XC Skiing, first day out 2024

 

 

The parking lot at Hyak, just east of Snoqualmie Pass summit

Not many cars at Hyak for our first day out XC skiing in 2024.  Maybe it was the 12º F (-11º C) temperature?  We did not go far.  There were strong gusts of wind making it even colder on the way out.  The wind chill factor blowing in our face was probably 0º F ( -17.7º C).  The wind at our back on the return trip was a lot easier to endure.  The snow was packed powder, and the grooming was in very good condition. The downside was that the cold, dry weather made it very slow, sticky, snow.  It is hard to explain, but it makes it impossible to glide very far or at all.  A lot of work to go a short distance. 

 

I was stuffed into multi-layers, and other than my hands, kept very warm and cozy, but if I had fallen, which I did not, I would have ended up like Charlie Brown in his snow suit and even Snoopy would not have been able to help me get up.  My hands typically get so cold for the first 1/2 hour that I do not want to remove gloves to take pictures while we are out skiing.  I have tried heating them up under the hot air blower in the restroom before starting out, but even that doesn't keep them warm enough.  This time Bob suggested we try switching gloves a couple of times since his hands stay warm.  His warm hands had heated his gloves up nicely.  My gloves are really too small for him, but they have a zipper that provides a little more room.  It goes the other way too, his gloves are really too big for me and make holding the poles a little difficult.  However, it was super nice to slip my icy hands into warm gloves.  Once he got my gloves heated, we switched back again.  By then we had been out long enough that my hands were warming up too.  Might not work for everyone, but it is something we will most likely do again.

This year the ski areas opened a bit later than other years.  Grooming for the XC trail at Hyak just began this past week.  The alpine ski areas opened and started running the chair lifts earlier.  Not all of those areas are open every day.  Bob gets a Sno-Park pass so we can park and XC ski as often as we like all season at several different XC areas instead of paying a daily fee each time we go.  This is a huge savings for us since we try to go once a week.  The fee pays for plowing the lot and the trail grooming. 

 

It might be a little hard to see, but the wind had made swirling patterns on this patch of snow. 

Even though it was so cold, we had a good outing.  The sun was shining, blue sky with a few clouds, and the trees were flocked with new snow. The Snoqualmie Nordic Club has built a warming hut about 1/3 of a mile ( 1/2 km) from the parking lot.  We saw it on the way out.  On the return trip Bob skied over to see what it was like, but he did not want to take off his skis and go in.  It was still too cold to remove gloves to take photos, so next time we go we may try out the hut and take a picture.  The pictures in this post were taken from inside a nice warm car.

Ski tracks on a small hill near the Summit

The view coming down from the summit

Note:  Today lots of new snow coming down and both Snoqualmie and Stevens Passes are at least partially closed as I am writing this.  Snoqualmie westbound is open, Stevens is closed both directions.