Splitboarding!

FINALLY! I am thrilled to begin splitboarding this summer and look forward to carrying it into next winter. For those of you who are unaware, a splitboard is exactly what it sounds like. It is a snowboard that is cut in half down the middle and essentially then turns into skis. You then use these skis to climb uphill when combined with super grippy nylon skins that you stick to the base of your skis/board. In the summer a splitboard can be used to get some great turns at higher elevations while everyone else is out doing summery stuff. Whereas in the winters, a splitboard is used to earn some deep powder turns. Either way, you're able to conveniently explore some different terrain besides the local ski area.

Recently I headed up to Snoqualmie Pass for a quick afternoon tour of Silver Peak (elev. 5605 ft.)

Silver Peak rests directly behind the main ski areas at Snoqualmie. The peak itself can be seen as you drive west down from the pass.

At the top the view of a still frozen Annette Lake is gorgeous at this time of year.

This is the true summit of Silver Peak, not very rideable from the peak but just below it are a few great drop points and even a few nice chutes seen in the middle left of this photo.

Toward the base of Silver is a meadow which you can meander through on your way to the top. In this photo you can the extreme avalanche hazard of a mountain that is Granite Mountain along with both directions of I-90 on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass.

Afterward I stopped to gaze at this colorful scene below Mt. Si in North Bend.

I had a great time touring the area while the snowpack is still in its place on Silver Peak. Can't wait to head back up for some more turns here in the month of June. Hope you are all getting outdoors to explore this summer!

Hiking In Eastern Washington

Something that I've always enjoyed about the state of Washington is that it has such a wide variety of environments to explore. All within about 4-6 hours of Seattle you can head to the ocean, visit a lush rainforest, enjoy the island life, play in the deepest and most consistent snow on Earth, cross the plains, explore the desert, access several rivers and so much more. All of this explains why I would never even consider leaving this region.

Recently, while it was raining back on the westside of the mountains, I decided to take the more "scenic" route on my way down to Mt. Hood to do some spring snowboarding. Instead of taking the boring, rainy yet faster I-5 route, I decided to head east on I-90 and get to the sun for a nice evening hike in the Yakima Canyons. The weather was just what I was expecting and in the distance I could even see a few thundershowers. I broke trail at the Umtanum Creek Canyon trailhead and having never been there before, I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up ascending a steep hillside that I later learned is called the Umtanum Ridge Crest. I should have been hiking through the canyon but instead I spent an hour or so scrambling up this rather faint trail to the ridge seen from the trailhead. Luckily for me, I think this was actually the better route to take for the view.

At the top, the view of the canyons and the Yakima river below were absolutely astonishing. I didn't even feel like I was in Washington anymore. In one canyon were a few other hikers that I could hear as they ended up taking the trail you are actually supposed to take.

 This peak to the southeast is Baldy Butte, a fairly active paragliding launch site.

 This is the view to the northeast of some of the surrounding hillsides. Just beyond these hills is Ellensburg.

 I didn't quite see as many wildflowers as I would have liked to but that is probably because I took the wrong trail!

 This is a wider view of Baldy Butte and the hillsides across the canyon.

 More hillsides

At the edge of the hill you are able to see the Yakima River as it meanders below you.

Afterward, I was egged on by the folks at the trailhead and the campsite as they watched me descend the steep hillside. I definitely fell on my  ass  butt a few times and they got a good laugh. Getting down was a little tough on my knees. So to anyone reading this and thinking about taking on this hike, be prepared. It is quite the scramble and the hill is fairly rocky in parts with loose rock and dirt the entire way up and down. If you have shoes with traction and good balance then it is not as bad as I'm making it sound and I say go for it, totally worth the trouble.

For more on this hike check out my trip report on Washington Trails Association's site: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2013-05-24.6530936102

  As the sun was setting on the hills I was just reaching the bottom and came across these train tracks that run along the riverside.

I didn't end up taking many photos while I was down at Mt. Hood due to some nasty weather and me just wanting to snowboard with my buds, but on my way back home (I took boring I-5 back) the sun was beginning to set over Seattle and I decided to head to a viewpoint I know of and take a few photos before the weekend was over.

Can't wait for the summer weather to return! Regardless, I hope you all can get outside and enjoy what this wonderful region has to offer!

Quick Weekend at Baker

Back on a very cold but sunny weekend in January, a few friends and I went up to Mt. Baker to snowboard, shoot and have a good time. Here are just a couple stills I took along with some sweet Instagrams from the weekend.

We went a sweet hockey game at Western while we were Bellingham

Building a yump in the sunshine

Bo did this hand drag Miller Flip thing off a drop and Gary got a great shot on film

Baker Boyz

Alpental Rules

Shootin' Pow With Jay

My good friends Jay and Naima took a break from Tahoe and made a trip back up here to ride at Snoqualmie Pass, WA. With plenty of fresh snow falling each night before riding, they could not have possibly come back at a better time. We rode deep powder at Alpental both days, got some insane turns in the surrounding backcountry and had a blast. After riding the first day, we trekked out to this pillow zone I had shown Jay and started shooting in the low light and heavy snow. While Jay was packing out this gap I also got a chance to ride his Shark SnowSurf and that was incredibly fun. Big thanks to Fedya for letting us crash on his floor.

 Jay sent this method to the backside of that rocky pillow.

Jay tried it couple more times after the shot above and on the last one he came up short, escaped a pretty hard slam on those rocks by about 2 or 3 feet, and somehow managed to land with my flash head between his legs. We decided that was a good note to end on.