A New Storm

Over the past two weeks I have been completely immersed in my studies.  I have been on WWU campus an average of 10 hours a day.  By average I mean most of the days I have spent more than that, but I am considering weekend days, too.  This busy schedule of learning, followed by more schooling has been a pretty big downer for me.  My only real saving grace has been that there really has not been a whole lot of snow hitting the Pacific Northwest.

As I wrap up my classes and get set for my finals schedule to commence next week I find that I am in a great need for a snow-day.  My last day of riding was February 27. (eek!)

The past few days have dumped approximately two feet of fresh on the local mountains.  This means that tomorrow, Saturday March 13, I am going to wake up mighty early and try to beat the masses of people who are just like me, snow depraved and itching, up to Mt. Baker.  My roommate rode today and informed me that it was super heavy and got a little bit sticky.  Tomorrow is going to be a good day for me to work on some much needed relaxation by way of powder slashes and hopefully some epic lines.

As for the hiking, the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center is calling for some High and Moderate Avalanche conditions in the area.  My buddy is thinking about heading up from Port Angeles to take some turns.  He and I have not ridden together in a couple of years and we have both progressed in the interim.  My backcountry access is pretty limited as I don't have snowshoes or a split-board.  On the fly snowpack analysis and careful route planning are going to be the key to a fun and exhilarating day on the mountain away from the masses.  If you plan on heading out of bounds know your limits and know the snow!!!

Good luck to the competitors at the Summit at Snowqualmie tomorrow competing for 35k worth of cash prizes at the Ride Shakedown!  I would be there if I didn't have to hit the books more tonight and again on Sunday.  If you can't make it to the Summit and aren't going to be hitting the slopes yourself you can catch all the action live from 2 - 930 PM (PST) on FuelTv!