Ski flying, human skiing, snowblowing, sledding (powered and non-nutrient cereal varnish variety), or snowwoman-building. Let's see it!

My skiers in training:



Mama:


A little earlier in the season at the seaplane base:

Enjoying the PNW

Yellowstone National Park 1976

Now I need to take more pictures.

Hunting


Hiking with the Cattle Dog



Setting net and breaking up large ice balls.


More to come… winter is just getting rolling here finally…

Pete

Warm Day snow shoeing outfit


Poor man's snowshoeing outfit, Polaris snowmobile pants and Yamaha snowmobile coat


trying out my new Sherpa snowshoes




Avalanche safety training


Building a Quinzhee in the back yard


Then build a snowman


These next few photos are just too cool to not post. A week ago at 8:00 pm it was 27 degrees and snowing on top of a hard crust. The next morning at 5:00 am it was 37 degrees and the wind was blowing 45 mph. I looked out the window and our yard was full of "Snow Rollers". The wind had rolled up these just like you would roll a snowball to make a snow man.

A hike with a friend last month to Holland Lake Falls near Condon, MT. Looking west those are the Mission Mountains along the west side of the Seeley-Swan valley. Pic was taken about 8pm so about 3 hours after sunset and what you see is just moonlight.

Wait, yall are going outside?

I’m an decent skier and thought it would be a while before my kids were better than me but by oldest kid is making me work this year. She skis way too fast and never stops. No lunch breaks allowed. Always wants first chair and last chair. It’s a blast.


My middle kid, while a good skier, is completely addicted to airplanes. Poor kid.

A friends place at 8300’

I thought I'd share a few things we do in northern Ontario, this is from this past spring. A group of us get together and fly to each others remote cabins and bring up ice for the ice houses to last us until next winter.

Roamer

Hey Steelroamer, those are interesting photos. Blocks of ice that size would be worth a fortune here in Central Washington. Block ice is 50¢ per pound at the store. I remember my Grandpa would buy ice at the local store for his cabin. It was 1¢ per pound in the 1950s and 60s.

How long is the bar on that chainsaw. The loggers here would call that a "Big tree" saw.

Nice ! Love seeing people recreate in the snow.

Here's a snowshoe walk I took a couple years ago. I like to walk on the road along side the irrigation canal near home.

It's late December and the willows along the ceek are changing colors of their bark.


Following my tracks back home


The Elk Fence


The Elk are having breakfast


Here's some trivia about the elk in Washington State. In Eastern Washington we have Rocky Mountain Elk. On the west side of the Cascade Mountains they have Roosevelt elk. There used to be just Roosevelt elk in the whole state but when the first settlers came to eastern Washington the Roosevelt elk had died off due to over populating their range.

In the early 1900s Yakima residents started a drive to buy some Rocky Mountain Elk and raised $300 to buy and transport the elk from Yellowstone. In January 1913 the state of Wyoming captured 42 Cows and 8 Bulls and transported them to Naches by rail for $5 each. From Naches they were transported by wagon to the Buckeye Ranch about 15 miles up Chinook Pass. They were held in a pen for about three weeks until they settled down and were then released.

They increased so well that in 1927 the game department opened the first hunting season. They still continued to increase and in winter began raiding orchards, hay stacks, and farms, so farmers began shooting them. In the "Elk war" of 1949 at least 90 were killed.

Elk survive in the winter by migrating down to the lower elevations, so in about 1962 the game department started building a 12 foot high Elk fence to keep them out of the farm lands. That’s why they are fed in the winter. The game department puts out five pounds of high protein content hay for each elk.

One of my friends was 16 years old and got a job with the game department that summer building Elk fence. I was only 13 and very envious. My Great Uncle Tom was a game warden and was the fencing crew's boss. My Grandma said the game department hired him because he was the biggest poacher in the county and knew all the tricks.

In Kittitas County there are about 800 at a feeding station at the mouth of Joe Watt canyon where they are fed next to the elk fence. The public can drive up to the fence and see the elk being fed there. There are another 800 at a station about one mile above our house in Robinson Canyon but that one is closed to entry from December 1 to May 1 to prevent them from being disturbed. Today there are about 12,000 in the mountains west of Yakima. They are fed at two feeding stations in Kittitas County and four in Yakima County.

There is a herd of about 100 to 200 elk called the Umtanum herd that ranges outside the elk fence in southern kittitas County. In heavy snow years they will migrate down into the farm lands, feed in hay fields, and raid hay stacks. The game department compensates the owners with permits to kill elk. They can shoot cows only. They can use the permits their selves, sell them, or give them away.

The elk travel from the timber to the hay fields in the evenings at dusk and back to the timber at dawn. They travel single file, led by the same cow each day. The tactic the game department wants the hunters to use is to shoot the lead cow. With their lead cow gone, the herd is in chaos and doesn’t know where to go. The hope is that by the time a new cow takes over the lead role she won’t lead the herd to the same place.

whee wrote:I
My middle kid, while a good skier, is completely addicted to airplanes. Poor kid.

It's a shame they couldn't have had a more normal father. Why you gotta mess them up so bad like that?

Ian, I'm fascinated by the ice harvesting. How long into summer will that supply last?

Zzz wrote:Ian, I'm fascinated by the ice harvesting. How long into summer will that supply last?

I too am intrigued. Not something I’m familiar with. What’s the deal? Why? I’m very curious about the whole shindig.

tcj; great pics and info. Very interesting stuff.

tcj wrote:....In Kittitas County there are about 800 at a feeding station at the mouth of Joe Watt canyon where they are fed next to the elk fence. The public can drive up to the fence and see the elk being fed there. There are another 800 at a station about one mile above our house in Robinson Canyon but that one is closed to entry from December 1 to May 1 to prevent them from being disturbed. Today there are about 12,000 in the mountains west of Yakima. They are fed at two feeding stations in Kittitas County and four in Yakima County.
.....

I'm not familiar with these locations, but I did drive down to the Oak Creek game refuge near Naches once years ago.
Lotsa elk there, and as I recall also a big feeding program.

Here's a shot from a few years ago. Our dog was trying to read the "business card" from a strange new mutt in our yard...



Winters in Western Washington are pretty mild, but there are some cold, clear days when lack of moisture in the air provides incredible visibility for viewing the snow on distant mountains.