A little night skiing

Night @Stevens Pass

Yesterday, finally, I got up to Stevens Pass for some skiing. But, we did something a little different this time--we left at about 1:00 in the afternoon, arriving at 3:00 for some late afternoon/early evening skiing.

I was hoping the crowds when we arrived would be a little less due to the Seahawks-Packers playoff game that was in progress, but it was still pretty busy.

I made the mistake of wanting to do a warm-up run on the easy run---it took us about 20 minutes in line to get on that lift. It's a slow lift to begin with, but made even slower by the large number of beginner skiers/boarders that use it. Normally, I get to Stevens about a half hour before the lifts open at 9:00am and you can ski right up to this lift first thing. But mid-day it is a madhouse. I wanted to get out of the line, but once you're packed into the chute it's not so easy.

We finally got through that run though and headed to my favorite lift Brooks. It's got a great intermediate run along one side of the terrain park and it's fun to stop for a bit midway down and watch folks take the jumps and rails.

By 4:00 the light was fading and I was hoping they would turn on the lights. Visibility was somewhat low anyway, due to a light snow falling. It was beautiful, and the snow as good as it gets here in the Pacific Northwest. But my night vision is not what it used to be.

When the lights finally came on, I noticed an interesting (and helpful) effect: I was casting a shadow on the snow. This helped me see my body position as I was going down the slope.  I know what I'm suppose to do position-wise, but still have to concentrate to keep everything together.

All my equipment felt great: boots, skis, helmet. I got the helmet last season, but didn't it didn't get much use due to my calf tear. And I don't feel so bad today, at least so far. A bit stiff, but not really sore.