Warming warning: Don't burn your skis yet

Some loose bits and pieces of news for a damp, chilly week:

Doing the snow dance — If you're in the snow business in an age of global warming, is stress-reduction therapy part of the compensation package?

Probably should be, says one local veteran ski-area manager: But not always for the reasons you might think.

While some ski areas with bases in the 3,000- to 3,200-foot range (case in point: the Summit at Snoqualmie; more on this in coming weeks) might be threatened with extinction if forecast rising snow levels hold true, even areas where snowfall traditionally has been plentiful might not emerged unscathed.

Consider Mount Baker, an area with a lower base of 3,500 feet. The ski area set a world record for seasonal snowfall — 1,140 inches — in the winter of 1998-'99. At Baker, slight or moderately reduced snowfall isn't likely to shut the lifts down anytime soon.

But warming trends already have caused disturbing changes in storm patterns, says longtime manager Duncan Howat.

"I worry about the change, and the intensity, of storms," says Howat, who has spent winters on the slopes of Baker since 1968. "We get a lot of higher winds. And the jet stream lines straight up on us in ways it didn't used to."

Last winter's December blowout in the Puget Sound region created sustained winds exceeding 100 mph at Mount Baker, causing havoc at the ski area. That might have been unprecedented, although Howat says the area only recently installed equipment to track winds that high.

He is sure about one thing: The sustained "Pineapple Express" storms that have long brought warm rain to the region for brief periods in the winter seem to come more often, and hit harder when they do.

Those conditions often shut down ski areas closer to the snowline. But Baker, recently ranked No. 2 in the country for powder-snow skiing by Skiing Magazine, usually is blessed with enough snowfall to ride them out.

Not that it's ever fun to watch all that meticulously stockpiled snow literally wash down the drain.

"I've seen us lose as much as 5 feet" in a single storm, Howat says.

If you started out with 10 feet, the shrinkage just means more work for groomers. But if it's your only 5 feet, you're out of business.

Major breaking sock news — The yuppie-chic-urban-adventurer sock wars have reached a crescendo. First, SmartWool, after flirting with it for years, has finally put out a merino-wool sock that pushes the momentously ridiculous $20-a-pair barrier. The company's new heavyweight mountaineering and hunting socks retail for $22-$23, and several other, less-beefy models are $19.95.

They're great socks. But geez. Is there a sheep shortage we don't know about?

Not to be outdone, Keen, the makers of those sloppy-looking, hole-punched sandals everyone around here wears in the summer, has entered the sock biz with a wool sock of its own. How to do SmartWool one better? Keen's "Bellingham" socks are right- and left-foot specific, with a little yellow "R" and "L" emblazoned on the big toes.

The socks, sold exclusively at REI, boast a "more precise fit," and "reduced fabric waste." They're 17 or 18 bucks a pair, but, like SmartWools, they're made in the USA, and they're deliciously comfy.

Two things we now know for sure:

It'll be great to resume sleeping at night without tossing and turning over "fabric waste" in the nation's sock factories.

And while it's nice to have a namesake, we're pretty certain socks with an "L" and an "R" are entirely too complicated for most Bellinghamsters.

More park-fee fallout — Thanks to the many readers who wrote in and partially restored our faith in humanity after last week's column about rising park fees. It sounds like the average park user isn't willing to take a $25 gate charge sitting down, and in fact is making his/her displeasure known.

That's good news. And sorry if we alarmed some of you seniors in suggesting you pay more than youngsters to get into parks, rather than vice versa. We were being facetious there. In fact, we think your $10 lifetime pass is about the rate we all should be paying to enjoy national parks — if Congress would finally do the right thing and fund parks at a level commensurate with the place they hold in the heart of the public.

Which reminds us: We're still waiting for someone from Washington's congressional delegation to lead the charge on this.

In an era of political cynicism, when it seems difficult for the feds to ever do anything right, maybe focusing on rebuilding one, small thing — a simple, relatively inexpensive pleasure that gives comfort to millions of people — could be a good way to rebuild public trust.

Sorry to go all radical on you there, but just think about it.

Ron Judd's Trail Mix column appears here every Thursday. To contact him: 206-464-8280 or rjudd@seattletimes.com.