This winter in the Pacific Northwest started late and fizzled early. It is safe to say it was a bad winter of epic proportions. Our local ski area at Snoqualmie Pass, WA saw an all time record low snowfall of just 104 inches this winter. Two of our snowiest months on average, February and March brought a combined 10 inches total. We thought last season was bad and we received about 3 times as much snowfall! On a typical season we'll see upwards of 4, 5, even 600 inches of snowfall, and much more at higher elevations.
(Numbers gathered from: http://www.wsdot.com/winter/files/HistoricalSnowfallData1415season.pdf?v=15) Despite all the gloom and doom, we at Karakoram have made the best of it and stayed positive. The beauty of splitboarding is that there is generally snow somewhere in our mountains and you can snowboard year-round if your willing to put in the effort. April has been a surprisingly good month for us at higher elevations. Many of the forest service roads and highways that are typically buried under feet upon feet of snow at this time of year are free of snow. Some zones you may have to hike on a summer trail to get to. Our boards have been mangled from the low snowpack at times. However, there's still plenty of snow to go around and if you can get out early enough in the day at this time of year you can be rewarded with some winter-like pow :) Here are a few photos from some of our trips around the Pacific Northwest this past month of April. Snoqualmie Pass, April 1st:
2 feet of snow overnight brought our base all the way up to, well... 2 feet. Still stoked! Photo: Paul Stanley
Little more snowpack up higher. Photo: Paul Stanley
The Alpental backcountry with a fresh coat of white. Photo: Paul Stanley
Smiles all around. Photo: Paul Stanley
Snoqualmie Pass, April 4th-5th:
Paul splooshing some pow. Photo: Tyler Kloster
Slot Couloir in 2 feet of cold, blower pow! Photo: Paul Stanley
The Slot Couloir. Photo: Paul Stanley
Roger's Pass and Revelstoke, British Columbia, April 11th-13th:
Roger's Pass looking good after some fresh snow. Photo: Paul Stanley
Incredible riding in and out of the Revelstoke ski area. Photo: Paul Stanley
Crystal Mountain, April 15th, 2015:
Short skin up, huge pay off
Mt. Shuksan, April 16th
Russell and his buddy Adam roped up for glacier travel on Mt. Shuksan
Russell's turns down the NW Couloir on Mt. Shuksan
North Cascades, April 17th, 2015:
Mike boot packing Woosie Couloir
B-E-A-utiful
Just Chillin'
North Cascades, April 26th, 2015:
Tyler finding some cold smoke pow on a north facing aspect. Photo: Bryce Kloster
Bryce wind lip slashing. Photo: Tyler Kloster
Rob enjoying the Winter Make Up Day
Hiking in the morning light
Finding north facing chutes is fun. Photo: Tyler Kloster
Take that Spring. Photo: Bryce Kloster
Snoqualmie Pass, April 26th
Almost May and still finding good turns up high at Snoqualmie Pass. Photo: Paul Stanley