Last day at Alpental

I have been laid up with a three week cough that has turned into black lung death after a three-hour run last Sunday over South and Middle Tiger. I was feeling pretty ok on the run (no equivocating there!) but by that night, my compromised immune system gave up the ghost in the steely hands of the black lung death and skipped five days of running. So that sucked, but the health is returning and Nick and I went up to Alpental today for the last runs of the season. It was mash potatos on the bottom, frozen mashers on top so we lapped the bottom, jibbed some trees, hit a few kickers and called it good at one. Not too shabby for the season - up to 26 days and 7 on the pass, i.e. it paid for itself. And NORTH CASCADES IS OPEN - which means next weekend = Washington Pass. Stay tuned.