Although I skied a fair number of runs around the mountain today, those that skied Lakeview raved about the consistency of the spring snow. The snow on Mountain View and Outer Limits appeared to have been excellent at some point after 11. I skied Mountain View before 11 on a return trip from Sherwood Chair at which point it was still just a little firm.
Between 9 and 10 this morning the groomed trails off Summit Chair made the transition from firm corduroy to soft smooth spring snow. Sunspot turned first among the upper trails as did Rock Garden and the left side of Dance Floor. Soon after Solar Flare, skiers left of Sunspot, and Tower 23, skier left of Alpine Bowl, and the left side of Wolverine softened nicely. I enjoyed some fast top to bottom runs on Summit between 9 and 10. Each got better as the time marched along.
Sometime around 10:15 we traversed to Upper Saddle and descended into SP Bowl followed by the lower section of Big Bend Bowl. Conditions were excellent with a surface of crystals that allowed easy turns in just an inch or two of depth. There were not many tracks from yesterday to distract us or create a rough ride. It was enjoyable enough to entice us back for a second run.
Shelly took this photo of a huge chunk of snow that fell from a cornice in SP Bowl
After our High Traverse excursion we headed the opposite direction and skied to Low Beaver hoping to access the open slopes above Kangaroo. Low Beaver was still firm to the skiers right, but very soft and mushy on the south facing slope. We did traverse through the bowl and out to the area below Estelle Bowl. We found some lightly skied slopes and chewed them up with our tracks. Nice conditions, but just a bit softer than perfect. We headed back up thinking we would do an Upper Beaver into Estelle, but the area was closed when we arrived at the top of Summit Chair. We went back for a second tour through Low Beaver down to the top of Kangaroo.
Upper Beaver looked enticing, but it was closed before we got a chance to ski it.
Looking down to Kangaroo from a point just below Estelle Bowl
Sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures tomorrow should indicate starting early in the morning as I think the surface will soften quickly.
Just a bit-o-correction here. The ‘What was this person doing?’ photo was taken by Kim, about a month ago, when a yet to be named skier got in a bit-o-pickle as he thought he was going to ski the upper groomer lines above the road, but somehow ended up between those lines. Hmmmmm….
I’m guessing you are including me in the Lakeview thing. It really has been awesome the last two days. Thanks to mountain ops staff that took the time to rebuild the top ramp today and the bottom ramp yesterday. It is much appreciated!
I normally hate Lakeview because of the l-o-n-g chair ride. However, Thursday and Friday were absolute Nirvana over there.