personal | splitboard adventures at paradise on mt rainier

I know, I know. Winter is over. On sunny days like this though, I can't seem to stop thinking about winter adventures. See for me, summer is my working season. I can barely find the time to leave my computer screen, let alone go on a hike or make it to a happy hour with friends. With that season rapidly approaching, I've been trying to savor every last bit of free time I have. Taking a walk through the neighborhood, going on a weekend bike ride, whatever I can fit in before my time is taken up by editing, shooting, traveling, answering emails, uploading photos, writing blogs, connecting with vendors, and all of the other wonderful things that my job entails. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but like everyone else, I do savor my days off.

This winter, in fact, was terrible. And winter the time that I usually look forward to the most. It's pretty depressing to see snow levels the way they are. Cherry blossoms were blooming in February, it was raining instead of snowing in January at Crystal Mountain, and I can only imagine how it's going to impact the wildfires this summer. That being said, I do think it's funny when people look at me cross-eyed after I tell them I went snowboarding in April. Yes, it was bad, but it doesn't mean there was NO snow! When you spent five years of your life living in a ski town, sliding down snow simply becomes a way of life. With ski resorts having sub-par conditions for most of the end of winter this year, I found that it was absolutely necessary to go hunting for powder in other ways. Enter Jeff and Kelly Steele. Basically I met these two through Instagram. Sounds crazy, but a mutual friend commented on some of Jeff's photos and I realized he had a wife that was a splitboarder. I've been desperately hoping to find a lady friend to splitboard with in Washington. Not that I don't like going with only boys, or girl skiers for that matter, it's just different to have another female around that is doing the same thing you are. I recognized Jeff on a particularly poor weather day up at Crystal this year. We were all lamenting the bad weather over beers at the Snorting Elk. It seemed like the best way to spend the day at the time. We got to talking and planned our first trip up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier.

Our first experience was probably one of the best days I've EVER had snowboarding. We only took a couple of lines but the powder was totally incredible that day. It had snowed about a foot and the trees looked like tasty marshmallow-ice cream cones against a brilliant blue sky. Really I couldn't think of anywhere else I wanted to be at the time! The next time we went up was just a few weeks ago in April. Visibility was nearly nothing with the fog and clouds as we were skinning up. Barely being able to see, we decided to stay low on the mountain and dropped into a skinny little chute that Jeff and Kelly named "Happy New Year Chute". All of us were completely shocked that the snow was so good. And it was April! After that it warmed up into some pretty sticky snow but the companionship and the feeling of being out in the mountains made for a pretty amazing day. 

I have to say, I'm pretty stoked to have met these two. I love having Kelly around to tell me "You can do it!" as I'm struggling up a slippery kick-turn or to high five after an amazing line. There's just something different about the energy that girls bring to the table when they snowboard together and I have really missed is since leaving Jackson Hole. I can't wait to see what other memories and stories we can all create together, no matter what Mother Nature decides to hand us next season. Cheers to wonderful days in the mountains.

personal | winter adventure in the tatoosh.

This winter has been dreadful for snow here in the Cascades. I am missing Jackson and their lovely powder. There, I said it. To be completely up front, this is not a normal year for the Cascades. So since I plan to stay a while, I think I just have to endure this year of warm wintery days and rain and just look forward to the next. That being said, there is still fun to be had. Most of that time it just requires a good crew and a sunny day. Thanks to my friend Kristina (who was one of the few smart ones who came to visit us in Jackson) I was introduced to an awesome group of people who willingly put up with my slow splitboard transitions to take me out to the Tatoosh. The Tatoosh Range is on the southern boundary of Mount Rainier National Park with a perfect view of Paradise and the Nisqually Glacier on Mt. Rainier. Really though, I couldn't stop looking at that mountain all day. It is a simply impressive mountain and that's it.

We got a really early start (6:30 am ugh!) in Seattle and headed south to the Park. Once emerged out of the thick fog that has suffocated the city for the past few weeks, we were greeted with gorgeous winding roads through the forest and peek-a-boo views of the peaks around. In the parking lot, we put on our skins and got a move on up the steep icy slope in front of us. Really, it wasn't any different than hiking the White Spider in JHMR and it was a great warm-up for the day ahead. A mellow skin up the access road then winding through the trees put us up into a beautiful open bowl right below the peak named Castle. It was smooth sailing from there.

photo courtesy of Brian Savery

photo courtesy of Brian Savery 

Once at the top we enjoyed 360 panoramic views of the gorgeous Cascade volcanoes. Mt. Adams, St. Helens and even Mt. Hood in Oregon all made an appearance for us. It was a great time to work on my nonexistent sun tan. After soaking that in for a while and eating lunch it was back down the way we came (well, for the most part). A pretty sturdy breakable crust atop sugar snow were the conditions we had to work with. If you didn't turn much it almost felt like riding a fresh groomer. Alas, it was fun and while the conditions weren't ideal, it still felt good to be sliding down snow. Once below treeline, survival skiing ensued as most of the terrain was a mixture of sort-of-soft followed by angry ice. You really didn't know what you were going to get with each turn. We had a little bit of a mix-up on the route finding which forced me to transition my board back to skins and climb back up a ways. And then transition back to a board to go down, and then transition again once I got to the road. It wasn't ideal really, but at least the patient group was cool about it. Faster transitioning (and side-hilling of course) is something I can definitely improve on with my splitboarding. An easy skin back down the road we came brought us back to our initial slope that we had bootpacked up. This time though, the sun had softened it a bit and we somewhat gracefully rode down it back to the parking lot.

Mount St. Helens out there.

Mt. Adams, Hood is there too just not in the photo.

Castle Peak.

Mt. Rainier, I can't stop looking at you!

Nick Drake crushing it.

Me & the crusty snow, then nordic-boarding down the road. Photos by Nick Drake.

All in all, today was gorgeous and it was the perfect day to be outside in the mountains. Now that I've gotten to know a few more backcountry enthusiasts here in the PNW maybe I'll be doing a lot more of this. Oh yah, and GO HAWKS!!