Day 10 – Mission Ridge

Clear, sunny, cold, 7 inches of new and few people. A perfect day to explore Mission Ridge. We’d been twice before, but only on foggy days and when an old slow lift crawled to the top. With the new (well, slightly used) detachable chair to the top of the bowl, it’s now easy to pick off the many runs that drop from the ridge lines.

The skiing was excellent all day, cold crisp snow and good coverage everywhere. My highlights were a descent through a chute in the Bomber Cliffs, and a hike along Windy Ridge to drop in to knee deep, untracked powder at 3pm. And there remain unlimited lines to poke around in the many tree runs that prevail all over the mountain, many of which have an excellent, consistent and challenging fall line.

I suspect we’ll be using up our five free days at Mission this season.

A mere 5,500m verts due to guiding responsibilities. But they were all good ‘uns

Season so far – 10 days, 6 powder days, 76,000m

A quick trip to the Gold Coast

Yep – that’s the one in Australia, just south of Brisbane. A fair few hours on a plane from Washington State. We went to go to Pete’s wedding (Jan’s brother), and a fine weekend it was too. I spent a lot of time lounging in swimming pools, tormenting children and drinking wine.

So congratulations to the newly weds, and there are many photos in the accompanying photo album. So, enough of that summer nonsense for a few months, it’s dumping in the Cascades and we’re off to Mission Ridge ;}

Day 9 – White Pass

New snow, clear, cold weather, no lift lines – what more could one ask for on a day ski trip. 4 inches had fallen at the summit of White Pass overnight, the sun was out and the views of Rainier spectacular in the sparkling morning air.

After a couple of fast warm up runs, I bumped in to Mike from the Desert Ski Club, who was also up for the day. After that it was a pretty fast and furious day, hitting all the main runs on the hill, which is now fully open with an excellent base.

One of the pleasures of familiarization with a ski hill is all the ‘secret’ nooks and crannies that can be found. Yesterday I scouted out two new lines, the best being a two-ski-wide steep chute that leads in to an open area in the trees near Holiday Cliff. There was still nice fresh snow in there at 2pm, so it’s not exactly over-populated in there. By the end of the season I should know White Pass almost like a ‘real’ local.

Hit the road home at 3pm as the leading edge of the next storm moved in, for 18 runs and 8,900m. A fine, fine day.

Season so far:

9 days, 5 powder days, 70,500 vertical metres

A Sangiovese tasting

We’ve assembled a fair few decent Washington sangioveses recently, so figured it was a good time to do a taste test. In the mix we had (from Washington’s iconic wine maker) a Leonetti 2003, a Three Rivers Pepper Bridge Vineyard 2003 and a Walla Walla Vintners 2003. To add some interest, I threw in a Brokenwood 2004 Rayner Vineyard from South Australia, a wine that has slipped down very nicely recently with dinner.

We brown-bagged the four bottles, randomly mixed them up and started sampling enthusiastically. Amazingly, consensus between the 4 or us (Jan, Kathy, John, me) was quickly reached. The ‘left hand bottle’ was quite superb. Much more complex than the others, prominent cedary oak, spice and black cherry dominating the palate. The lingering velvety finish called everyone back for more. And it tasted like the best was yet to come.

We were evenly split on the two right-hand bottles. One was obviously the Brokenwood, its warm climate heritage and high alcohol revealing its identity. It was a fine stuff though, not subtle, but excellent fruit/oak balance. The second (preferred by moi) was a beautiful, elegant wine. Much lighter than the other three, bright cherry fruit, gentle oak and an acid structure all in wonderful harmony.

The remaining bottle started promisingly, but on a second taste everyone was disappointed – it seemed to fall apart. The acid was overly aggressive, tooth-enamel-eatingly so. The fruit was pleasant, but the palate didn’t come together cleanly, with the flavors simply not well integrated. No one rushed back for more of this one.

We all bet on which wine was which before removing them from their covers. And we were all wrong (apart from the Brokenwood). The results were:

1) Walla Walla Vintners

Joint 2) Three Rivers and Brokenwood (2 votes each)

4) Leonetti

So, it just goes to show that reputation and price mean nothing in a blind tasting like this. I suspect we’ll be tasting some Leonetti’s in a blind cabernet tasting quite soon, to see how it scrubs up in some more esteemed Washington and Australian company.

Day 8 – Crystal Mountain, Washington

The perfect time to go to Crystal is before Xmas, when the crowds are shopping in Seattle and the snow pack is deep. A late November storm dropped over 100 inches on Crystal in 10 days, so this weekend was too good an opportunity to miss.

 

We woke up Saturday to light snow. By 10am it was dumping. It stopped at noon, and high winds came in, closing the High Campell chair (access to the wonderful Powder Bowl) and slowing the others to a crawl. By the 4pm it was sunny, clear, light winds and colder. A typical day in the Cascades really.

 

The combination of snow and wind loaded some areas with 6 inches or so of nice powder by noon. With so few people there, we just kept lapping the north facing aspects where the best conditions were, and finding fresh lines through the trees above Green Valley and in Snorting Elk Bowl. It was enormous fun. The terrain at Crystal is exception, and when the conditions are good, which they very often are, there’s few places I’d rather be.

 

Day 8 – 8000m

 

Season totals:

 

60,600m vertical

5 powder days

A day trip to White Pass

We’re White Pass season holders, so along with a 3 truck convoy and two sleepy stragglers, we headed up for a day of fun in the excellent early December conditions. Down here in the Columbia Valley, we’ve been socked in under an inversion for 3 days, meaning low cloud, fog and day time high temperatures of -4C. In such circumstances, the mountains are were the sun is, as well as the snow.

The 6am meeting time on a Sunday morning was a bit brutal. But such things are quickly forgotten when you’re on the hill at 9am, there’s no lift lines, the groomers are firm and fast and the off-trail has an excellent, forgiving coverage.

The somewhat prosaically named White Pass has some excellent steeps, and apart from two of the serious black diamonds, pretty much the whole mountain was open and skiable. This made for a great day of picking off the various bump runs, and alternating with some of the hairy lines off the top ridge line. In total there was about 14 of us out, so there was never a shortage of people to ski with.

Hourglass was my favorite, the top half undulating and fast before dropping precipitously to the cat track below. A few rocky protrusions limited turn options, and as the day went on, the bumps got bigger and bigger. It was a hoot! I must’ve skied it 5 times at least, and only came down once head first 🙂

No doubt this was the first of several days we’ll have up at White Pass this season. It’s only a small hill, but it rides big. And once the trees fill in some more, a lot the nice lines on the back will open up for exploration. And if we get better snow than this anytime this season up there, I’ll be very happy indeed.

Day 7: 8300m off 18 runs

Season Total: 52600m

4 powder days

Some recent top drops

Summer and autumn here are times for leisurely exploration of wine regions, relaxed tasting and usually collective voluminous purchases. Winter and spring are the time for drinking the accumulated supplies after long days on ski hills. Both seasons are a real struggle, honestly.

Below are some of the best we’ve cracked in the last few weeks.

Whitman 2001 merlot: We opened this to compare with two highly regarded Walla Walla merlots (albeit from the 2000 vintage). While the others were pleasant enough, the Whitman stood head and shoulders above the pack. It had a velvety mouthfeel, plum, vanilla, and a wonderful balance of fruit and acid. By no means tired, but so good now I’m afraid I’m going to drink my other bottles two very soon.

Peterson’s 1998 Hunter shiraz: Bought this one five years ago, and cellaring has rewarded the patience. If I remember correctly, a wine from a hot, dry vintage. It’s a classic Hunter, soft, leather and spice, with a backbone of black fruit. I can’t imagine it getting any better than it is now.

Argyle 1998 Knudsen Vineyard Brut: This is an excellent example of the quality of sparkling wine that can be made in Oregon. Predominantly pinot noir, the bottle age has produced a lovely yeastiness, balanced with apple tart flavours, grilled nuts and a long, long finish. I’ve no idea why more Oregon producers don’t follow Argyle’s example and make sparklings like this. It stands out from the masses of dull American fizzy wine that fills the wine store shelves.

Woodward Canyon 2000 Art Series cabernet: Again, we opened this against two other Columbia Valley cabernets, both 1999. The Art Series was a bit of stunner in comparison. Smooth tannins, espresso, vanilla and red berry, all in perfect harmony. A very impressive drop from a producer of age-worthy wines. This is certainly one I wish I’d left a couple more years, at least. And as they are actually the closest Walla Walla winery to us, one I need to visit again soon.