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Notes 2008/2009 season
First Measurable Snow:10/21/2008
August 19, 2009 A lot of activity but all of it is centered around the PIT. I had heard earlier in the summer that September they will begin filling the hole, but as we can see they have now built a road up to the hole and are prepping it for the fill. Norm is rebuilding his home along the slopes that was taken out by the slide from the pit in January. No news as if they are going to run the small chair?? June 15, 2009 The summit is spending a lot of time cleaning up the landslide from January. Stumps are being hauled away by dumptruck and a bulldozer is flattening out the terrain on the lower portion of the slopes from the FS road on down.
June 8, 2009 Well, it is official. The Summit has announced no lift service for Hyak next season. Today I saw them continue to do some removal work, towing the haul-ropes down the mtn. I also spoke to a worker who said they were planning to try and stabalize the mtn, removed stumps and so forth this summer. The snow is gone except for patches in the shade......
May 27, 2009 SUN SUN SUN. Nice weather and sunshine the past week or so, and it is to continue. The snow is rapidly disappearing but there is still enough to keep my measuring stick standing. The mud on the hill is horrible, and the run off damage is now starting to appear. I saw a bulldozer up on the FS road pushing dirt/snow around. Still no official word yet on a lift for next year, but from all I hear it doesn't sound good. Base: 0- 1'
May 17, 2009 Today I hiked up to the top of Dino and saw there pretty much wasn't a Dino left. Except for the top station, the front load station and I'd guess the backside load all of the towers have been cut down. Most of the frontside towers were towed down but the top and backside are laying on the ground/snow. Still a good snowpack for this time of the year as I was able to ride all the way down from to top to the road across the street from my cabin w/o stopping. Base: 2' (my base snow depth is recorded behind my cabin in an open space @ 2,900')
May 15, 2009 More snow fell this week. About 3" one day then 1" another, but the snow is still retreating. The Dino chair is removed from the hill on the front side excluding down by the load area. Same with the Keechelus lift. Rumors are going around that the ski area won't have the funds to install the triple chair this summer. If that is the case, it will be a horrible season next year (wait and see). Still enough snow to get you from the top to the forest service road at the Keechelus lift level, and maybe down to the lodge if you stay near the trees. Sunshine predicted this weekend. Base: 2 1/2' Wednesday, May 6, 2009 May 6, 2009 The 2008-2009 ski season in WA is officially over. Yesterday was the last day of lift served skiing/snowboarding in WA. May 3, 2009 This weekend the ski area held a pre-sale of dino chairs to local residents and they sold out very quickly. Lucky I was able to arrange one for myself and I hope those other locals who wanted one were so lucky. The snow is still in great shape as me and Ed navigated ourselves down the south side bowl of Mt Hyak. Lots of cliffs which must have made that some interesting terrain back in the Snoqualmie Ski Bowl days (though there were no trees back then). Base:3 1/2' April 29, 2009 Snow is beginning to retreat and being replaced by sunshine. The Keechelus towers are gone as well as the top station and the bottom is bein removed. Many towers of the Dino have been cut and dragged down the mtn and all dino chairs were removed. Still a good base for riding. Base: 4 1/2' April 20, 2009 Warm weather continues and the summit is keeping Central and Alpental both open for another weekend. Alpental is scheduled to stay open into the first week of May. Snow levels had dropped to 7' at my cabin as of Friday. As of Monday the 20th the ski area had pulled down the chairs and haul rope of the Keechelus lift and getting the towers ready for removal. I hear the Dino chair was started and all chairs have been pulled from that lift and possibly some guys even took a ride on the lift (will try to verify). Base:6 1/2'
April 14, 2009 Just when I think our snow is coming to an end, it starts up again. Easter Sunday was snowing most of the day followed by rain. Monday another 5" of snow fell and today it was snowing most of the day. My measuring stick has since resurfaced but snow depth is still good for this time of the year. Base: 7'
April 7, 2009 Spring is here and you better have sunblock or your in for some serious pain. Saturday rolled in with warm temps and sun (60 degrees). Sun is forecast to last through Tuesday and both Central and Alpental will be working normal hrs through the week. Base: 8 1/2'
April 3, 2009 SNOW SNOW SNOW. A few more feet of snow has fallen the past week and my measuring stick finally has been buried. This usually happens late Feb but it didn't happen this year until April. All the latest snow is pretty heavy, but it guarantees a good spring base. The Summit is beginning the removal of the Keechelus lift and will be dragging the towers down the mtn in the snow (cheaper then a chopper). Central and Alpental are still operating and this is the last week of night operation. Base: 8 1/2'
March 20, 2009 The rains have come and all that dry powder we've been getting the past 2 weeks has turned into cascade concrete. It was up to 7' on my measuring stick but has packed down to 6 1/2' as of this morning. Base: 6 1/2' March 15, 2009 The snow continues to dump. Another foot of snow fell Saturday night and while I was at Hyak it appeared to be falling at a rate better then an inch/hr. I hiked up to the top and tried to board the face but the snow is far too deep and I couldn't stay on top of it. I ended up hiking back down to the groomers and riding that back down. Still fun, but not quite the powder day I was expecting. The snow is now at its deepest it has been all season. Base: 6'+ March 8, 2009 This first week of March has been awesome. More snow has fallen in the past 7 days then in the entire month of February. Today we had another foot of great dry powder. Lets hope March continues this way. Base: 5 1/2' February 26, 2009 Finally, SNOW. The first significant snowfall since the first week of January with around 7". There is a little more forecast this weekend I believe, but finally there is some powder and hope that the season is not over yet. Base: 4' February 23, 2009 Nothing has really changed in the past couple months. A few snow dusting's, some fog, clear but no snow storms. The good thing is there has been very little snow melt!! (one positive) I hear the forecast is for possible rain/snow next week. My measuring stick still shows the same amount of snow, and has now since December.... Base: 4' February 8, 2009 Well, not much has changed since my last entry. Not more then an inch or so of snow as fallen and temps run in the 20's to mid 30's for the most part. January snowfall was less then 50% of normal and Feb has not started off any better. Base: 4' January 28, 2009 More new snow. About 4" more wet snow, but at least we are back on a normal weather pattern. We really need at least an average month in FEB to get some snowpack so we have enough to get us into spring (April). Not much going on. Base: 4'+ January 25, 2009 Finally, some new snow. Only 1"-2", but still at least it is a change in the weather trend of cold and foggy. Went for a spin at Silver Fir where the snow was OK.. The new snow made it fun on the groomed, but still any fall was painful with the rock-hard snow below. Temp was 20 degrees. Snowpack is still pretty much the same, between 3'-4' with some brush/rock starting to show on the steeper runs. January has been a very poor month for snow with about 1/3 normal falling. Base: ~4' January 19, 2009 We have not had any new snow in 10 days now but forecasts show snow should re-appear later this week. Still around 4' of rock hard snow. This inversion we've been under for the past week has been leaving us with cold temps (low-mid 20s) at the pass level and warm spring like temps (40-50) up top of Alpental. Base: 4' January 9, 2009 Post landslide........Hyak is officially closed for the season to downhill riding. Nordic is slated to be re-opened next weekend. I was able to hike up the mtn today to check out the damage close up and first hand. Seeing what happened in person is so much more dramatic then if you look at the photo's. I hope all goes well for Norm and that he can get his place rebuilt by next winter. All in all, the snow loss as not nearly as bad as I had thought it would
be. Still good coverage and central was open today. The pass was closed
for 2 days I believe before it opened this morning.
January 7, 2009 - Avalanche Yesterday I went up to shovel out my parking before too much rain fell and made the foot or so of snow extra heavy. The rain was coming down very hard (pineapple express) and was suppose to continue through til Thursday morning. Today around 11am there was a landslide/avalanche on the face that damaged the Keechelus lift and took out Norm Craven's home (possible other damage). It appears this slide will close Hyak for the year, at least for downhill. Lets hope no other slides occur! As of yesterday when I was on site the snow was around 6 feet deep. Base: 6' January 2, 2009 A new year and lots of new snow. Almost 2-feet fell then it was followed up by a short lived warm front, but it lasted long enough to bring in some rain and crust over the 2 feet of new snow. Afterwards cold air came back in to add a few more inches on top of the crust making for some very strange conditions. You could actually ride the powder "IF" you kept your speed up, it was untracked and your nose of the board did not go under the snow. If you let your nose dive under then you would land on your face. After the new snow and rain pack the measuring stake at my cabin shows well over 5' of snow. Boyne displayed one of the worse grooming days I have ever seen at the pass both at Hyak and Silver Fir (don't know about the rest of the area). Many runs at Hyak were not groomed at all, and creek run only had one pass. They also only opened up one crossover trail so if you used it, you had no way back except to walk or take the bus. I hope this does not happen again. Base: 5 1/2' December 28, 2008 After a day of freezing rain the snow has returned. The added wetness will help the base pack down, but is not fun for skiing or boarding (or shoveling). More snow is in the forecast and all areas are open except chair2 at Alpental has yet to open. Another foot of snow has fallen over the weekend and with the rain to pack the snow down the depth holds the same. Base: 4' December 27, 2008 The snow has been falling steady from Christmas through today. Last night it looks like we had around 7" overnight to go with the foot on Christmas day and few inches the day after. Temps are back to normal (20's) and I read the SL is suppose to go up today to 4,000' then drop back down to 2,500' in the afternoon. I hope we don't get rain or it would sure make a mess of our snow. Average snowfall for December is 96" so we are getting close to that. All areas are now open but Alpental is limited to lower mtn only. Base: 4' December 22, 2008 Still COLD temps and a little more snow. Today as I'm shoveling the temps were hanging around 12-13 degrees and the snowfall has stopped for now. After settling we still have 3' of snow on the ground but this light, fluffy snow does not do well to pack down the brush. West and Central are running (Silver Fir has yet to kick off) and I'm guessing Hyak will begin operation this weekend since I've seen the place operate with less snow in the past. Base: 3' December 18, 2008 2' of new snow yesterday and still snowing hard. There is more then 3' on the ground, enough to open West and Central and with temps staying in the 10-15 range the quality of snow is excellent. The Summit opens tomorrow for the season at West and possibly Central.
Hyak should be opening the following week for the Christmas crowds (my
guess).
December 17, 2008 Heavy snows are falling and the weather gods are predicting 1'-2' of snow by tomorrow. Because of this, West has announced they will be kicking off the season Friday Dec 19. I plan to do some hiking at Hyak on Monday, or maybe some lift riding depending on what is open then, but with these COLD TEMPS, ranging from 7 degrees to 15 in the daytime the snow is very dry. Base: 20" December 13, 2008 The first real storm of 2008/09 season left 16" on the ground and cold temps (colder still to come). Still not enough to open anything, but saw a lot of sleds on the face at Hyak. The workers had the Keechelus lift running, guess getting it ready for opening later on. The Silver Fir quad was running today as well as they try to finish up on that install. VERY COLD temps are in the forecast with a little snow possible. The best time to expect snow would be when a warmer front hits the cold front but there is no warming in the future yet. Base: 16" December 1, 2008 My return from vacation was met with heavy rains at Hyak and still no snow in the near future. We are all playing the waiting game now. Base: 0 November 20, 2008 Not much going on other then Silver Fir is getting closer to completion. Today it is snowing with temperatures in the low 30s. No further brush cutting has been observed at Hyak and neither of the lifts were repainted for this season. Base:0 November 10, 2008 It has been a rainy weekend and week so far. Only spots of snow are left from the snowfall last week and the Silver Fir installation is still chugging along. No further brush cutting appears to be going on so the ski area is expecting the snow to pack down the up to 7-foot tall brush that covers the upper slopes. The latest rumors about lifts at Hyak are, the Silver Fir triple will be used for the Creek Run lift, and the Keechelus double will be the backside chair. This configuration makes the most sense, but we'll see. Base: 0 November 4, 2008 First 'real' snowfall of the season, at least you can count this one in inches. When I was at the cabin there was 1"-3" depending on where you were and I had heard that up to 4" had fallen (it was still snowing off/on when I left at 3pm). They are still plodding along with the Silver Fir chair and I hear the old triple is slated to go somewhere around Rampart, though I thought it was to be a Creek Run chair in that section??? Base:1" October 30, 2008 The chopper is flying. Today I watched the chopper as it was lowering the final couple towers (too late to view the others), but it appears the Silver Fir lift is coming along. At Hyak, nothing much to report except for extensive brush cutting on the lower, beginner part. No further snow and none in the near forecast, but it is still early. October 21, 2008 I'm a few days late posting, but we received our first snowfall at Hyak on Tuesday. When I arrived at lunchtime there was only 1/4" left where the sun had not melted after maybe a 1/2" total snowfall. Silver Fir is still plodding along with the upper station taking shape. When the helicopter arrives and drops in the towers I'm sure things will then speed right along. October 13, 2008 The resort is getting ready to paint the lifts, but more important is the arrival of the brush cutter. I saw they started along the north side of Little Gold. Not much else going on except the install of the Silverfir Express, but even that is going rather slow. Thursday, October 9, 2008 Temps have been dropping with snow dusting the hills above 5,000' from time to time. Silver Fir Express still has no towers in place and very little brush cutting has been going on this summer/fall. Other then this, not much going on but snow is predicted above 2,500' tonight so Snoqualmie might just get its first dusting. September 1, 2008 entry...... 9/1/2008: Start of a new season with the installation of a new HSQ at Silverfir. |
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