I pressed my eyeballs up to the windshield hoping the slop of the wipers would clear the blear. The rain beat down at some obtusely ugly hour of the morning. It looked like it was mixed with snow.
As the light came up near Enumclaw, that's what it proved to be. By the time the turnoff for Mud Mountain Dam had passed, there was a solid inch of deadly slush on the road and more dumpiong by the minute.
A wretched hour later, I pulled into the lot, front row. It was puking, howling, bombs going off and 23 degrees. This was my happy place. Lumbergh was lost sometime ago.
Stood in line for almost an hour to get 3rd chair. Brandon the omnipresent boarder was there as well as the other irregulars. Nods, nervous stamping, waiting for the lift to fire up. Once it did, it was a mad tear.
I thought I'd take it easy, warm up down Lucky Shot. But when I passed the 3rd or 4th door and saw the clean untracked cream beckoning, I dove in. Shins, knees, hips, waist got covered, then it was the white room, blinding facepacking snow I couldn't stop. I must have done 3 or 4 Doors, 5 West Faces and 2 Upper Bulls/E when I sort of came to. It was amazing. It was 11:15 and I was just beginning to cross tracks. Ever run was more than face shots, it was a firehose of powder filling your goggles, choking, spitting, blinding. The wind howled, trees dumped loads of snow and the vis just sucked. I was in heaven.
I took a couple rollers through Green Valley and down Lucky Shot, waiting for Snorting Elk Bowl to open. But my legs were turning to shaking jello. As I was about to take a break in the upper lodge, another old cronie shouted out that he had a stash. Back on go the skis and down to Eagle's Nest (I guess every area has t have one). Sure enough, down there at 1:00 I was skiing waist deep untracked snow. By the time I got down to the cat road, I was wasted.
Best opening day I'd had in years. I hope that the year keeps up the tone.
