Edelweiss Chair and beyond... Alpental , The valley and the rest of snocrummy

[snoqpass]

Same. We don't have many of those biggies left so it's a bummer to see them come down.

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I'm more concerned about the number of dead and dying trees everywhere in the last two-three years it's made quite a jump and it's troubling to see how many there is this year

[Power_Sauce]

I'm more concerned about the number of dead and dying trees everywhere in the last two-three years it's made quite a jump and it's troubling to see how many there is this year

This. Crazy number of dead trees above Snow Lake Divide.


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[Norseman]

It is alarming.

[jackattack]

I was talking to a forest service fuels reduction specialist guy and he intimated that the bulk of the trees lost this winter we’re due to cold shock. There are a shocking number of standing dead evergreens on the east slope. It looks like most of the deciduous trees are coming back.

[Norseman]

... he intimated that the bulk of the trees lost this winter we’re due to cold shock.

I wasn't aware that the temps were far enough below normal this year to cause shock damage. Was that a Columbia Basin thing?

There was a fair bit of buzz at Alpy near the end of the season about the unhealthy-looking woods. Leading layman's theory according to my chairlift chatter is: June 2021 heat dome fry, followed the next summer by 100 days without precip, followed by this winter which maintained a cold dry snowpack with perhaps limited water perc... heat scorch followed by drought stress. I recall seeing a few trees looking fucked up last year after the heat wave, and those trees mostly have no needles now, but the huge numbers of red trees really only seemed evident by about April of this year.

This article suggests that heat scorch shows up pretty quickly, in contrast to browning months after drought stress:

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-pacific-northwest-dome-tree-temperature.html


And this one describes mass fir die-off as a combination of heat/drought with insect and fungi attack.

https://columbiainsight.org/massive-...fic-northwest/


I'd be very interested to learn more, if anyone comes across further information.

[John_B]

Norseman here is a newspaper article from the Methow about our winter. Temps were around 0 in the first week of November and a lot of deciduous trees held on to their leaves through the winter. I've heard about a decent number that haven't budded out this spring. Obvious that's very different than conifers on I-90, but I thought you might appreciate the article.

My guess is you are spot on about the cause starting with the heat dome of 2021 and drought issues after that. It irks me when people talk about how "the drought is gone" not understanding the long term stress that trees have faced from the last few years. It doesn't just suddenly get better.

https://methowvalleynews.com/2023/05...-did-not-fall/

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Red trees everywhere in the Wenatchee mountains and east slopes. Lots of Doug fir and Pondos. Deciduous trees held their leaves in Wenatchee and the valley most of the winter. I was worried about my beech tree but it finally dropped it’s leaves and leafed out new about a month ago.


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[bfree]

So i gotta ask. The workers commute to the jobsite involves taking Ch2 up and then skiing down upper international... Facebook just post a pic of one of the workers pouring concrete from a bucket while wearing jeans and ski boots.

Was "must be able to rip double diamonds, and not be afraid of sharks" part of the job descriptions for these guys? Or has there been some carnage on the morning commute?


Attachment 459720

Given the empty bucket and lack of gloves, possibly just a vanity shot for the 'gram before skiing down at the end of the day?

[californiagrown]

Melting quick and not a ton left up there. Pretty out though.

[waveshello]

Somewhat better coverage 3 years ago to the day:

[snoqpass]

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK...."

[Garbowski]

I want to sign my kids up for weekend lessons next season at one of the ski clubs- what's the deal there? Are they all the same or any better than the others? Nobody is calling or emailing me back and while I hope that means I should relax, seems like we have to sign up for kid shit within 10 seconds of it opening 18 months out or you miss it. One of them is already full, but some others seem off for the summer.

[Buke]

I want to sign my kids up for weekend lessons next season at one of the ski clubs- what's the deal there? Are they all the same or any better than the others? Nobody is calling or emailing me back and while I hope that means I should relax, seems like we have to sign up for kid shit within 10 seconds of it opening 18 months out or you miss it. One of them is already full, but some others seem off for the summer.

In the past, I used Webbski. The big advantage to Webbski was that they kept the kids for lunch so I was free to ski kid-free basically all day. The downside to Webbski is that they're at Central and the quality of instruction is highly dependent and which high school aged kid is the instructor of your kids group. They were also a lot more affordable than some of the other options. I don't have any personal experience with any of the other schools. If you go the Webbski route, they're pretty old school and have a paper mailer registration form. Don't expect fancy online ordering and payment systems.

[phatty]

I did lessons at Alpental for all of my kids. I figured that I didn't want to waste my few ski days at Central or West. Alpental tends to have good instructors, though it's always a crap shoot. If your kid has never skied at all, sometimes it's easier to start them with some night lessons over at West. Their learning area is much better than at Alpental. My rule with lessons was that they could be done with lessons once they could ski Upper Internationale without slowing me down too much. They generally got there are 10-11yo after starting at 4yo.

[snoqpass]

In good news the road to the upper lots is in the best shape ever

[phatty]

In good news the road to the upper lots is in the best shape ever

Love to hear that. It was getting pretty rough by the end of the season.

[CHAIR_97]

Maybe they could put some no parking signs up

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[CHAIR_97]

https://youtu.be/AxDt_6AFp6s
12+mins of grunt cam predominantly in the trees at my Alma mater

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[snoqpass]

Things are happening
Base of the new Sessel chair



My team of riding a motorcycle to the top of 1 is getting closer

Lot of rock

It could be a great line on a pow day

[waveshello]

https://youtu.be/AxDt_6AFp6s
12+mins of grunt cam predominantly in the trees at my Alma mater

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Well that was sick. Well done.

Yesterday in the heat:

[snoqpass]

Hyak is getting some cleaning up too

[Dromond]

I am pumped for the new chair line at Alpy. Is that tree thinning next to Hyak face in the photo? ^

[snoqpass]

Hyak is getting some cleaning up too

It is, trying to go all the way down, get off the chair and make a hard right


20' tall willow patch, hopefully it will fill in quicker and can open with less snow, Mom's got brush cut too, and the brushing the lower part of Debbie's/Sessel too

[snoqpass]

Hyak face before picture
ATTACH=CONFIG]467901[/ATTACH]

[Dromond]

That is some landscaping I can really get behind