Good Spring Skiing

We found something new at the top of Alpine Bowl this morning. Evidently the overnight grooming crew took some extra time to extend the road from the top of Alpine Bowl Chair to Upper Saddle and slightly beyond. This improvement made it much easier to access Upper Saddle via the High Traverse.

Newly created road to Upper Saddle

This morning the sky was clear and the temperatures very much in spring mode. At 9am temperatures were 43 degrees at the base and 32 at the peak. Winds at the top of Summit Chair were blowing between 43 and 51 miles per hour, but they only affected the ridge top.
We took our first run over the High Traverse skiing Sun Bowl and traversing over to lower Big Bend Bowl. The snow had not completely softened at this point in time. In some places I found firm rubble that made the ride a little bumpy, but generally it was very good. Next we skied a number of groomed runs including Sunspot, Alpine Bowl and Terry’s Return as well as Red/Green on the lower mountain. The groomed slope of Wolverine was pleasant as was the area below Beaver Bowl leading to the top of Kangaroo. For some reason the resort grooms Kangaroo even though the chair is not running. The groomed area was perfect when we skied it between 10 and 11. At about 11 I headed back across the High Traverse to see if it had improved with time and sun. I skied Sun Bowl and found it to be heavenly. A smooth and creamy texture met my skis. It was good enough to do a second time. I enjoyed CB Chute on the second tour which was just a good. In between I snuck in a run on South Face that did not disappoint.

Sun Bowl and CB Chute were perfect

Lakeview Chair offered some good skiing on the groomed trails. Outer Limits, Mountain View, and Scotty’s Beam (some small moguls) were all soft, but not too sticky. We found Ridge Run to be sticky at 1, but Bobby’s was still in pretty good shape. I was about to turn in for the day when I friend, who was leaving, talked me into trying Gentian before I turned in for the day. It was a good suggestion as Gentian was very good. Some small moguls that were soft, and some soft untracked snow with small sun cups met me on my way down. Uncrowded and not sticky put a smile on my face.