Winter

Upon exiting the Grand Canyon and returning to the Pacific Northwest after Thanksgiving, it dawned on me that it is now winter for all intents and purposes.  So, naturally, on my first weekend back in Seattle Ava and I went ice climbing on Saturday and skiing on Sunday.

We weren't sure if the ice was in up at Snoqualmie Falls, but since it is only about an hour away we decided to go check it out.

We ended up finding lots of thin ice covered in snow.  I'd say it was climbable, but not exactly "in".  We climbed 30 meters up the ice before deciding to rappel before committing to a second pitch of thin ice.  The crux of this trip was post-holing up the approach.  It turned out to be easier to increase your surface area by crawling rather than sink balls deep when trying to walk.  Ava thought I looked a bit ridiculous, so she took a short video.

We made it back to Seattle on Saturday just after kickoff of the Civil War, surprised to find the Beavers off to an early 7-0 lead.  That didn't last long, as expected, but I was happy to see the Beavs try to make a game out of it.  If it wasn't for the turnovers verging on double digits, it would have been quite interesting.  Congrats to Nike, oops, I mean the Ducks for making it to the National Championship!  I hope they decide to play 4 quarters against Auburn.

On Sunday we got up early, rounded up 8 people in 2 cars, and drove to Mt. Baker for some backcountry skiing.  We ended up skiing three laps in quite good but skied out snow on Table Mountain.  I was impressed by the magnitude of the backcountry scene up at Baker.  It was pretty ridiculous how many people were out skinning up the hill, refusing to buy a lift ticket at the adjacent resort.

Ava skinning up the hill, followed by a sliver of Adam

Even with good snow, great weather, and even better company, I was most impressed by the views!  Previously, I had only been up to Baker once before when it was raining with no visibility.  This time I got to be wowed by the proximity of Mt. Shuksan (not to mention Mt. Baker and the rest of the North Cascades).

Mt. Shuksan from the Mt. Baker ski area (which isn't really on Mt. Baker)

To summarize my life right now, I'm spending most of each weekday searching and applying for engineering and teaching (community college) jobs.  I'm slowly moving in to an extra room at a friends place, and playing hard on the weekends when everyone I know up here has free time.