Great Day

Hello Skiers,

Today followed yesterday that was a very wet day. I mention this because the wet snow and rain that fell yesterday created a somewhat moist base for the few inches of snow that fell overnight. The morning surface consisted of two types of snow. There was a very nice thin layer of new snow over the areas that had been groomed overnight. Yellow Trail was delightful first run. These slopes made for easy turns. I would not call the new snow, powder on these trails. It was just not deep enough to be called powder.

Slopes that had not been groomed overnight were beautiful to look at this morning, especially after the sun took over the sky. These slopes were also not really powder. They consisted of a few inches of new snow that was wind driven as if fell. The pack was dense and just a little tricky. Concentration was required to make turns.

My tracks on Standard Trail.  You can see it was a little chunky and took concentration to make turns.

There were very few people lined up this morning making it possible to take our time touring the mountain in search of untracked slopes. We were lucky enough to find completely naked terrain on Standard and Bobby’s as well as Scott Meadow before heading to Sherwood. South Face was being tracked up by happy skiers as was Sherwood Face and areas that headed toward Lakeview.

I think I know these two who were enjoying some of the first tracks down Bobby’s

We watched skiers and boarders drop down Scott Chute first thing in the morning, but they really did not look like they were having fun. We heard quiet a bit of ice as people made turns in the chute. On our second ride up Scott we viewed what appeared to have been a natural, or skier cut, slide that looked pretty large to us as we rode up the lift. The rubble had not been there on our first trip up Scott. This snow pack will avalanche so be careful.

I found that the more a slope was skied the better it got. Breaking up the wind pack and denser snow made skiing better. Trails quickly turned into good winter skier pack. Palisades East and West were in prime condition.

Palisades East and West look like one smooth surface.  The snow was excellent today.

I think I skied them six or seven times in the late morning and early afternoon. Mid-Yellow and lower Out Father were also excellent. Both areas slid and there was rubble, but the chunks were small and soft. Expert Shortcut was also soft and skier packed.

One of my last runs of the day was down Seldom Slides. It was also in prime condition.
Overall, it was an excellent day of skiing. Seeing the sun for a good part of the day, making tracks in fresh snow, and setting turns in soft winter pack on steeper slopes that have been closed recently do to ice put a smile on my face.

Enjoy your day,

Andy