Skiing - Corona Bowl and I-5

Today I enjoyed another energetic day of skiing at Stevens Pass. I had to leave right after class for a piano recital, so I didn’t get many runs in.

The favorite run that I did was Corona Bowl. I like this run because in the middle, the snow is great. The run starts out a bit icy, though. Corona Bowl is a double black-diamond. I ripped down the run, zoomed off a jump, and sprayed the class with a huge blast of snow.

Another run I liked was I-5. As always, the snow was really good. But today, the snow was exceptional. On the sides, there was a lot of powder that was untouched, with lots of moguls to jump off. It was about 2 inches thick, so you can go without slowing you down too much.

Skiing - 1/20/13 and 1/21/13

Today I came back from a 2-day skiing trip. I had skied on Sunday, stayed in Leavenworth, skied on Monday, and came back to my house.

On Sunday, I wrote:

‘Today I skied the half-pipe at Stevens Pass. A half-pipe is a large pile of snow that was cut by a groomer with a U-shaped attachment.

I jumped off the side of the ridge, and skied the pipe, like the rest of my class. I almost touched the top, but didn’t. The snow was OK, and some parts were icy. I-5’s snow was better at the bottom half, though. The second time I came, I was alone. I couldn’t see that much, it was blurry. I could see a nasty brown patch, though. I couldn’t avoid it, so I skied over it. It wasn’t rock, but I don’t know what it was. They pile up snow for the half-pipe, so I don’t know what it was.’ I figured out that it was a rock on my first time today (Monday). I got a close look. I don’t know how that got in there, but I managed to avoid it and the ice around it.

Today, Monday, I was busy trying to set speed records for myself and cover the whole front mountain. I did not cover the whole front mountain. I did Promenade, the two Parachutes, Rock ‘N Blue, Hoot ‘N Holler, Hagen Hill, Slow Poke, Skyline, Headwall, Barrier Ridge, Panorama, Easy Street, 76 Road, Showcase, I-5, Marmot Meadows, Skid Road, and lastly, Crest Trail. I missed 10 runs out of around 37. I ate lunch at the Granite Peaks Lodge. I had a resolution to not eat the bacon cheeseburger with fries, and I forgot about it yesterday (lunch and dinner!), so I ate a great prime rib sandwich with cheese, soup, and fries. As for setting speed records, I did pretty well. I covered Showcase on Big Chief, with a vertical rise of 824 feet, in half a minute. I also covered Barrier Ridge and Skyline on Skyline, with a vertical rise of 1,212 feet, in 96 seconds. I think I could probably improve on the Skyline record, because I stopped for a while to do the half-pipe. Successful or not, I had a lot of fun today!

Here’s the URL of the map of the front mountain:

http://www.stevenspass.com/Stevens/SiteAssets/files/main/Stevens-Mountain-Map-2012-2013front.pdf

Terrain Park on Promenade

            Today I enjoyed the Terrain Park on Promenade. The terrain park is relatively small, but the jumps are wild and who’s complaining? There are two trails – the right and the left. The first jump on the left is okay, because there isn’t much speed to go flying. You ski down the hill, either skating or pushing with your poles, and jump off. Then the second jump appears. The second jump in the path is approaching, and you ski up the jump. At the top, you give a small hop to enhance the flying experience. The third jump is excessively steep. This jump is the best of the three. Perfectly wild, and you land with a lot of speed, which gets you past the long climb. The trail on the right includes other stunt materials – metal pipes, boxes, grinds, and one jump at the end. That path is okay, but the left path is definitely a lot better. To sum up, my first time in a terrain park went pretty well!

Here’s a map:

http://www.stevenspass.com/Stevens/SiteAssets/files/main/Stevens-Mountain-Map-2012-2013front.pdf