Stevens backcountry

*stew

*stew

Member
i would like to ski stevens next year because i think the park is more fun than snoqualmies... but i dont want to give up alpentals backcountry. so my question is how does stevens backcountry compare?is it better? smaller? more pow?
 
Here is my take, and take into account I am wickedly biased and love Stevens Pass.

Alpental bc is great. No question about it. My problem is on 3 fronts: it is well known to have good backcountry, so more people frequent it; it is really only confined north of the area, so all those who venture into it venture into a relatively small area (it is still big, but relatively speaking); and you can only access it via one lift..

Stevens backcountry is really more confined to smaller, but more numerous areas. One disadvantage is that much of it (but certainly not all of it) is tamer than that of Alpental, and sections that are considerably steeper/XTREEEEEME are shorter and harder to come by. But, since BC access is available on the northside of the highway, off of double D/southern cross, tye/jupiter, and 7th and sky, you have quite a pissload of options. Plus if you drop to the highway its about 3.000ft vert, so it is far from insignificant.

Of course, this leads to the potential for more hiking to and from, depending where you go, as well as very diverse conditions.

Anyway, it is good stuff, but it is getting hit more and more. You aren't really sacrificing anything.
 
k, sweet thanks

but lets say that at both mountains there was 2 feet of fresh what would be a more ideal place to ski, stevens or alpy?
 
Stevens is the shit period! But to answer the 2ft of fresh question. I rode alpental for the first time this season and the terrain under the top chair looks wicked for a first run straight down chair line. Nice couple cliff bands. Never been in the Alpy BC though. I would say Stevens has a lot of side country. Theres little hikes off pretty much all the lifts. SPKA
 
If backcountry at alpentol gets closed off and it's crowded like a usual powder day (which happens all the time) you're fucked, at stevens it's alll good
 
Stevens has amazing BC if you know where to look. I like it more than Alpy, but I grew up at Stevens...
 
i just posted this in a similar thread it will probably answer some of your questions..
jeeea but really stevens hands down over all better..ive skied at summit since i was four im 16 now but just this past season i went to stevens and its faaaar better..annnd i love how everyone is raving about alpys pow days when evvveryone knows its about 20 min or more to get up chair 2 on a good day its pretty ridiculous and you dont get that problem at stevens..as well as good terrain and the park arent seperate like how snoqual is and stevens park is just over all better. Finally stevens is higher up soooo no rain like how summit gets...

im done you should be convinced by now however the summit is cheaper but stevens is far worth it..

 
The same can be said for stevens if you don't know where too go.
Alpental is rad, its too bad I did not get to ski their last year.
 
Well Alpy has roughly 7000% better cliffs than stevens, but they are both good. I wish Stevens had more steeps and cliffs with good landings. Alpy has a bit longer lift line though. Stevens has a ton of tree runs. OH, and they are ticketing people again for hitchhiking at Stevens(and Fucking Big tickets). It used to be come out on the road and walk down a bit, but the end of this year I was alone and the cop said no more doing that next year, they will be ticketing everybody hitchhiking OR waiting for a ride back up, even if you are past tunnel creek(where the law used to stop) and you can't just pretend you didn't know anymore. So that kills that. Other than that we have longg hikes which suck but the skiing is fun, where at Alpy you have a nice traverse that gets you good terrain and no hike. Oh and Stevens has a better jump line in park, qualmie has better rails/jibs and a much better pipe. So as far as lift lines, longer at Alpy, but you spend more time hiking at Stevens.
 
as for hwy2 hitchhiking. yes tunnel creek may be an awesome run. however its a large active area for avy control. it is an unfortunate clash of fun for a few versus safety for all. however the cascades in washington are vast and untapped and there are plenty more places to go for snow. and until westside drivers learn how to drive in the snow and rain it will remain a no-hitchhiking zone.

also, wsdot is currently designing some "unstable slope" rehab in that area just west of the summit (old faithful/big windy area). they just put in two electronic speed limit signs on the west of the summit. and hwy 2 thru tumwater canyon (leavenworth) got paved last month by the central washington asphalt boys at night. and stevens pass parking lot improvements are......underway

 
There is no pow at alpy, only rain. we ski on mud 3/4 days. basically its the suck. stevens has nice blower pow on the other hand, so everybody should go there.
 
Tunnel creek was not the only run. Also, when Tunnel Creek the true run avys really big it is nowhere close to the highway. The place that avys from the back of cowboy that hits bobsled turn isn't a good ski run, it is short and not very fun. Nobody hits it. Also, people hitting Tunnel Creek should have a brain to know the avy conditions(I know many don't though). That is good they re did some of the highway. The real place people risk putting a big avy onto the highway is the western facing slopes outside of Grace Lakes(they take a while to get to and are not that long). They are fuckin fun(I have hit them twice) but end on cliffs and if you were to set off an avy it would reach the highway no problem. It was fun airing out one of those cliffs on the side of the highway on a busy day, though. I wonder what people though driving by.(BTW, I am talking about the ones that have a nice landing before a small gully thing on the side of the road, not the ones that drop right onto the highway haha).

ALSO, I forgot to say it before, but I think that Alpys BC gets a bit more patrolled than Stevens. I was talking to a Patrol guy this year that was saying next year he bets people will die at Stevens because of how many people have no idea what they are doing(so basically 98% of this site) and go out whenever there is snow w/o knowing what to look for avy wise. He is right. There was a big crown going across one of the busier areas at Stevens(like kill you avy ready to happed) and people were skiing over it! FUCKING STUPID PEOPLE!!! Seriously, I don't get it. If you have no idea what you are doing and feel like skiing faces, find some inbounds pow.
 
Meh, way more idiots in the alpy bc then stevens,
Alpental can be a lot of fun, but there are a ton of people who ski it. Even on weekdays you often run into quite a few people. I think patrol needs to crack down heavily on the card policy, and instal a strict beacon -shovel - probe - partner policy as well, possibly knowledge as well. Caught leaving the boundary with out all of the above and you lose your pass, no exceptions. Either that or just pull out completely.
This is not to say that Stevens does not have its fair share of complete and utter morons as well. There are way to many people out in the B.C. who don't know what they are doing and even worse, don't know where they are going. There are a lot of people who follow tracks, or just wait for some one to leave a starting point, and then follow them.
A general rule of thumb is that most people are idiots, don't trust them unless you know otherwise.
And please, While it may be mud at alpental 3/4 of the time, its only snow at Stevens 2/4 of the time. If you want snow you will have to go to crystal, and if you want good snow you should go to CO.
 
haha I had forgot about Alpys card thing, they never check. Wasn't it like you were suppsoed to find a patrol guy to go with or something?HAHA. I think there is no good way w/o being overly strict to crack down on idiots.
 
^ ya they never do as long as you have a pack on or something they never really even talk to you...so does stevens have backcountry passes?
 
Nah, not for now. Seems to be the new thing though...Park passes, then those..

doesn't alpy do a little patrol in its BC? Stevens doesn't own most of its BC so no patrol done at all for most of it.
 
They don't check cards stringently for legal reasons. Yes, we all want to avoid people killing themselves and less dumbasses out to put us in danger, but it comes to a liability standpoint for patrol. The more they check, the more it is expected they check so that if they arent and someone goes through, they can say "well theyre usually checking so i figured it'd be ok." These things actually fly in court thanks to our "peers" on the jury. So, thats why they don't check more, even though they should. As for the mud comment, I was really just trying to relieve alpy of some of its heavy traffic through negative publicity, but go ahead and smite me cobra_D or whatever youre called these days
 
Upper half of Crystal is great on a good pow day(when they dont have lift problems)...plus you get days at qualmie with a crystal season pass(and easily more than the 10 they say you get, basically unlimited) so you can ski park at qualmie when you want to ski park. do that..

Too bad they put in Northway though, it was such a short hike before that and it got less traffic...At least now you can get a lot of runs out there w/o shuttle back time. Oh well, the steeps of South Back are the best sidecountry slots in washington anyways, and now with Northway it gets less traffic than before. Talk about speed. I wish Stevens had steeps and cliffs like those....damnit, I want a pass to Crystal, stevens(and use the crystal for Alpy) and baker... I think Crystal shatters Baker.

Crystal:



 
cyrstal has some amazing terrain for sure. but baker is mind blowing. after getting shown around that mountain, even just inbounds and slackcountry stuff, i am in disbelief at how epic that place is
 
and by "lift problems" you mean john kirchner not opening lifts so he and his 2nd/3rd/4th wife can ski untouched pow all day
 
If there's noone to man it I think you'll find increasingly common groups of people "sharing" a tranceiver, but I do agree that that would be a good step to take and it would reduce idiot levels in the bc, especially the real morons who think it being "open" means "safe." pity they'll just use funds for that to buy Krush a new snomobile to park on top of the quarterpipe
 
WHAt!! kohl come one-u and e-spong always hatin on the Truth.. Everyone knows that the Summit is the real Hotness in Washington. come ride next year..
 
Regardless where every you find yourself this winter, there is the potential to caught in a slide. Don't be a dumbass and head out without a probe, a shovel, a beacon and the knowledge how to use one. I think its awesome that so many people are venturing into the BC but don't be ignorant about its risks. Do yourself a favor and spend a some time getting to know how to use your beacon. Being in a search party is hectic and super stressful. Time is not on your side. So take the time to get familiar with it before you someone's life is at stake.

If people are interested I can put together a BC education class in evo's gallery one night this fall.
 
Although I won't be around for it, this is an amazing idea and should absolutely be done. A lot of kids don't want to do/don't know about the Avy awareness classes offered through other companies/groups, and one through EVO would make the info more accessable. Definitely a great idea
 
I would for sure go to that, i dont want to be the dumb ass in the deep bc that doesnt know what hes doing
 
Hahaha thx Nate. If we hosted an in-store education night could we piggy back that with an on-hill day @ Stevens? I'll hit you up on email to discuss it further.

Would people be into an off-snow/on-snow 2 part class?

 
Thats one. "wind" is a cute one. In 07/08 they left the snow all season on High C.'s roof and it fell as ice, took out the gutter which got caught in the rotating part of the lift and closed it for a while. smart people..lucky it was a gutter and not one of those people things..
 
great idea i would definatly attend. i have taken the class at rei and gotten my level 1 and one thing to be wary of that i expericend is that you can think because you have taken one class you are invincible. definatly should emphasize practicing beacons and learning more.

on another note the day at stevens would be great because that is where most people who take this class would ski whereas the class i took was geared towards touring where you gather lots of information on the climb up which you can't do in the sidecountry making good judgement and turning around more difficult
 


I agree that this would be super beneficial. A course taught toward what the “NS-type

community” needs and fill in the holes

from “traditional” avy classes.



I agree that most avy courses seem to be

geared toward touring, where information is gathered on the approach. So learning your options when you are on top

of something without having being down below first, what can you do? That’s more the type of “backcountry/slackcountry”

encountered with lift-service-plus-a-hike areas at Stevens. Learning how to drop a cornice on a slope

(since you probably won’t be to thump the slope with explosives), safe ski

cutting, or send your photographer down first to “get a good shot” when really

he is the guinea pig testing stability.



Also for beacons, to go beyond the basic

flat ground, skis off type search. Learn

the panic now, and not encounter it for the first time when someone’s life is

on the line.

Hangfire; is it safe to go search?

When do you shed your skis and poles? When you’re in the final grid search? Obviously are faster to travel on in deep

snow, but at some point they are going to be in the way when you are digging.

Is the person buried deep or shallow? Deep enough to require probing? Shallow enough to just dig?

Smart digging. Anyone learned the triangle/bench method (not

sure what is official title is), instead of blindly digging straight down?

Your gear. Your shovel and probe really should have its

own pocket, so you can yank it out and not worry about losing your camera and

fruit snacks.

Group versus 2-3 person posse.

 
bastard! this is why our damn backcountry gets so much more traffic every year. Tell them snoquality central(say it like that) tree skiing by the boundary is the best in WA, and get them to go there. DUHH!!!
 
thread bump-

Do you have a TGR account? I think I recognize your name from somewhere..

Are you hitting up Baker much next year? I am planning on taking a pow weekend or two this coming season away from Stevens and head a few hours up to Baker. I'd probably trust someone ese from TGR to know what they are doing more than here haha..I'd love to hit up Baker with somebody that knows it's terrain well since all I have done is a few slots off Shuksan Arm.
 
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