LQA Night Skiing Report
Categories: Winter Sports
Good afternoon, skiers. Your Lower Queen Anne ski conditions are as follows. Packed powder of approximately three inches depth on Queen Anne Ave. North between Roy Street and West Highland Drive makes for excellent sledding, snowboarding, and skiing. Traffic cones and signs placed at the base of the hill permit relatively safe descent, although there is the hazard of skidding unchecked into onlookers, photographers, TV news crews, and the cars and buses trying to creep through the slippery intersection.
Lift lines: zero
Lift ticket price: Free
You may have seen the photos and TV reports during the daytime this weekend, but the Uptown ski vibe was very different when the sun went down. Families and children went home. Then things got--how shall I put this?--a little rowdy...
According to at least one skiing colleague at SW, ace proofreader and music contributor Mike Mahoney (his full report below), it was possible to ski from the very top of Queen Anne Ave. (roughly at Galer Street) down through Roy and even to Mercer, where the traffic gets serious. A cop told him that was a vertical drop of 450 feet.
I wish I'd gotten there earlier for the full run. By the time I shouldered my tele skis, however, it was around 9 o'clock Sunday night. I went up to Kerry Park first, to take in the view of muffled, snowy Seattle. Walking across Highland to Queen Anne, I found that the Counterbalance hill was nominally open to traffic above (not that anyone was driving), and the winter sports were taking place on the steeper slope below, down to Roy. Mapping that run on Google, it looks to be about 200 feet down at an average grade of about 13 percent, covering maybe one quarter mile in distance.
What the numbers didn't prepare me for was the party at both ends of the run. Up top was a mixture of spring break at Daytona Beach and the Dartmouth winter carnival. Several dozen people were gathered in a huddle. There was a bonfire. Dogs ran free. Pot was being smoked openly. A hulking 4x4 pickup truck was cranking out hip-hop on huge speakers. Everyone had a beer in one hand (both 12 ouncers and 40s), and a camera or camera phone in the other.
"Where's the keg?" asked one young woman. That was the atmosphere. As if to answer the question, a snowmobile (!) roared up bearing skiers from the bottom of the hill and, yes, more beer. If it weren't winter, you'd expect a wet T-shirt contest.
It took a little doing to shoulder my way through the throng and launch my first run. Not a success: Legs shaky and weak from my last day at Crystal back in April, I botched my second turn, painted snow on my pants, then recovered to link in rhythm. What I found was that the edging was great. All the sledders had packed the surface better than a snow-grooming tractor. In the middle of the slope were several kickers (jumps, to readers over 30). All the way down, the sidewalks were lined with onlookers--many apartment- and cond-dwellers simply looking out their windows. The three-block descent is actually steeper than 13 percent, but has little plateaus for each street crossing. Visibility was excellent thanks to the streetlights. All the way down, spectators were popping their camera flashes.
And cheering! If not for my technique, then for the many modes of descent. During my four runs--and yes, you have to hike back up to earn your turns--I saw the following means of conveyance:
Each time I trudged up the hill, I was struck by the snow-caused friendliness that's broken out in Seattle, Whether shoveling sidewalks, pushing cars, or gawking at the sledders and skiers, everyone is suddenly so nice. Winter euphoria has broken out. It's like we're suddenly living in an Alpine or Nordic city, like St. Moritz or Oslo, where skiing to work is normal and cars are suddenly shunted into the minority. Streets naturally adapt to seasonal use. And while Seattle's hills (and lack of municipal snow-removal equipment) make winter driving rather hellish, the same conditions, while they last, are perfect for winter sports.
As for the Counterbalance, it's a green circle caliber run, a beginner's hill comparable to most of Snoqualmie West. It's perfect for beginners--and, on a sled or yard sign, who isn't? (Intermediates and experts won't find much challenge, but the people watching is great. And the hike back up is a nice workout.) If only the snow would last, a rope tow--remember those?--would be ideal. I bet most people would pay $10 for a night pass. Plus a beer garden at the base? And live music in Counterbalance Park?
When I finally knocked off skiing, around 10 o'clock or so, I stopped to grab a snack at the Manhattan deli at the base of the slope. The clerk told me that, unlike many snow-impacted Seattle businesses, his establishment was doing great: "We sold a lot of Gatorade in the afternoon. Then, after six, all beer."
And now, from the man who skied from the very top of Queen Anne, Mike Mahoney reports:
What's Your Urban Vert?
I've lived in Seattle for a little more than 20 years and on top of Queen Anne Hill for the past 17, and there's one thing I've always wanted to do but never had a chance to -- ski down the front slope of QA, aka the Counterbalance.
Last night, my urban/alpine dream came true. From about 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m., I knocked off around 6300 vertical feet and had more fun than I thought it was possible to have on Queen Anne, at least since all the good old dive bars shut down and/or Yuppified.
But here at the Weekly, we're curious about something -- there are lots of other good to great potential ski hills in the city (the west side of Capital Hill, Madison Ave. down to Madison Valley/Lake Washington and just about anywhere in West Seattle come to mind), and we'd like to know who else out there got out there this weekend and let it all hang out.
So let us know!
Send us an email to news@seattleweekly.com. Give us your name (unless you'd prefer to remain anonymous), where (what street) and when you were screaming downhill, your mode of transportation (just last night I saw skis, snowboards, sleds, saucers, cookie sheets, air mattresses, pool floats, garbage bags, chairs, couches, bicycles, laundry hampers, cardboard boxes, lunch trays, Tupperware lids, a Corona banner, ice skates and a chair on skis) your approximate Urban Vert or vertical gain (yes, walking back up the hill counts) and anything else you think is relevant to your wonderful winter experience. --MIKE MAHONEY
Mike's full ski route:
And cheering! If not for my technique, then for the many modes of descent. During my four runs--and yes, you have to hike back up to earn your turns--I saw the following means of conveyance:
- traditional sleds, tobaggans, and snow saucers (very fast, very uncontrollable)
- sandwich boards, yard signs, plastic sheeting and banners possibly removed from nearby businesses
- several real estate signs (good to see them being used for constructive purpose during our present down market, no pun intended)
- one guy attempting to stand on a beer cooler (not too successful)
- all manner of inflatable beach and swim toys (including pink children's models with bunny ears)
- snowboards, cross-country skis, alpine skis, and at least one guy on randonnée (alpine touring) gear
- several inflatable air mattresses, including one occupied by a couple brandishing cameras and toasting the crowd with upheld 12-ounce cans of Coors--all the way to the bottom
Each time I trudged up the hill, I was struck by the snow-caused friendliness that's broken out in Seattle, Whether shoveling sidewalks, pushing cars, or gawking at the sledders and skiers, everyone is suddenly so nice. Winter euphoria has broken out. It's like we're suddenly living in an Alpine or Nordic city, like St. Moritz or Oslo, where skiing to work is normal and cars are suddenly shunted into the minority. Streets naturally adapt to seasonal use. And while Seattle's hills (and lack of municipal snow-removal equipment) make winter driving rather hellish, the same conditions, while they last, are perfect for winter sports.
As for the Counterbalance, it's a green circle caliber run, a beginner's hill comparable to most of Snoqualmie West. It's perfect for beginners--and, on a sled or yard sign, who isn't? (Intermediates and experts won't find much challenge, but the people watching is great. And the hike back up is a nice workout.) If only the snow would last, a rope tow--remember those?--would be ideal. I bet most people would pay $10 for a night pass. Plus a beer garden at the base? And live music in Counterbalance Park?
When I finally knocked off skiing, around 10 o'clock or so, I stopped to grab a snack at the Manhattan deli at the base of the slope. The clerk told me that, unlike many snow-impacted Seattle businesses, his establishment was doing great: "We sold a lot of Gatorade in the afternoon. Then, after six, all beer."
And now, from the man who skied from the very top of Queen Anne, Mike Mahoney reports:
What's Your Urban Vert?
I've lived in Seattle for a little more than 20 years and on top of Queen Anne Hill for the past 17, and there's one thing I've always wanted to do but never had a chance to -- ski down the front slope of QA, aka the Counterbalance.
Last night, my urban/alpine dream came true. From about 10:30 p.m. to 4 a.m., I knocked off around 6300 vertical feet and had more fun than I thought it was possible to have on Queen Anne, at least since all the good old dive bars shut down and/or Yuppified.
But here at the Weekly, we're curious about something -- there are lots of other good to great potential ski hills in the city (the west side of Capital Hill, Madison Ave. down to Madison Valley/Lake Washington and just about anywhere in West Seattle come to mind), and we'd like to know who else out there got out there this weekend and let it all hang out.
So let us know!
Send us an email to news@seattleweekly.com. Give us your name (unless you'd prefer to remain anonymous), where (what street) and when you were screaming downhill, your mode of transportation (just last night I saw skis, snowboards, sleds, saucers, cookie sheets, air mattresses, pool floats, garbage bags, chairs, couches, bicycles, laundry hampers, cardboard boxes, lunch trays, Tupperware lids, a Corona banner, ice skates and a chair on skis) your approximate Urban Vert or vertical gain (yes, walking back up the hill counts) and anything else you think is relevant to your wonderful winter experience. --MIKE MAHONEY
Mike's full ski route:
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