As I spent the late afternoon playing at the lake with my family, watching my daughters build a raft of driftwood while chasing each other up and down the beach,  I thought back to my first day of skiing this season.  It was long ago, back in mid November.  I chuckled about how I had skinned up a forest service road looking for snow.  I was yearning for winter to start.  I had parked my car when I reached a point where there was about 8″ of snow.  When I neared my turn around point there was about 8″ of nice light powder with utterly no snow underneath.  I had enjoyed being out and didn’t mind the lack of turns as I skated and poled back down the road.

Back to reality, my wife and daughters were enjoying summer.  The girls played and splashed in the frigid water that was once snow. I speculated that I had possibly skied upon that water in its previous form earlier in the year.  I reflected about all of the days I had spent on skis the last eight months.  The views, the laughs, the pleasure of being in the mountains.  I smiled about the variety of things the mountains continue to give me every time I am among them.  The pure joy I feel as I am flying down a mountain with skis under my feet.

I could see a similar happiness on my kids faces as they played in the water and ran around.  It is the feeling we get when we are outside with our heart pounding.  A sense of limitless freedom.  I then began to count the number of days I had spent skiing the past season.  I’m sure my wife wondered why I was smiling and counting on my fingers.  As we sat next to each other on the beach and watched our kids play in the water I turned to her and said, “30 days.”  ”What?” she said.  ”30 days,” I said, “I have skied at least 30 days this year.”

Now, I must defend myself a little here.  I am not a total scum bag that goes off skiing every weekend, leaving my family at home. This is two months over a half of a year.    A dozen of those days were at ski areas with my family.  Then you throw in a few days of lowland skiing in mid winter where I was only gone for a few hours.  It really isn’t as bad as it sounds.  It has to be less than that I slowly stated,   ”You guys have hardly missed me, right?”  My wife paused for a few moments and simply stated, “You do realize, you have the best wife in the world.”  I nodded my head and agreed that was undoubtedly true.

As the summer sun began to fall toward the horizon I looked toward the mountains, wishing for the clouds to come and the temperature to drop and snow to start falling.  I gazed at the still deep snow on the peaks.  My kids were having fun playing in the cold water and enjoying summer, soon the lake will start to warm but I am not ready for the snow to be gone.  It just offers way too much delight for me.  I have no compassion for those who are ready for the heat.  Give us clear cold nights and moderate clear days. Give us spring skiing for a while.

Spring has been resistant in coming to the mountains this year.  We have been stuck between late winter glop and spring corn.  Skiing on Memorial Day Weekend and the first two weekends in June, I have finally skied corn snow.  The snow pack seems to finally be evolving to spring.  Is there a chance there will be more skiing to come?  On June 12th at a trail head in the North Cascades it finally felt like spring to me.  Neither the temperature nor environment felt like a week shy of Summer.  The air was cold and the snow was deep.  As I applied my skins to my skis, the tips were barely above the snow bank along the highway.

If Summer doesn’t apply its warmth to the snow and we continue to have some cool nights in the mountains, maybe the snow will be skiable the next time I have the guts to depart my family for a day on skis.  Don’t get me wrong I cant wait for a good day in the mountains strolling through a nice meadow, climbing a rocky slope or sitting next to an alpine lake with my family.  I’m just not sure I’m ready to let the ski season go just yet.

Tight line up to Earl Ridge

This last Saturday my brother and I set out for a quick ski-mountaineering trip, a day trip up Earl Peak in central Washington. Earl is up the Teanaway River road just outside of Cle Elum. Earl, historically meaning “chieftain of a territory.” Earl Peak definitely has its own presence.

We both left our respective abodes at 5:30 AM, and were on the trail at 8:00 AM. We summit-ed around noon. Primarily because it was a boot pack most of the way up the mountain and we ended up taking a rather “non-traditional” route up to the ridge and then along the ridge line to the summit.

Our weather wasn’t as bad as “tropical storm Earl”  We didn’t expect the snow to be nearly as hard as it was on the way in, and didn’t take ski crampons thus the boot pack to the summit.  Needless to say, it was a great trip.  Over 2000 feet of vertical, great weather, incredibly skiing and of course great company.

Crossing the creek on the way out

Having spent many days, weeks, and months over the years with my brother in the outdoors.  This like many will be one that competes with many others as one of the best days.

If you find yourself in central Washington, with back-country ski gear, a beacon, and looking for a plan, make the plan to find Earl.  The Chieftain won’t disappoint.

To lean back and enjoy our trip, watch the below video.

Valparaíso Cerro Abajo 2011 from Toño on Vimeo.

If you can ride like this guy send us your video and we’ll put it up.

The views that you get on a clear day in the Cascades are in my mind unparalleled.  I observed the beautiful cornices, the rock outcroppings, the glaciated peaks in the distance.  I grasped everything I love about getting up high in the mountains and about ski touring.  I also found something I usually pass over and quite often ignore.

I have a big problem when I go skiing.  I have the same problem in the other seasons when I am hiking or scrambling up a peak.  I skip the forests.  I put my head down and go until I can see the great big world spread out before me.  If I can’t see through the forest, I skip the forest.  I make the mistake of waiting until I am on the ridge-tops to look around.  On this ski tour, I noticed the forest and it was stunning.

This tour made me look through the forest and appreciate the huge Douglas Fir, the  beautiful snowy meadows protected by the same large trees watching over the open spaces.  I noticed the creeks with high walls of snow hanging over the narrow trickle of water that will disappear into a pile of snow as quickly as it appeared.  I noticed how randomly the snow offers a bridge to ski across.  I noticed the large dead snags amongst the large living giants.  I noticed the young trees trying to stay above the deepening snow pack of the cascade crest.

As the sun escalates and falls in the southern sky, this tour keeps the traveler mainly in the trees and descending predominately in the shade.  The skiing progresses through some great north facing slopes with open avalanche paths, and gladed meadows.  The trees are always there.  The giants of the crest are there protecting one from the wind.  They are preserving the snow and inhibiting the suns rays from baking it into a crust.  The trees are spread out nicely so the skier can journey through them, receive shade from them and  climb through them.  The forest is a companion and the trees are the delight of the trip.

John Muir also once said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”   I went out looking for a beautiful day in the mountains with views,  good skiing and light dry snow.  I found more than I sought.

They made this easy: Pick your city and the web site lists the bikes available including pictures and price :  Rent a  T1 in Tucson for $25 or a Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz.  Add yours while your there and let the community flow.

The team at Uoutside.com

In the early 1960’s in Southern California, the lifeguards were pulling the surfers out of the water at eleven o’clock in the morning to protect the swimmers, even if there were no swimmers. The few surfers that were also skateboarders, were cruising around town on the sidewalks on metal wheels and bravado. It was easy for them to terrorize the shoppers at the mall and the people heading home with a bag of groceries. The police started hassling the skateboarders, and a guerilla-war began. Up until that time the surf/skateboarders could only hate the lifeguards for throwing them out of the water, but then they began to hate the police for taking away their sidewalk freedom.

When the plastic skateboard wheel was invented, maneuverability began to be part of the freedom a surfer could get back. About that same time, David Adams of Pyramid Films produced a short film called “Skater Dater” and won an Academy Award for the best short of the year. Skateboarding was growing.

Even with the growth in skateboarding, skateboarders were still being hassled by the local police, ‘NO Skateboarding’ signs began to appear everywhere. South of Oceanside someone built a skateboard park that charged by the hour. It lasted a couple of years, but was done-in by the high cost of their insurance.

Hobie Alter sold over 200,000 skateboards that were financed by the Sunkist Orange Juice Company, but skateboarders still had no place to ride except illegally on sidewalks and in parking lots.

That has all changed today. Here in the state of Washington, there seems to be a skateboard park within an hour’s drive of almost anywhere you live. Five years ago we built one here on our small island, population only 4,200 people, and it is ranked as the number one skateboard park in Washington and one of the three best parks in the world.

Here is how it all happened. A couple of movers and shakers on the island got behind it and the local superintendent of schools gave us half an acre of surplus land at the high school. The only caveats were that everyone must wear a helmet when riding, and the behavior would be limited by what was allowed in a classroom- no loud music, smoking, or drinking and they must behave with respect the way people used to a generation or two ago.

When we had slowly raised about $65,000, we started interviewing potential builders of our park. When Mark (Monk) Hubbard showed up for his interview, he was still covered in concrete from trowling cement all day. When I asked him where he slept when he was building a park he said, “In my car of course. After work, I hustle to the local YMCA and take a shower, go for a swim and then have a Big Mac or two and a chocolate shake at the local hamburger joint.” We hired him on the spot. He was my kind of guy!

As we sat at the site for the park the next day we agreed that maybe if we started digging the hole, the rest of the money we needed would show up. Well, it did. We started digging and the money began to immediately show up. In three months we raised over $250,000 on our island, to build this world class park.

We gave Mark Hubbard strict instructions. They were, “We don’t know a single thing about what a skateboard park should look like when finished. We are too old to know how to ride a skateboard, but there is 22,000 square feet of level land, and we want you build the best park that you can build at this point in your career.”

Along with the money came a lot of volunteer help and free construction equipment. At times, there were as many as 35 people working on the park and only four of them on the payroll. Some of them would drive from as far away as Bellingham and pay to ride the 6:00 a.m. ferry and trowel concrete all day long, then go home, bone tired at night. We got a lot of assistance and lots of free materials from Paul Garwood, owner of the Island Hardware store.

As the park was nearing completion we had a bronze plaque made for the entrance. The plaque quotes Tom Watson who invented IBM and says, “There is no limit to the amount of good a person can do, if he doesn’t care who gets the credit.”

There is one slight problem with the park. Some riders consider themselves ‘professionals’ and think that they don’t have to wear helmets, even though they are required by our deed of gift from the superintendant of schools. I don’t want my own tax dollars to go to raise a brain injured fourteen year old kid who just didn’t bother to follow one simple rule, ‘wear a helmet.’

Part way through our park’s construction, a toddler wandered into a skateboard park in Australia and was killed when he fell into the bowl. That is why we have a four foot fence around the park. The fire department is most cooperative and when you arrive at the park you can buy a helmet at the fire station which is across from the airport for only five dollars.

You can camp in nearby Moran State Park for $5.00 a night, so load up your van with camping gear and come on up and ride the best park in the Sate of Washington. Oh yes, bring your helmet and the sunshine is free. The park only cost $250,000, but we lend it to you for free.

For great gifts for skiing friends and family plus further info about Warren’s wanderings go to warrenmiller.net or visit him on his Facebook page at facebook.com/warrenmiller. To learn about the works of his Foundation, please visit the Warren Miller Freedom Foundation, www.warrenmiller.org.