Turns All Year: Month 88 (Part II)

As previously mentioned, skiing in February didn’t go as planned. Month 88 of Turns All Year had everything:

• The Good: My first skimo race; an unbelievable snowstorm; a “we were published” celebration; a ride up a 17mph rope tow.
• The Bad: Massive blisters. Malfunctioning boots.
• The Ugly: Truck Meets Tree – A Story of Black Ice.

In Part I of the TAY 88 blog, you read about skimo, snowstorms, blisters, and a little incident with a truck and a tree. Now for the rest:

Sunday, February 17, 2019 | Tatoooooooosh!
One of my all-time dreams came true when I was published in Adventure Journal, edition 11! (If you aren’t yet a subscriber, I cannot recommend this publication enough, and not only because AJ prints my stuff (which is a good reason too), but because the content is excellent, the reading experience is luxurious, and the editors are good people who believe in supporting good work. Subscribe). A short essay I wrote on why I ski in a tutu was re-worked from this little blog baby of mine, and it ran next to a photo by Mitch Pittman, one of my so-talented-it-would-be-annoying-if-he-weren’t-so-darn-nice friends.

Naturally, I wanted to celebrate, so when Mitch called me up to ski in the Tatoosh, I snuck AJ into my bag and geared up! I thought it was only fitting that we take the magazine that we were both printed in back to the place where the original photo was taken and take a picture with the picture that we’re in that’s printed. Too meta?

The weather was playful – wispy clouds growing throughout the day – and the skiing even moreso. Mitch had been skiing in Japan only a few weeks earlier, and said this snow rivaled the lightness and playfulness of the Japanese pow. We did a few laps, then sadly had to head home, but enjoyed an incredible day! The photos speak for themselves:

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Saturday, February 23, 2019 | Meany Lodge Approach + Rope Tow
Because Theresa is a masochist, she signed up to do the Meany Lodge Patrol Race again this year. It’s a 20-mile ski traverse from Snoqualmie Pass to Meany Lodge involving lots of downhill skinning. Basically: a sufferfest. Not wanting her to be lonely when she arrived at the finish line, Chris and Ben and I skinned in (with beers!) to help celebrate.

In addition to hosting the historic Patrol Race, Meany Lodge is home to the fastest, longest, legally operated rope tow in North America. Using a special camming contraption, riders rocket up the 500′ hill at a blistering 17mph. I’d never tried it and was excited to check it out. Also terrified.

We did about six laps on the thing, with the first three in the 2nd-gear “slow” speed. Then, halfway up my fourth lap they cranked that thing up to 11, or 17mph as the case may be. Words cannot describe this sensation, so I strongly recommend you make a weekend to spend at Meany next season. Bonus: you have lots of untracked pow all to yourself!

Sunday, February 24, 2019 | Back to the Tatoooosh!
After seeing photos from the Mitch Pittman Tatoosh Celebration, J and Kurt wanted to head back and explore. Once again we found incredibly playful and stable conditions, and did three laps on the upper mountain before finding a fun chute to play in on the way back to the car. I could ski here every day of the week.

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And that’s all she wrote for February! Not a bad one for the books. See you in March!