Hyak Dawn Patrol

skinning up hyak under the dead lifts. you might remember hyak from the 300 foot wide avalanche/landslide that happened during our january warming.
snoqualmie got 15 inches of fresh so we decided a dawn patrol was in order. ellen and copson joined me, fraser didn't. as we got to the lot hopes were high until we started skinning. there was a somewhat nasty crust on top, not a death crust mind you, but certainly enough to squash the dreams i had as i sleep drove to ellen's house at 4:45am. someone mentioned they thought the snow would be better once we got to the top. i agreed verbally, but doubted it. however the top 500 feet was better and the skiing was really fun. with the inversion and the sun it was a perfect morning. i'm grateful i have friends that are willing to dawn headlampsand battle sleep monsters for 2,000 ft by 8:30 am.

after posting a couple of these photos on facebook i received the following question.

"Holy crap, where was this and where do you live that you can so quickly pop out for a quick ski?"

my response:

"i live in seattle. snoqualmie pass is 45 mins away. woke up at 4:30am, started skinning uphill in the dark and skiing downhill with the sunrise. my buddy was at his microsoft desk by 9:30am after 2,000ft of skiing and a coffee stop on the way home.

it's possible.. you just gotta want it."

ellen and steve - run 3

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my new favorite ski jacket - the mtn hardware synchro