Much Better

I actually was going to skip posting a report today, as Andy was not skiing, and I didn’t expect that things would be all that much better than yesterday. But evidently there was enough of a freeze overnight that skiing was much better than yesterday.

That’s a good thing, as my ski posse today included six girls, aged 3 to 13, with widely varied abilities and desires. Ski surfaces in the morning were soft upon opening but didn’t have that sticky feeling until much later in the day. I managed to put in three whole runs on Roundhouse and TLC in the morning hours. After lunch, I managed to sneak away and do a half dozen laps off of Summit and Scott.

I was delighted to find great corn conditions on slopes that see maximum sun, with minimal stickiness near 1 pm. Those slopes included Solar Prominence, Ridge and Bobby’s. My buddy Reese reported that Sherwood Face also had good corn conditions, good enough that he spun 8 laps in a row there. I also heard that Lakeview was offering smooth non-sticky corn on Mountain View and Outer Limits. This is great news.

Where I still found some stickiness this afternoon was on the slopes that get less direct sun. I would include Yellow, Weasel and Dance Floor in that category. These runs should improve overnight and the upcoming days.

The Snow Golf Tournament was wildly successful today, drawing a huge crowd of participants. Golfers were queued up at each of the 9 holes all morning. At 12:30, I counted more than 40 golfers waiting to tee off from Summit. There was a wide variety of costumes out there today, on golfers and non-golfers. When I checked out this afternoon, there was another long line of golfers waiting to turn in score cards. Groove Session was warming up on the SunDeck, with a large crowd ready to party. You definitely could feel the energy all day. It was a nice vibe.

Also of note, today was the somewhat secret “Passholder Day” at Alpine Meadows. I did not discover this until I grabbed a cheeseburger upstairs for efficiency at lunch and received a 30% discount instead of the usual 15%.  That discount was also offered at Estelle Sports. Up on the Sun Deck, there was a raffle available to pass holders. The prizes were somewhat lackluster, so we did not hang around for that.

Half of my back yard is melted out of snow. I just took my first bike ride of the season over to the grocery store. One of my visiting grand-nieces just asked if it was okay if we set up the Slip N Slide in the back yard. What a great day! I’m looking forward to even more great corn skiing tomorrow!