Bluewood

We arrived in Dayton, WA around 12:45 am on Saturday, and pulled into the Bluewood Motel, where we picked up our ski vouchers as part of the stay and play package. A few minutes later, we were snug in our bed, resting up after the long drive from Portland, anticipating a beautiful day on the slopes. This weekend, a coworker decided to join me on my trip to Washington, so I elected to splurge on accomodations, rather than sleep in the car. It was a good choice.

The drive to Bluewood was a scenic one, and not very long. Soon we had caught up to a group of fellow snow enthusiasts taking the 23 mile drive from Dayton, and before we knew it, we were pulling boots and boards from the car, preparing for the slopes. The road up was packed snow, which made me happy for having installed snow tires Thursday evening. After exchanging our vouchers for lift tickets, we suited up and headed for the Triple Nickel, a fixed triple that serves the smaller side of Bluewood. My companion had only been snowboarding twice before, so I joined her for a few runs on the beginner hill before she sent me off to explore the rest of the mountain. Her first few runs were pretty slow, but she showed spirit and enthusiasm, and was cruising the slopes confidently in no time.

Having set her on her way, I started to explore the runs, beginning with the cat tracks and working my way toward the steeper runs. The hill was servedThe snow was wonderfully light and dry, and the groomed runs were in great shape. I enjoyed cruising around the outside edges and then started down some of the blacks. I spent the morning exploring the groomers, and then after a corn dog and french fry lunch it was time to take another run at the bunny hill and see how my friend was progressing. She had made enormous progress during the day, and was now making it all the way to the bottom without stopping. I was impressed!

Having established that my companion was doing well, I started to take some runs on the ungroomed trails, and then in the trees. This is really where I discovered what Bluewood is all about. The tree skiing here is incredible. This is not a huge ski area, but every inch of it appears to be open - no roped off sections, no cliffs, just a lot of terrain with perfectly spaced trees at ridable angles from steep to easy. Most folks stayed on the groomers, which were in great shape, dry, smooth and fast, but a few adventurous folk went into the trees. Although much traffic centered around the marked canyons on the map, one could find huge areas of virgin or near virgin powder untracked through the trees here. There are areas of tight spaced trees, and tree-farm spaced trees, and areas with fallen trees to jump and jib. I spent my last few runs of the day diving through the trees, cutting lines in fresh powder, enjoying a sunny and beautiful day in the desert. After one last run down the bunny slope as a cool down, I caught up to my companion, and we decided to call it a day. Time to hit the road again for the next destination.