I spied some avalanche activity yesterday while lift skiing at Hyak under clear, sunny skies. See them in this first picture?

Here’s a close up of the two natural slides in Kendall Couloir #1. The first one is pretty big and right where some of us have skied before.  Glad no one was around when this happened. Below is a video of TNT and Melissa Park (Vertfest 2012’s 2nd place winner in the Women’s Rec division) skiing the same Couloir on a good day.

Just got word from our friend, Scott Macartney, former World Cup Skier and 2x Olympian,  that registration is open for this year’s “Race & Ace” at Mt. Bachelor – giant slalom ski/snowboard race in the a.m. and golf tournament p.m. This is a super fun and popular event – attended by N.E. Patriots’ Drew Bledsoe and others – and this year, World Cup Dreams Foundation is hosting which means you’ll be racing and playing with many current and former US Ski Team, Olympic and World Championship athletes. Here’s the invitation from Scott who now runs the foundation and a fun video of the past event.

Hello World Cup Dreams Fans and Supporters- We have a really fun event coming up in Bend, OR- The 2012 Race and Ace! This event is back and World Cup Dreams is honored to be hosting this year! We will have active and alumni members of the US Ski Team, Olympic and World Championship athletes in attendance. Start your day with a fun dual GS race on the slopes of Mt. Bachelor, then in the afternoon enjoy 18 holes of golf with your team at the beautiful Broken Top resort. Bid on a professional athlete to join your team. This event is a fun chance to ski/ ride with some of the best skiers in the world, but also a chance to show your multi-sport skills and compete with all the other teams. Prizes for the top teams, a Calcutta, closest to the pin, long drive and much more!

April 27th- Friday

7pm Calcutta and welcome party.  Deschutes Brewery Mountain Room

April 28th- Saturday

8am Mt. Bachelor- Dual Giant Slalom Race

12:30pm Broken Top Golf course- 18 hole scramble, lunch

5:30pm Broken Top- Dinner, Auction and Awards

It is a team event (4 people – we will help match pairs and singles).  There will be an opportunity to add a professional to your team at the Calcutta.

Click here for more information and to sign up.

Hope to see you there!

Scott Macartney

$225pp Participant package includes: Drinks/ appetizers at the Calcutta/Welcome party, Lift tickets, Golf w/cart, Lunch and Dinner at Broken Top. We have partnered with Mount Bachelor Village to bring you deals on Lodging for the event.  Check out their special “Race and Ace” rates here.

The skies cleared this past Monday after 10 consecutive days of snowfall at our Western WA’s Cascade mountain passes. During that time, Snoqualmie Pass received 84″ and the local resort moved up to #2 in the nation for snowfall and snowpack. There was so much fresh snow everywhere that you didn’t need to go far to find your own secret stash of knee deep powder to ski. Take a look at this video to see just how perfect the conditions were that day. It ends with a pan of the local peaks – Rampart Ridge, Hibox, Alta, Kendall – we tagged them so you can identify each one. It’s no wonder WA’s Cascade mountain range is called the Alps of America.

On Sting’s last day out w/ Pro Guiding Service’s Margaret Wheeler, attending the “She Rocks” intro to ski touring, she ran into our good friends, Robert and Stefan, out getting some deep tree skiing. Sting had shared Robert’s video the other day in her “She Rocks” update, but here is Stefan’s edit of Robert slashing the BIG trees like a ninja.

Here’s a sweet short one from Andrew Eckels and Jacob Mandell taken this past Saturday at the Mighty Mt. Baker. All this footage was taken before Andrew had the day ending knee to the mouth that ended w/ 9 stitches to the tongue.

Re-edit of this past Saturday’s video by adding some clips from the following day at Summit East w/ another round of snow.

Today is exactly 10 days since the snow started falling pretty much non-stop and accumulating on a daily basis in Western Washington state’s mountains.   Mt. Baker and Summit at Snoqualmie are now #1 and #2, respectively, for snowfall and snowpack in the nation beating out even Alaska!  Yes, Snoqualmie Pass received 84″ in the last 10 days – the Pass is still kickin’ ass! If you’re looking for deep, cold, dry powder (clear skies and temps in teens overnight and today have pulled even more moisture content out of the snow), look no further than Western WA’s resorts which are reporting snow depths as follows today:

Mt. Baker:  201″ @ Heather Meadows, 251″ @ top of Pan Dome chair

Summit at Snoqualmie:  132″ @ Alpental base (117″ all other base areas), 193″ @ Alpental top

Stevens Pass:  129″ @ base, 153″ @ top

White Pass: 93″ @ base, 161″ @ top

Crystal Mtn: 70″ @ base, 115″ @ top

Sting here just finished a She Rocks (Women’s) Ski Touring clinic with Pro Guiding Services taught by Margaret Wheeler – yeah, she really ROCKS. Check out yesterday’s pictures of her descending into the Kendall Lakes area of Snoqualmie Pass.  We’ll post more pix and videos from yesterday so please visit us again for those.

[View with PicLens]

While we were out there, we ran into our good buddy, Rob Bolton who captured video of Stefan skiing the Commonwealth side of the Kendall trees.  As you can see, it’s deep out there so be avi aware, keep it safe and live to ski another day!! With all this snow, it’s hard to believe we only have about 6 more weeks until some resorts start pulling the plug so good time to get those ski touring/splitboarding skills ready if you want to keep skiing/riding when the lifts stop.  If you haven’t already, check out the classes and trips with Pro Guiding Services using the logo link to the right.

Snoqualmie Pass had a nice dose of snow to start the weekend fun with one foot three days ago, one inch two days ago, one foot yesterday and 10 inches today. Below is a short “Skilander” video hitting some of today’s POW at Summit East.

The Leavenworth Ski Hill will host a Memorial today from 6-7pm to honor the spirits of Jim Jack, Chris Rudolph, John Brenan whose lives were lost this past Sunday at Stevens Pass in an avalanche. To remember their legacy, please meet at the Ski Hill Lodge and plan to participate in a special torchlight run down the hill at 6:45 p.m. Please bring a headlamp. Normal operations for the Ski Hill today are 12-6 p.m. Friends of Jim Jack are also trying to raise funds to help Tiffany through this tragic time – more info here.

Remember to check WSDOT for road conditions as Stevens Pass is still closed in both directions since yesterday due to snow slides and avalanche danger from milepost 58 near Scenic, to milepost 64.5 near the summit and an estimated time to open the pass will not be determined until later this afternoon. Remember that avalanche dangers remain extreme to high today for most areas AND Stevens Pass, White Pass and all but Central at Summit at Snoqualmie Pass are closed today due to weather and/or road closures.  As you can see below, WSDOT is still forecasting a lot of snow for Stevens, Snoqualmie and White Passes  so we expect slopes to be LOADED when they reopen tomorrow – Be careful out there!

TODAY

SHOWERS. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 4 TO 9 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL LOWERING TO 2500 FEET. AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 30S. WEST WIND IN THE PASSES 15 TO 25 MPH.

TONIGHT

SHOWERS LIKELY. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 3 TO 5 INCHES. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION 7 TO 14 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL 1500 FEET. WEST WIND IN THE PASSES 10 TO 20 MPH.

THURSDAY

PARTLY SUNNY. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. SNOW LEVEL 1000 FEET. AFTERNOON PASS TEMPERATURES IN THE LOWER 30S. WEST WIND IN THE PASSES AROUND 10 MPH.

That’s going to be on top of what’s being reported as new overnight and over the past 24hrs as follows:

• Stevens Pass: 12″ overnight, 16″ past 24hrs as of 4am
• White Pass: 12 ” on top overnight and 14″ past 24hrs as of 10:40am
• Alpental: 1″ on top overnight, 3″ past 24hrs as of 10:18am
• Mt. Baker:  11″ overnight, 16″ in the last 24hrs as of 5:04am.
• Crystal: 8″ on top overnight and in last 24hrs as of 12:12pm

Just a short vid of a short tour at 3PM to get the LAST taste of fresh powder before this current nasty rain event hit us. Also, great music excites me as much as powder and I am wickedly stoked to have this video backed to the music of Head Like A Kite. If you happened to be at this year’s Alpental Vertfest you may have hear them kicking some serious butt with a powerful sound! Bad ASS music, so be sure to check them out on itunes!!!