1/9/07

This weekend I had a pair of ill-fated trips to Snoqalmie pass.

On Saturday I went up to Snoqualmie pass to ski. Brandon came by at 8:00 in the morning to pick me up. We drove up the freeway expecting pretty good snow for a morning of skiing, and when we got off the freeway at exit 47 we were fighting heavy traffic. On the road over to Alpental Brandon began to notice cars coming the other way, and said that it seemed suspicious. When we got to the parking lot we told the bad news by the parking lot attendants - the storm had knocked out the power, and the ski lifts weren't running. We had to turn around and go home.

On Sunday I went back to Snoqualmie pass with Heidi, Chazz and Logan to cross country ski. We rented a Pulk sled for Logan at Marmot Mountain Works. The Pulk sled is a sled towed by a cross country skier. You attach it to a belt around your waist with two long, thin metal poles. You can use it to tow food, supplies or - in our case - babies. I was excited to take Logan on his first ski trip. However, first we had to actually get to the trail. On the way up to the pass we hit a big roadblock. The Washington State Department of Transportation was towing away cars that had spun out on the way up to the pass. We hat to wait about an hour for them to be moved. We slowly drove up the pass, drove over the summit and down towards the cross country trail. Then we hit a second roadblock. There had been an avalanche that blocked our lane. We sat in the car for a long time, maybe two more hours. We had to get Logan out of his seat and feed him. He wanted to play - he had been in the seat for at least four hours by then. I was getting very frustrated, while Heidi was taking our setbacks in stride. Finally, at around 2:30 the avalanche was cleared and we could continue. We got to the parking lot and rushed to get started. We could only ski for about an hour before it got dark. We made the most of it, skiing along a very nice, smooth and flat trail. The sled felt easy to tow, but it must have taken more energy than I thought - later that evening I felt weak and sick from exhaustion.

We wanted to take some time while we were up at the pass to look at a cabin that I found online while looking for a cross country trail. The cabin is probably located close to the freeway, and it seems to not have electricity. However, it's the type of cabin Heidi and I have been dreaming about - rustic, but not too rustic. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to look.