miles from Glacier National Park. This big mountain had it all – a wide variety of terrain for all levels including endless glades, bowls, cliff drops, THE lightest powder in the northwest and fun apres skiing at the Bierstube. It was 18 degrees up on the summit with 5″ new when we arrived on 4/4 – temps stayed cold and about half a foot fell each day we were there. With very few people on the mountain, we skied fresh tracks daily. The locals here are so friendly that it took no time at all to meet Conor O’Neil and Nathan Powell, some of the most kick ass freeskiers we’ve every skied with (seriously- hi speed 20+ ft cliff drops, back flips, etc in tight trees -all on cue). Below are some pix while TNT edits up the video. Thanks guys for showing us how to ski Whitefish and finding fresh tracks each run before the other 98 skiers got there (ha). And big thanks especially to Dave, their snow reporter, for hooking us up with a ticket and talking us into skiing another day (which we would’ve done anyway). We’ll be back for the backcountry trips in Glacier National Park in June/July for sure.

1st shot of the day

Conor on his NTNs in full flight
Nathan: 1 of his many tree line backflips & other tricks that day

The Snow Troopers have been off Snoqualmie Pass for the past week leaving right after apx 8 inches of rain in two days. Of course once we left in turned to BIG snow getting 22″ in a 24 hour window in some zones of the Central Cascades. The fresh snow was sitting on a the rain saturated mountains that had a snow level well above the peaks. Not sure of the trip details right now with the Snoqualmie Mountain incident.

The first vid below is the news clip of the Snoqualmie Pass incident and the second is a vid from a huge inbounds explosive triggered slide at Crystal Mountain April 1st where no one was injured, No Joke. PLEASE NOTE: second vid has EXPLICIT language.

Down days. I’m out for a bit due to a dislocated knee, so I finally got around to setting up a new computer and beginning the editing process of some footy of a nice day Cole had up near Baker with his bro and friends. A sled mission that looked damn fun! I think I had to work this weekend Next time! This zone looks rad and the access is pretty good for putting in laps like whoa.

The Ride Shakedown was a killer “call it before you land it” big air to rail jam competition held at the Summit at Snoqualmie on March 18th & 19th. Summit West is one of four Summit at Snoqualmie base areas located on Snoqualmie Pass, WA and has been home to The Ride Shakedown for 2 years now and is an invite only event for the Pros, but a handful of amateurs battled it out for a chance to play with the big boys. See the original post post for pics and a list of the top riders.

Below is a skier’s take on a kickbutt snowboarder only event… Hope you like it, let me know!
TNT

Another one from Matt Heffernan bringing some mind BLOWER Skilander style POV from the Wasatch to all of the Bros and ripping ladies that can’t get out for injuries or whatever… As you folks East and West of the Cascade Crest watch this killer powder vid be sure to put the good thoughts together & THINK SNOW!!! I want more powder dayz!

After receiving a total of 178″ in March, we’re expecting that one of our faves, Mammoth Mtn., will stay open well into June but they haven’t yet announced a closing date. Other N. CA. resorts also got slammed in March and they’re all extending their seasons as follows:
-Alpine Meadows – 4/24 and then lmited operations Fri-Sundays until 5/15.
-Kirkwood – May 1.
-Mt. Rose – May 6.
-Northstar – April 24.
-Squaw – 5/8 (they set a new season snowfall record of 691″) and then Fri-Sundays through 5/30 and Mon. 5/16.

MT. BAKER is closed today, Wednesday, & Thursday due to weather.  5″ new so far today and it’s loading up fast so that’s where you want to be when they reopen on Friday, April 1st.