December 28-29, 2024 – Final Weekend of 2024 and a Final Sweep for Amy

The last weekend of December rolled in with a bang, and both Dan and I were on duty for both days. We made plans to stay the night at the cabin, and met at his place early and carpooled up to the Pass. After a quick morning meeting, our crew on Patrol 2 headed out to get ready to open the hill.

Patrol 2 ready to open EPA

The lift was iced up, so we had to wait a bit for it to get spinning, which provided plenty of time to snap a few photos. I took a few portrait style shots below….

Ian and Gretchen hanging out at the bottom of EPA
Emily ready to head up EPA

Once the lift was up and running, we headed up. Dan and I were assigned to open RTS, and although it hadn’t snowed much overnight, we still skied the upper half with safe travel techniques in case there was any movement. On the lower section of the run, we opened it up a little to enjoy the conditions, and took a few photos, including the shots below.

Cranking turns on RTS
Enjoying the good snow on RTS
Dan opening RTS
Turns on lower RTS

After skiing RTS, we headed down and worked our way over to Peak 2 for a couple of laps. The snow was decent, but not as good as RTS. Below is a shot of Dan skiing down Escalator.

Dan skiing Escalator

A bit later, we hiked over to the top of EPA to meet Ian since Dan needed to do a sled check-off. I tagged along an took a few photos of the action, while Dan and Craig took turns running in the handles as well as the tail rope.

Sled checkoffs with Craig and Dan
Dan working the tail rope
Making a transition in the handles

Once the sled checks were complete, it was time to do a little saw work. I’d made arrangements earlier in the day with Rachel to pick up the saw from the shop, and Dan and I were planning on working on a couple of trees that had fallen a day or two earlier in the windy conditions.

Skiing a saw down RTS

After retrieving the saw and hauling it up the chair, Dan skied it down RTS and we met up with Atticus on Amber’s Way to get to work. I’d hauled up several shovels, and we set to work digging to start with since the tree was buried a couple of feet deep. After an hour of so of digging, limbing, and cutting, we had the tree taken care of and the run was looking good again.

Working on removing a tree from Amber’s
Dan catching a quick break from the work
Cleaning up the tree on Amber’s
A job well done

With our work complete, we headed down Amber’s way and then into the patrol room to grab some lunch. After lunch, I headed out and gave the Sabrina sled a lift back to the top of Twilight and then headed down to grab the saw again to head out with Dan for another round of cutting.

James with the Sabrina sled

We spent the rest of the afternoon – an hour and a half or so, working on the big tree that had fallen on Eagle’s. This one was too big to chunk up and  haul off, so we dug out all the limbs to expose them and cut them off along the trunk. After working on the tree for a half hour or so, Brian and Shannon showed up, and with four of us working we took care of business.

Working on a downed tree on Eagle’s
Dan cutting limbs in front of Odell Lake

With our work done on Eagle’s, we had a few minutes to spare to head down and drop off the saw gear before heading up to the top of EPA to for upper mountain sweep. I had just enough time to pull out the camera and shoot a few shots of Gretchen ripping down Eagle’s before she flew past me, and I followed that up by snapping a few pictures of Dan skiing with the chainsaw again.

Gretchen dropping a knee
Dan skiing Eagle’s

We made it to the top in time for sweep, and the rest of the day went smoothly. Before long, the mountain was clear and it felt great to be hanging out in the patrol room, enjoying a cold beer in the company of the rest of the patrol. My beer of choice for the evening was a tasty and appropriate seasonal beer from Block 15 Brewing. The Ol’ Saint Nick winter ale definitely hit the spot after a long day of digging and saw work.

Ol’ Saint Nick

After enjoying our beers and good food with the patrol, Dan and I headed down to his cabin to settle in for the evening. We got the fire going, enjoyed some warm food for dinner, and hit the sack to get ready for the next day. It was snowing when we went to bed, but soon all that snow turned to rain and it really poured during the night. Thankfully, by the time we woke in the morning it begun snowing again, and we rolled into the parking lot at the Pass around 7:30 am. The word in the parking lot was that the highway was closed due to a wreck a few miles west of the Pass, so most of the patrollers and the employees weren’t going to make it up for a couple of hours. The few of us who were there booted up and headed over to Twilight to start digging. It had snowed a foot or so overnight, and the goal was to get Twilight spinning by 9:00 am for customers coming from the east side.

Shoveling the Twilight lift before opening
Paul and Dan getting ready to open Twilight

Once we had Twilight dug out, we headed up to work on other tasks that needed to be dealt with. Dan and I set up the terrain park closure, as well as dug out the entire terrain park fencing, which was pretty buried. Once that was complete, we started digging out tower pads on the light poles and also dug out the fencing around the snow guns. Eventually, as we continued working, shoveling and sweating, the highway opened around 9:45 am or so and the rest of the patrol, as well as the public were able to make it to the area.

Digging out the terrain park fencing

After our work at the terrain park and light poles, we headed back up Twilight to work on tower pads on EPA. The work was taxing, as the pads needed to come up anywhere from 3-4 feet. Thankfully, after working on 3-4 pads, we got the call that Peak 2 was going to spin, so we headed down to get our avalanche gear and then rode EPA to make the hike to Peak 2 to run the avy route.

The avy crew heading to Peak 2
Our avalanche crew at the top of Peak 2

Once at the top of Peak 2, Dan and I headed out with jenn and Paul to run the upper route so we could demo while they observed. Toby stayed back for a few minutes and met up with Brian once he made his way to the top of Peak 2, and they set out to run the lower route. It was slow going through the deep snow on the avalanche route, and after cutting a few cornices we finally made it to the belay point on the Nose. Dan tied into the sharp end of the rope while I set up the anchor and belay, and a few minutes later we had the Nose controlled and moved to the second belay without incident. On the second belay, Dan set off a pretty good slide with a ski cut, and then we skied the rest of the ridge with no results before collecting the rope and skiing the meadow.

Paul skiing the Meadow
jenn dropping into June’s

After we were off the second belay, Brian and Toby took care of the second route. Brian’s tracks in Gravity Chute looked nice as we skied by, and as a reward for all of the work from the morning, I headed over to June’s with Paul and jenn to enjoy a run in the fresh pow pow.

Paul dropping into June’s Run

After Peak 2 was open and safe, I headed in for lunch, and then proceeded to help with a bunch of sled rides for the remainder of the afternoon. I started out helping tail for Ian on the 100, then ran the Edge Sled for a courtesy ride on Twilight, and then finished the day right before Amy’s final sweep by running the rear handles with Ian for a courtesy ride off of upper George. We brought our courtesy right down to the bottom of Twilight, and all of patrol was gathered and ready to load the chair.

Ian and Kerstin preparing a courtesy ride on ByGeorge
Patrol gathering at the base of Twilight

Once we had the 350 ready to go after stashing the handles and carrier in the sled, I took it up Twilight and waited for the rest of the patrol to load, which they did a few minutes later. Shannon and Laurie organized everyone up top, and soon the two of them were leading the procession for Amy’s final sweep down George. Amy, one of our beloved patrollers and Ski Patrol Youth coordinator, tragically past a few months earlier in a car accident, and our patrol had been waiting for this moment to honor her.

First turns of Amy’s final sweep
Shannon and Laurie navigating the 350
Patrollers snaking down ByGeorge

The night was getting quite dark as we headed down ByGeorge in a single file line. Many patrollers had LED lights that made for a beautiful sight from below as we came down the mountain. I tried my best to shoot some grainy photos in the dark light, but had to really crank the ISO up to make the shots turn out. After shooting a few pics, I joined in with the rest of the patrol to slowly snake down the run.

The Patrol gathering at the base area
Brian delivering some remarks

Once at the bottom, the whole patrol gathered around the 350 sled brought down by Shannon and Laurie that contained Amy’s patrol coat. Brian, as the patrol director, read several passages about Amy as the patrol and several of her family members looked on.

Amy’s patrol jacket and in the 350
Patrollers gathered during the final sweep

It was a great way to honor a very special patroller that left us too soon, and once the “sweep” was over, the patrol gathered in the lodge to enjoy everyone’s company as well as a very large potluck.

The snowcats heading out to groom after the final sweep
Cleaning after the sweep to get ready for the potluck

After changing out of snowboard and ski boots, Shaun and I headed over to the lodge to partake in the potluck. The food was great, and the company was even better. After visiting for an hour or so, I grabbed Shaun and we loaded the car to head out. The potluck was still going strong, but we were leaving in the morning to head to visit Julie’s aunt and uncle in Peshastin, which is just a few miles from Leavenworth. I was looking forward to a visiting Mission Ridge with Shaun, as well as Leavenworth with Julie and Carson. All in all, it was another great weekend at the Pass, and one that I’ll always remember. Below are a couple of shots from our trip to Washington.

Julie and Carson in Leavenworth
Shaun at Mission Ridge

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