Mt. Rainier experienced 3 major and several smaller avalanches this past week on the Nisqually Glacier starting on 6/24. The largest occurred on Sat., Jun. 25th and was estimated to have a 50ft debris wall, encompass several thousands of tons and slid off the Nisqually Cleaver down a 7,800ft path. Another occurred on Mon. No injuries have been reported. Park rangers are advising folks to not cross the Nisqually Glacier. And keep in mind that due to heavy snowfall this year, the park is still under lots of snow at and above 4,000ft.  14ft of snow sits at Paradise as of 6/27.  The video below captures the avalanche on Sat. 

More photos and news can be found here.

Skied Mammoth Mtn. in the Sierras last week. The skiing was still amazing — with daily operations and a 3.5ft snow base at the bottom and 9ft base up top, you’d never think this mountain’s on the edge of a desert but you sure feel it: temps rose each day to the 70’s and perhaps 80’s under the sun, and that’s at a base elevation >8500ft.  Coverage and snow were perfect.  In addition to lift served terrain, the backside was open for alpine touring.  Also, lots of backcountry terrain still easily accessible from Lake Mary to Horseshoe Lake (but the hole is over). Mammoth vistas:

The hole’s dried up.  So look above nearby alpine lakes (Lake Mary to Horseshoe Lake all appeared to be reasonably accessible ascents):

After being away the last 2 wks, decided to check out Alpental for a quick summit. A lot has changed in 2 wks. No more skinning from the lodge – you’re going to have to boot to the cat track below lift 1 now. But that didn’t stop folks from getting in their turns yesterday. From lift 1, the coverage is still good. Here’s how it looks out there now: 

Wanted to share this video of a day we missed out at the stompin’ grounds (Silver Peak) earlier this month. Stoked that Poppoff put together a sweet vid of the day & the “Ghostski” (I’m calling it ) he caught on film… It could be a first! Look for it the middle of the flick. Be sure to check out Poppoff’s blog for some killer eyecandy @ AirPoppoff.com , sic pics!!!

I know, I know, these Alpental POV edits just don’t seem to stop. Well this will be the last one I promise , I’m basically out of decent footage from this storm period anyway. I’m now laid up on my parents’ couch (thanks Mom and Bill!) as I had surgery on my right knee about a week and a half ago. Patellofemoral reconstruction and meniscus cleanup, plus removal of some massive chunk of cartilage. Hopefully I’m good to go after three or four months of PT. So far I’m not too miserable cause the weather hasn’t been nice enough to be depressed about getting stuck inside. I can say that this is probably the most difficult and painful thing I’ve experienced related to injury. I’ve never had surgery before so it has been an eye opening experience.

This video features Maurer, Shaw, Garrett and myself and music from The Finger Guns. You can also find them on Facebook. Looking back I probably shouldn’t have reduced the volume on the last song so much, don’t worry the recording is perfectly fine, I just didn’t want it to play back at full volume and made it a little too quite. The Finger Guns are working on releasing their album soon, for now you can check them out live at various venues in Seattle. Enough text, watch the vid!

On the 14th of June we loaded up for the beautiful drive from Snoqualmie Pass to the North Cascades via the East Side w/ lots of scenic breaks along the way. The weather was perfect for the drive wishing it would be similar our ski tour the following day.

Glad we soaked up a lot of sun on the drive up because it only made an appearance for maybe 10 minutes on the 15th. Throughout the day it mostly snowed lightly not amounting to anything but kept all of the Northern aspects locked up w/ frozen slide debris ect. Met up w/ Jacob Mandell and Andrew Eckels for an eight o’clock hour departure from the Blue Lake Parking lot (which was not plowed w/ apx 3.5 feet of snow remaining). Climbed up to the Blue Lake Col where we huddled in a moat for 30-45 minutes until the super thick clouds lifted enough to see all the way down the MASSIVE S.E. bowl. Quickly clicked in and took advantage of the short window of sun. This aspect skied great! Climbed back up to the Blue Lake Col and started down for the hairpin turn on HWY 20 but as Andrew entered the chute the call was made to head back toward the car at Blue Lake parking lot giving Andrew and Jacob the chance to hit one of the many chutes between the Early Winter Spires the scoped on the way up. Hitting their last chute gave them a solid 5000′+ day. Pretty impressive, especially for a couple of teenagers… BE sure to check out the vid because they rip too!

break # 2 at Blue Lake Col

Here is a sweet video that was quite exciting to watch as it happened from chair 8 only a couple hours after I ran into a local who answered my question of if he had seen Zack or Squatch… “Yep that’s their skin track up Shuksan along w/ Molly and Ben”. Again, this is a sweet vid so be sure to check it!

If you think the Selkirk Mountains are gentle based on a visit to Schweitzer Resort, well all you need to do is drive North an hour or so and you will be in the heart of some epic skiing.

Starting your trip from Sandpoint Idaho there are many options with in two hours from downtown. Cassidy and myself chose to check out the West Fork Cabin zone. We entered the National Forest off of Hwy 1 at Copeland (apx 30 minutes North of Bonners Ferry). The road is paved deep into the canyon w/ a super smooth old logging road once the black top ends. This was our choice because the road to the trailhead (TH) was at 3,500′ most of the way getting stuck only in two patches of 10 inch deep snow. Each time we were able to dig out and continue w/ in 5 minutes, paying off and driving another mile or so before calling it quits at a 16″ deep by 50 yard long patch which was only 3/16 of a mile before TH. Apx an hour into the tour we arrived at the West Fork Cabin which is well maintained and was a great place to take our first break of the day. 15 minutes later we headed out through the meadow and began our twenty minute flat slog to the base of Joe Peak and ascended thought some nicely spaced out trees. Once we hit the summit we soaked up some good views…

Then clicked in and made our way down the ridge towards a nice pitch we eyed on the way up. Great day in Northern Idaho yo!

Below is the vid of the day:

Returned to Snoqualmie Pass to hike up Alpental this past Sunday. Skied down international this time – no rocks showing yet at the entrance and all the avi debris had softened up so everything skied great! Only ran into 1 other person at the top and 1 on the way down. Check out the pix below.  Also, 2 sets of keys were found in the lot by the bridge and placed at the bridge entrance. One set has 8 keys (1 of them pink/yellow and 1 UW) and the other has 6 (both included car keys).

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Hard to believe we’re still skiing and riding lift served terrain at Crystal Mtn., WA in June!  It’s even harder to believe how amazing the conditions are: Indeed it was in the mid-70s & felt like high 80s under crystal clear skies. I and many others were in shorts, tees – some were even in their swim suits.  Reminded me of spring skiing in Mammoth. But our views are unique and on Sat., they were endless: Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens. No lift lines (except 1st gondola ride up). Got to love the PNW!