5:15 AM:
Got up and checked outside. Heavily overcast. Checked the Mt Baker report: 5 inches of new in last 24 hours, 3 inches overnight on a 51 inch base. I had checked some international snow report that said it was going to be bluebird at Baker, but the Baker site was calling for partly cloudy, with snow level at 1000 feet! Cold means POwPOw! I started getting psyched.
6:00AM Got it all loaded up and drive 1 block from apartment to the Mt Baker highway.
7:10 AM: After a drive through mostly rain, picking up a Baker employee at Glacier, I climb through the snowpacked roads, arriving at a parking place 25 feet from the chairlift, get out and see this:
I walk over to the snowpack and it looks like about 10-12 inches of light powder accumulation. And since it is the first day, it is untracked.
9:00AM: After breakfast, a waxjob and too much coffe, the lifts finally get rolling. Here's the lucky first ones ( not me) :
That picture was taken from my parking spot
9:05 AM: O.K., so I am not the first one on the hill, that's fine. I climb too, ya know. All the whooping and hollering you would think 12" of fresh, untouched powder on a bluebird was the only thing in the world!
I get ready:
9:20: After waiting in line for a while, I am finally on the chair up:
Two years ago, I tore my ACL snowboarding and haven't been on one since, so I am doing a lot of thinking on the chairlift ( as I jam out to St Germain ). I really want the powpow hits, but you gotta be on the steeps to get through it, and I haven't boarded in two years, I don't know how my knee is ( I didn't get the operation), BUT SHIT!!! I only have one or two runs to get the fresh hits before it is tracked out. I see people on the groomers, and think: "I should do that for the first run." Then I see dudes just blazing through the pow, up to their knees, and I think: "But I WANT to do THAT!"
9:30 AM: I am seeing all sorts of freshie runs all around as we pop over the final rise:
Oh, Man! I am going to have to risk it, and go deep!!
9:35 AM: After I fall on my ass getting off the chair (hey, the knee was ok! ), and am buckling up, I can't resist another shot of Baker:
So I have sighted the fresh tracks I want, I negotiate over to the marker, and pop off the edge. One, two, three perfect turns (damn! StGermain is good to board to), and I bury my tip and eat it right under the chair.
The nice thing about music while you board? You can't hear people laughing and insulting you when you spend 5 minutes under the chair trying to get out of 12" of powder. I had to pack handfulls of snow into the holes I puches with my hands. All the while cursing myself for not taking the groomers for the first run.
10:00 AM: I have gotten to the chairline twice now, the second run, I compromised and stayed on the groomers with pow hits to the side, then back to the comfort.
My knee is acting up a bit and I am wondering if I should pack it in. I walk the 30 steps to the van and have a bite to eat and some water, and watch the folks tearing it up. **sigh** If I still smoked pot like Popeye, I wouldn't notice how old I am getting, or that my knee is throbbing, or that I am out of shape for this shit...
10:15 Feeling a bit better after some water, I decide that $29 for a ticket, $14 for a wax, and $5 for breakfast requires a bit more work to get to "priceless".
So, back on the slopes.
11:50 AM: After 7 or 8 runs I am wiped out. My legs are rubber, I have fallen more than I wanted, and the snow is getting popcorny in the sun. Time to go!!
All in all, a great start to the season. Looking forward to going again on Saturday with Ehmic!
End
