Pre-Xmas at Mission Ridge

Skiing in the Cascades can become a somewhat macho ‘my snow base is bigger than yours’ kind of affair. In a region where 100 inch bases are common place, and big snow falls as regular as Bill O’Reilly rants,  I’m sure some people think it’s impossible to ski on less than 6 feet of settled snow. It certainly makes for some entertaining conversations about conditions. Sure, the first 90+ inches help cover rocks and trees, but it’s what’s on the surface that really counts when you rock up in the morning.

The weekend before Xmas, Mission Ridge was reporting a 30 inch mid-mountain base. Mission gets a lot less snow than it Cascades neighbors, but even I expected no more than excellent groomers and the odd off trail excursion. This though was a baseless (sic) fear. Virtually the whole mountain was perfectly skiable, as long as you dodged and hopped the odd bit of shrubbery and rock on the steeps. A couple of inches of freshies each night topped up the things nicely, making for some creamy groomer pow and soft excursions in the trees. We even had a few runs with friends Art and Patty, who showed us a couple of well disguised black runs we hadn’t stumbled onto before. It’s always good to know locals 😉

So when Mission is reporting a 30 inch base, no one has anything to fear.

Some photos here.

Saturday 8200m, Sunday 8200m vert

Season totals: 11 days, 3 powder days, 79, 400m vertical