Best day of skiing I've had in years. 2 feet of fresh powder that had fallen in temperatures of between 20 and 25 degrees, low avalanche danger because of the early season snowpack and a group of 5 friends to enjoy it with.
We headed out from Seattle at 6am and were surprised to see it snowing hard on the North Cascades Highway, as the forecast was for snow to come in the afternoon. From the parking area, we skinned up a well-worn track to the pass, and started with a run down the back. Wow. You don't get face shots and cold-smoke powder very often in Washington, but we had it in spades on Sunday. Ian and Seth took turns setting the skin track out (I helped a little, but only slowed them down). We skied another run there, then one on the front before heading down to the lake and out (in the dark, by the way).
The weather did turn cold as expected at about 2pm - first time ever I've been able to skin up with a coat on and heavy gloves and not sweat. It was about 15 degrees when we left.
