17: december 28th

Crystal - I took my brother Robb up for a ski day and I convinced Andi to hike up Silver King for the first time. Perfectly clear, perfect snow. We did hourglass, and my ski popped off my toe mid-run. Here's a special PIP GIF!

16: december 23rd

Silver Fir & Hyak XC. Lillie's first day on XC skis.

15: december 21st

Crystal... Northway opened up at the end of the day and I got in two great pow runs with Tim and Steve, but the name of this blog is gnar points, so here's the gnarliest run I did. A chute off high campbell. I have to own this chute better like 'Kevin' did before me.

14: december 20th

First day at Alpental this year! The first couple of runs kind of sucked, until Mark's pow-dar kicked in and I got up the nerve to start cranking up my cliffs this year (a goal along with boxes/rails). This was the second six-footer I dropped on this run. woooooooo. This area was super fun.

13: december 18th

Crystal. 47" of new in Northway - I was the first one through gate 6. You can't ask for, or dream of a more fantastic run than this one through this funnel couloir. Patrol had decided to let us through, even though the chair wasn't going to be running. This is a special 10 second gif to commemorate the amazing awesomeness. Those of you with gopros or contours know that this is making it look slower than it is, believe me, I was flying and floating on perfect powder.

About 5 minutes later, I came across a situation. I wrote an email to my ski buddies and I'm posting most of it here:

I got down to the area where everyone had to start turning right to get back to base. I was near the front of the pack, everyone stopped, and I heard people asking for folks with shovels. Keep in mind everything here was inbounds and open. We were in a 'horizontal' clearing between two groves of trees, skiing laterally across the face.

(To jump to the conclusion right away: There was a girl completely buried with no traces that I saw. She was found after about 10-12 minutes and she was totally fine. She would not have been found without probes and probably not have been dug out without shovels.)

Now, at this point, it was kind of a shit-show. I haven't had my avalanche training yet, but looking back at the situation there were tons of common sense things I or anyone could have done better:

* In the adrenaline wash of the absolutely perfect line I painted on the side of the mountain, I did something really stupid and left my riding buddies behind. I won't do that again, I could have waited fairly close to where we started. I also didn't check in with them during the situation so they didn't know that I was OK. Sorry Sam.

* I forgot my beacon at home in the morning. Adam had told me about two years ago he rides with a beacon on deep days. I have done so every other time. I won't forget it again.

* After about 8 -10 minutes the ski patrol arrived, and they quickly established that girl had a friend and she was definitely missing. We should have done that earlier. He could have told us she did not have a beacon on. He was definitely freaked out and in shock so he wasn't talking much. Ask someone to raise their hand or pole if they'd seen the slide or been skiing with the person. 

* I used someone else's beacon and got a lot of hits, even after loudly telling everyone to turn off their beacon several times, so in such a scenario a beacon might be close to useless anyway. 

* I also asked a few times for someone to call ski patrol, because everyone knows my AT&T reception is shitty. I have 'Ski Patrol Crystal' programmed into my phone at 360 663 3064 (do it now!). What I did NOT do, and I think would be more effective, is identify a particular person who was going to call ski patrol, and to ask them to report back. I think it would have happened a few minutes earlier. I didn't get a confirmation that someone had called ski patrol until about 5 minutes in. 

* There was a fracture, but it was more like a crack of a slab that had not slid. I could not see any evidence of a slide by the time I got there. It makes it harder to identify the slide path when you can't see it - too many people.

* One dude started digging a pit right away in a random spot. Someone should have told him to stop it. 

* What we should have done right away was probe the tree wells. My best guess as to what she did was probably check her speed a bit too aggressively and she started a small slide that swept her into a tree well. She was slightly downhill from one of the first trees next to the trail. 

* Dig from the downhill side. If you find someone use your hands when you get close (that was when ski patrol showed up and told us that, but I had never thought of it).

* Someone needs to take control, ask questions, and lead the effort. If patrol is not there and no one else is doing it, you are it. You are the leader. Everyone on this list is smart and experienced enough to do it. I should have asked more questions and established more information.

Some people on this list are ex-pros and many have a beacon, probe and shovel. I would encourage you guys to always carry your stuff on deep days (I think all of you do anyway). To everyone else, I was able to contribute to a successful rescue with only a probe and a shovel. After yesterday, I think that they are more important than the beacon. These things are cheap, you can get top-notch pieces for less than $80 combined, and as a bonus you can carry extra layers, food, and water in your backpack, plus you don't have to stop for lunch at all on good days. The shovels are also useful for digging your car out at the end of the day or making backyard kickers on snow days. I know that beacons are expensive but don't let that stop you from getting the probe and shovel. Just do it. If you don't have a pass it's like ONE day of expenses. Even if you got your pass early it's a fraction of your pass.

It's an amazing start to a great season but please think before and after you absolutely destroy a line. 

12: december 16th

Mazama. Mark wishes he had a pair of jibskate rails.

11: december 15th

MVB Sprint Biathlon in Mazama - first of the season!

10: december 14th

Mazama trails; Andi + Mark + Tyler.

9: december 13th

Summit West on a foggy bluebird day with Sam & Andi.

8: december 10th

Steamboat. I actually got some nice powder runs later, but here's a gif of my first lame park "trick."

7: december 9th

Steamboat, 8" of new - the first they've gotten in a month. Bob on the fat rail.

6: december 8th

Steamboat. Edge-deep. Bob flips.

bonus: december 5th

Crystal. Sam & friend. Flail Fail.

5: december 3rd

Pow day. Crystal. 12-18" new. Sam flips at the top of the throne. Greg giggles.

4: december 2nd

Crystal. Lillie's first day of the year. Half a run in and she was carving these turns on the steep stuff and letting it rip better than ever. The awesome conditions this day led me to believe calling in sick was the right idea for the next day.

3: november 30th

Crystal, a full six-pack. Sam catches major air on a wettish day.

2: november 29th

Crystal. There were maybe 200 people there; fresh tracks in Green Valley at 1:00pm.

1: november 23rd

Opening Day at Mission Ridge with Adam and Mark. Fresh tracks all day.