I'm glad I decided to leave my job at Helly Hansen this summer and stick it out in semi-retirement until the end of December. Why you ask? Because it's been one of the best early ski seasons I can remember. It has to rank in my top 3 for the most deep powder days before January. I've only had one day that hasn't been at least 4 or 5 inches of new and most have been deeper than that.

Of all the early seasons to take off and go skiing, this was it. I got lucky and hit it when Mother Nature decided it was the Northwest's turn to get dumped on. My friend Adam has been counting the number of runs we get in during the day, I have been counting the number of days. Yesterday I hit my 15th day of the season, please don't hate me my fellow ski and snowboard enthusiasts. I've been going 2-3 times a week since Crystal Mountain opened. I guess that means my back is pretty much healed huh?

Yesterday there was 11" of new snow and about 20" or so in the backcountry. Most of the day it was knee deep or deeper. Hardly anybody was up at the mountain, maybe they were too busy returning gifts. Adam and I just hopped right on the chair lift every time. I'm happy to report we got 20 runs in again. Most of which were top to bottom and backcountry.

We spent most of the day ripping up the North Backcountry, more so than we've done in the past. Then at the end of the day, around 3 pm, they opened Chair 6 for the first time in 3 days. We didn't make it over there first, but let's just say when I skied down, there wasn't another track within 30 feet of my left or right.

Another good social day as well. Ran into Mike Porter and his buddy JD, went for a good run down O Meadows. Saw Liz on skis for the first time in years, congratulations on the bun in the oven Liz. Then just happened to run into an old fraternity brother named Jason Anderson on the chair. We took him and his brother-in-law out to do Left Angle but lost them after a couple turns in the trees. I hope they enjoyed the run. Where was everybody else though? Usually there are tons of the Crystal Mountain kids running around.

The storms are still dropping lots of snow in the mountains. I'm going to have to wait until this Saturday to go again. It's time for me to get ready for the new year and a new career.

Here's a couple more images from the day, click on the thumbnails to go bigger. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not a good ski model, nor a good photographer, nor do I have the right camera for what I'm trying to capture. The shot at the beginning is the best effort of my friend Adam so far (check me out looking at the camera as I go by). Then there's the shot of Adam getting a turn in, him and I in the blizzard, me being happy below, Adam traversing out on I-5, and a shot I took of the trees trying to use my Photoshop skills. I wanted to take 3 images with the focus being at 3 different depths and then put the images together. Gotta have a tripod and another camera to achieve that one. Until next time, enjoy your turns.