incoming

July 28, 2011

Still Plenty of Snow

Watching and listening to reports of over-100 degree weather with debilitating humidity in the rest of the country, complaining about our abnormally cool and wet summer in the Northwest makes us seem like ingrates. Indeed, we have it good. So what if some of us needed to put on fleece coats at my son's graduation party kegger? The drizzle just added to the festive atmosphere as we passed the Mirror Pond filled glass boot around . . .

Not to mention the fact that we can still skin from the car at Paradise, Sunrise, and Chinook Pass! Suncups are starting to form on most aspects, but it's still damn fine skiing throughout the region. I expect that some popular spots - Artist's Point, for instance - will not thaw out this season before the snow begins to fall again. It remains to be seen whether the semi-annual Turns-All-Year.com "Slush Cup" will take place in the Tatoosh - naturally enough, it requires SLUSH.

Lots of skiing to be had without trying too hard - check out the size of that cornice on Naches Peak!

July 8, 2011

Happy Summer

Summer is officially here, and we've actually had a couple sunny days over 70 degrees Fahrenheit . . . if you're not a fan of the cold, you can take heart in the fine summer skiing that's been available this year, with Sunrise and Chinook Pass just opening last week. This is a month or so later than usual, but the snowpack is exceptional in 2011, and there should be good roadside skiing at least through the end of the month.

My protégé skis into the fog in one of the Sourdough Chutes

Some extraordinary events have been captured on video this summer, among them the the ongoing evolutionary shaping of the Nisqually Cleaver. Just weeks after the first successful ski descents of the Nisqually Ice Cliff, the huge mass of rock and ice directly above the route let go in a series of large slides over the three days from June 25th to June 27th, effectively obliterating the line. Stuff is still falling and it looks like another mass of rock is ready to fall. Check out the video if you haven't seen it, I've probably watched it a dozen times and still can't get over the river of liquid stone and ice flowing down the Nisqually Glacier bed.

Then there's the other summer tradition, the Tour de France. Thanks to the availability of instant replay HD video, I've decided to stop getting up each day at 5:00 AM and have just been watching the finish of most stages (typically around 8:00 AM or so), then filling in the gaps with highlight video from the Internet. One of the coolest things I've seen is Tyler Farrar getting his first TDF stage win and giving his interview to Sporza in Flemish:

Previous Incoming Pages:

China: Wandering in the Middle Kingdom

"Incoming" covers developments that have personal interest to me (ie. gear I might consider acquiring, or events I feel may impact the sport of skiing) - it is by no means meant to be a comprehensive enumeration of gear or events in the ski world at large. Feel free to contact me via the randosaigai.com link below with news or images that may be of interest . . .