Seattle in January

January days in Seattle are short and dark: aside from Anchorage it's the northern-most city in the U.S. It frequently rains or drizzles, leading some people to get Seasonal Affective Disorder. Fortunately, SAD doesn't seem to effect me too much. Seattle isn't much darker than Minnesota, and it's not nearly so cold: people here were really complaining when temps dropped into the 30's this past week. Plus, it's easy to avoid SAD by focusing on the positive: rain in Seattle equals snow in the mountains.

La Niña has been good to the Northwest this year; the nearby ski areas have received more than 180 inches of snow since December 19th. My friends Alex, Crystal, Pavel and I enjoyed skiing on some of the freshest of that on Saturday. The snow report at Crystal Mountain was amazing: 6 feet in the last week, 10 inches overnight.

High winds, ice, and near white-out conditions near the top of the mountains kept most skiers away from some of the advanced terrain. Alex and I skied slowly and carefully along a long, swooping ridgeline. It's difficult to ski when you can't tell the difference between the sky and the ground, but we reached our objective: a long, sustained fall-line run that plunges about 2000'. We dropped over the ridge, back into the zone where trees grow, and...whoompf! Untracked, waist-deep powder. No exaggeration...waist deep! Incredible. Life-altering. It was far and away the most snow I've ever skied in. We were lucky the run was steep enough for us to maintain good momentum; that much snow on a shallower run would make it impossible to ski (you'd have to walk). There was less snow and more tracks from other skiers as we got further down the run. Near the bottom there was "only" knee-deep powder. It was one of the best runs of my entire life.

Skiing powder is a sublime experience that defies comparison. Most people are used to skiing on the snow; it's completely different to ski through the snow. I can't describe it...it's unlike anything I've ever done. Now, back at home, I'm hoping for more rain. More La Niña. How could you ever get depressed in Seattle in January?