THE BEST OPTION for fun in the snow or wowing out-of-town visitors with natural scenery comes today through New Year’s Day atop Hurricane Ridge.
After an opening day to be remembered last Sunday with blue skies above the clouds that hung thick near sea level and knee-deep powder, Hurricane Ridge Road and the Hurricane Ridge Ski and Snowboard Area is scheduled to be open for operations each day through Jan. 1.
Enjoy the belated Christmas gift.
Short notice course
An avalanche hazard management course will be held Friday through Sunday in Port Angeles.
The American Institute for Avalanche Research Level 1 has course work from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and field work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Hurricane Ridge.
The course is open to anyone, regardless of method of travel, who wants to recreate in or near avalanche terrain.
Participants will be taught how to prepare for and carry out a backcountry trip, to understand basic decision making while in the field and to learn rescue techniques required to find and dig up a buried person if an avalanche occurs and someone in the party is caught.
Participants may have attended some awareness classes or workshops or completed the Avalanche Rescue course, but none are a prerequisite for this course.
To sign up, visit tinyurl.com/PDN-Avalanche19.
Jan. 4 bus service starts
The Ridge posted an interesting item: bus service up to the Ridge will begin Saturday, Jan. 4.
The trip will depart Civic Field at 9 a.m. and return at 4 p.m.
“For the time being it will only be on Saturdays and will run till the end of March,” the post said. “For this year the service will be free. You will however need a pass into the park. Anyone with a Park pass can bring themselves and three others thru the gate without a fee. Kids 15 and under have no entrance fee and those over 16 without a pass are $15. You must be 13 or over unless accompanied by a guardian.”
Crabbing
The portion of Marine Area 9 between the Hood Canal Bridge and a line from Foulweather Bluff to Olele Point (Port Gamble, Port Ludlow) and the portion of Marine Area 12 (Hood Canal) north of a line projected due east from Ayock Point is now open for recreational crabbing through Jan. 31.
After evaluation of crab harvest and December test fishery data, state and tribal co-managers agree that the crab abundance in these areas can support additional harvest, allowing the state recreational fishery to remain open through the end of January.
“This higher abundance is great news for holiday crabbers and Hood Canal residents looking to get on the water,” said Katelyn Bosley, a shellfish biologist with the department.
“The department works hard to provide harvest opportunities at levels that ensure the crab population remains viable over time. Many more crab were found later in the season than the initial surveys indicated allowing us to provide more fishing opportunities this winter than we initially thought.”
In each of these two areas, crabbing will be allowed seven days a week through Jan. 31.
Sport crabbers are reminded that setting or pulling traps from a vessel is only allowed from one hour before official sunrise through one hour after official sunset.
Any Dungeness crab caught in the fishery from Sept. 3 through Tuesday must still be recorded immediately on winter catch record cards, which are valid through Tuesday.
Crabbers ages 15 years and older must have a current Washington shellfish or combination license valid through March 31, 2020, to participate. Licenses can be purchased by telephone at 1-866-246-9453, at fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov, or at hundreds of license vendors across the state.
After the conclusion of the regular winter harvest season Tuesday, winter catch reports are due to Fish and Wildlife by Feb. 4.
For more information on catch record cards, visit tinyurl.com/PDN-Crabs19.
Between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31 recreational crabbers will not be required to possess a Puget Sound Dungeness crab endorsement or record Dungeness crab retained on a Catch Record Card when crabbing in the portions of Puget Sound that are open.
The daily limit in Puget Sound is five Dungeness crab, males only, in hard-shell condition with a minimum carapace width of 6 1/4 inches.
Crabbers may also catch six red rock crab of either sex per day with a minimum carapace width of 5 inches, and six Tanner crab of either sex with a minimum carapace of 4 1/2 inches.
Crabbing wraps Tuesday in Marine Areas 4 (east of the Bonilla-Tattoosh Line) 5 (Sekiu) and 6 (Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca).
