A Boring Winter

Meteorological spring has begun, so it’s time to put winter behind us. It’s a winter that I’m sure many of us would want to forget, since it was dominated by the pandemic. The shutdowns and fears of getting Covid limited what I could do and where I could go during the winter of 2020/2021, so this is going to be a short update of what’s been going on with me. Here is a video of me enjoying a day on the ski slopes.

Given all the travel restrictions and safety precautions, I didn’t travel out of the Puget Sound area during the last three months. Even though my folks are only a 2.5 hours drive away in Vancouver, I couldn’t go home or the holidays because of the border restrictions. So pretty much the only two consistent recreational activities was going crabbing until the end of the winter crabbing season, which ended at the end of 2020, and then going skiing.

Here’s two big red rock crabs I caught on my last outing of 2020. (click to enlarge)

In terms of crabbing, I did pretty well. There was one outing where I hit the limit of 6 red rock crabs in about 2.5 hours, and I caught 5 on my last outing of 2020. Red rock crabs are pretty tasty. My ginger scallion stir fried crab is getting pretty decent, and I tried some other recipes too.

red rock crabs
My best Puget Sound crabbing outing so far. 6 red rock crabs in 2.5 hours

As for skiing, just like the last ski season I bought the Epic Local Pass. I was hoping to go on ski trip to Colorado this season and had booked the flights, but the pandemic conditions during the first two months of 2021 prompted me to scuttle my plans. I ended up only skiing at Stevens Pass this whole season, since Stevens Pass is the only local resort covered under my pass. I went a total of 10 times, and I think I got my money’s worth on the season pass, given that Steven Pass charges nearly $100 for single day weekend or holiday lift tickets. It has been a pretty good ski season in the PNW, as we’ve got plenty of mountain snow. I have definitely improved my skiing this season. I can ski down (albeit slowly) single black diamond trails at Stevens Pass, and have a better handle on steeper terrain. I still haven’t gotten the technique down for moguls or bumpy terrain, so that’s something to be worked in the next ski season. I am still not comfortable enough with single black diamonds to attempt a double black diamond yet. Stevens Pass is open until the middle of April, but 10 times at the same resort is enough for me.

Washington State Capitol
The Washington State Capitol overlooking the Capitol Lake in Olympia

The furthest I’ve traveled in the winter (other than going skiing) was going to the Washington State Capital in Olympia. I’ve been to Olympia a few times during the summer to dig for clams/collect oysters, but have never stopped visited the State Capitol. I went there and walked around, and it looked nice. Washington has a typical domed capitol building, but the nice thing is that the capitol sits on a hill overlooking the lake and and the southern end of the Puget Sound.

Overall, it wasn’t the best winters in terms of recreational activities, or anything for that matter. I’m holding up okay, but l think my mental state has been negatively affected by everything that has gone on. It’s the same for a lot of people out there. There is some light at the end of the tunnel with Covid vaccines becoming more widespread. Hopefully soon everybody who wants the vaccine can get it, and we can do the things we enjoy again.

2 thoughts to “A Boring Winter”

  1. You’re so good at skiing! Have you skied at Mount Rainier? I went there during July 4th holiday, looks very beautiful.

    1. Haha thanks Solicia. I’m only an intermediate skier. Still have to go pretty slow on single black diamonds. Haven’t skied Mount Rainier. I know people ski the Muir snow field, but you have to have touring gear and hike all the way up. I’ll stick to inbounds ski resorts with lifts for now.

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