Seattle area questions

Sorry if this has been answered before, but it's late and I don't have time to search... So, after 3 days in SLC and a day at Pebble Creek (proper TR to follow when I get some sleep), I am now in Boise trying to escape the high pressure. Will be in Seattle area most likely Saturday night and have 2 questions:

1 - Is the snow still holding up or is it a death crust like I seem to remember from a Baker TR 3 days ago?

2 - What is the best place for a basecamp assuming one would want to ski Crystal, Snoqualmie and Stevens on 3 consecutive days (Sun-Tue)? Or is it better to move everyday?

Gracias,

S

When I was up on monday I heard stories about the death crust at snoqual and baker. But stevens never got the rain that caused that crust. Thats the lastest info from me but ask around alot of people have been skiing latley and some new snow is on its way

I can only report as of Monday but both snoqual (monday) and Crystal (sunday) still had some soft snow to be found. Like Phil said a little more snow is predicted. To hit all three areas Seattle might actually be your best base camp if you choose not to move everyday.

Up high on snoqualmie pass was still good today! Seattle would be a centerpoint for all three mountains.

Anywhere in Seattle would be a good base camp, eastside would probably be the best choice. Wait for Squirell99 or Zeedashbo's response as far as current conditions.

+1 for Seattle being a good base camp. Crystal is the farthest of the three mentioned, and is realistically 1:50 driving time from Seattle doorstep to Crystal ticket counter.

agreed seattle is your best choice for base camp.

conditions are not too bad. it's not blower madness, but still pretty fun skiing. just got back from a night session at alpental snow was for sure firm on a majority of the hill, but softish pockets and fun little lines were to be had (all under the lights at lower elevation). up high i'd bet it's better and on the way back home to seattle it was snowing pretty good. currently raining in seattle with pretty cold temps.

looks like a little more will roll in friday lingering saturday.

summit
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_foreca...&county=wac033

crystal
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_foreca...lon=-121.65875

baker
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_foreca...&county=wac061

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Originally Posted by sculhane

Sorry if this has been answered before, but it's late and I don't have time to search... So, after 3 days in SLC and a day at Pebble Creek (proper TR to follow when I get some sleep), I am now in Boise trying to escape the high pressure. Will be in Seattle area most likely Saturday night and have 2 questions:

1 - Is the snow still holding up or is it a death crust like I seem to remember from a Baker TR 3 days ago?

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It was still decent last weekend and the freezing level has stayed low. Forecast is for 3-4" on Friday night, so that should put some pleasant lace on the boobies of the Cascades.

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2 - What is the best place for a basecamp assuming one would want to ski Crystal, Snoqualmie and Stevens on 3 consecutive days (Sun-Tue)? Or is it better to move everyday?

Gracias,

S

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Stay on the eastside to be centrally located, but with some exception, the eastside is a strip mall wasteland.

The Salish Lodge is centrally located, really close to Alpie, ridiculously expensive and not too far from Stevens. You'd take 18 to Maple Valley Road to 410 to get down toward Crystal in about 1.5 hours, I-90 to get to Alpental in about 30 minutes and 203 to US2 to get to Stevens in about 1.5 hours.

There's some other hotels in the Redmond Town Center that might not be too bad and centrally located for access each of the above and there's a few bars and restaurants there.

The only on hill lodging really is at the Alpine Inn @ Crystal which has spare rooms and is relatively expensive. They used to reserve a couple of dorm rooms for walk in only at about $60/night/bed, shower & toilet down the hall.

Do a priceline search for Eastside/Bellevue. You can get some pretty cheap lodging. You can do Stevens in just under 2 hours fm Bellevue & Crystal in about 90 minutes and Alpental in about 50 minutes depending on road conditions.

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Originally Posted by BC-FLOW

agreed Seattle is your best choice for base camp.

conditions are not too bad. it's not blower madness, but still pretty fun skiing. just got back from a night session at alpental snow was for sure firm on a majority of the hill, but softish pockets and fun little lines were to be had (all under the lights at lower elevation). up high I'd bet it's better and on the way back home to Seattle it was snowing pretty good. currently raining in Seattle with pretty cold temps.

looks like a little more will roll in Friday lingering Saturday.

summit

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Damn! Thought I saw your green jacket steeze up there when I was on the chair. I looked for you a bit after that but didn't see you again, plus I was was doing some of that silly stuff over on chair 3. Sorry we didn't hook up.

Looked to be about ~4 inches new on top of the firm (in bounds) which made for some good night riding. I think it will continue to put down 2-4" today, maybe a bit more Fri and should be good thru the weekend. Maybe not OTT blower, but the firm crustiness will be harder to find.

And Eastside Bellevue give decent access like others have said.

You'll want to stay at the Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle. Anything else would be downright gauche.

Seriously, either Seattle or the Eastside (Bellevue, Kirkland) would be your best bets to stay with a slight edge to the Eastside in overall drive times. I would guess you can get some decent hotel rates this time of year.

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Originally Posted by Mofro261

Damn! Thought I saw your green jacket steeze up there when I was on the chair. I looked for you a bit after that but didn't see you again, plus I was was doing some of that silly stuff over on chair 3. Sorry we didn't hook up.

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We bailed around 9, we thought we saw your car in the usual spot. Last night was pretty fun and the snow was better than expected.

Also, fuck the East Side, you want to stay in Seattle. Preferably at one of the lovely motor lodges off of Highway 99.

Thanks a lot guys, really helpful.

In McCall Idaho now, we will ski Brundage tomorrow and decide between Whistler and Seattle on Saturday. Proper "high pressure" TR to follow soon ;)

Steve