Hello skiers,
If you described today as a day consisting of snow showers, then you would have been correct. As with most snowy days the visibility was difficult at times, especially on the upper mountain. If you skied closed to trees, then the visibility was much better. Before noon there really was not enough snow to adequately cover our previously firm, or frozen surface. Many areas could be best described as dust on crust. Groomed runs were better except where the surface was shaved off by many skiers sliding over the same area. We took a run over to Sherwood where we found some soft turns in the Powerline area, but the rest of the slopes in the Sherwood area were more firm than I enjoy. Off-piste was firm and rough at the same time in most places. Between Dance Floor and Yellow Trail and between Yellow Trail and Hot Wheels Gully one might find some soft spots to make a few relaxing turns, but firm and rough followed soon after. The most consistent soft snow was on the short distance offered by Kangaroo Gully. Enough snow had covered the gully to make it feel good under foot.
I did not ride up Summit today, but a couple of people indicated North Peril was pretty good. Look for softer, or not so firm snow, that has a light layer of new snow over the top and you should be able to make some nice turns. We spun through Gentian Gully where you could see where you were going, but under foot was not any better than anywhere else once you were 2/3rds of the way down.
I really did not see many places to take a picture today so I just shot off one of Scott Peak and a couple of Weasel and Yellow Trail as I was riding TLC.
Weasel Trail
Yellow Trail
One wrong move and you can land upside down hanging from a tree branch. Nice work Rebecca.
The best picture of the day was offered to me by the person hanging upside down from a tree branch in the North Peril. Thank you for sending this along Rebecca.
Winds seem to have picked up, and snow continues to fall from the sky in a showery pattern this afternoon. It is 3pm. All lifts still appear to be operating. I noted winds at the summit were blowing between 50 and 64 miles per hour with a temperature of 12 degrees. I am happy to be inside a warm room at this point.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
The ratio of good turns to bad turns today was somewhere around 50%. With fewer people on the mountain, it likely would of have been easier for snow to accumulate for soft turns. I am noting that snow totals keep bumping up, with the high end being around 4 feet now by Saturday morning, which was my original forecast.
The next storm also starts moving in Sunday afternoon, so there is not much of a break this weekend. As of now, that second storm also looks like it could bring another 3-4 feet of snow.
Also westbound traffic on 80 is very heavy this afternoon. People seem to be realizing they will be stuck here…
If I were you, I would go wine tasting. If it snows as much as you think it will in such a short time, the skiing will most likely be limited.