Partly Sunny

Hello Skiers,
Today was a partly sunny day. The day began with clouds hanging over the upper mountain with rays of sun hitting Lakeview. Skies cleared for the most part around 10am, but clouds returned in the afternoon. One or two inches of snow fell overnight creating a smooth surface over the groomed slopes for the first few runs. Off-piste was a mixture of a small amount of powder in the mogul troughs and skier tracks from the previous day. Of course, there was also left over untracked powder, but it required a little hunting. I found the snow from the day before to be soft under the new surface. Later in the day it firmed up somewhat. Sun does that to snow.

In my opinion there were two smart moves first thing this morning.

One was accomplished by Bob and Trevor who headed directly to Lakeview Chair. Lakeview was not operating yesterday leaving many of the trails hardly used. There report noted the snow was excellent as they lapped Lakeview. They lapped Lakeview fifteen times skiing Outer-Outer Limits, and at least four runs through Scott Meadow (see photo below).

Bob and Trevor combing Scott Meadow

The second smart move was to head for the High Traverse as soon as it opened. Turns out it opened when Summit Chair opened at 9am. I headed over and found uncrowded slopes with very few tracks messing up gleaming powder. We skied Big Bend Bowl crossing through trees to hit more powder below S.P. Bowl. Sunshine, powder, and fresh tracks without the normal rush to get ahead of everyone made this a memorable morning.

Andy leaving his mark below S.P. Bowl

Upper Beaver, Estelle, and Bernie’s Bowl opened today. They have not been open for awhile. I imagine there was some good snow to chew up, but I did not make it over that way today. However, we did enjoy Palisades, Pygmy Forest, Our Father, High Yellow, North Peril, Peter’s Peril, Waterfall, Low Beaver and the Sisters, as well as Gentian The snow in all these trails was soft and delicious.

Photo of Beaver and Estelle taken from Scott

This afternoon the sky is once again gray. Temperatures are dropping, but they did warm into the mid-thirties during the day. Winds seem to be picking up at the top of Summit late this afternoon with a temperature in the low twenties. Perhaps it will snow a little more tonight.

Enjoy your day,

Andy