Hello Skier and Snowboarders,
Looking out my window this morning did not motivate me very much. The sky was gray, and it appeared that the upper mountain would be in flat light again. There was a very thin layer of white on my driveway, just enough to leave a tire mark on the road when I left home.
The weather report seemed to indicate that winds would be excessive and that the upper mountain might be on wind hold, but Summit Chair was running when we made our exit from the locker room trudging up the stairs to choose a lift for the start of the morning. We walked up to Roundhouse, as the upper mountain did not have a friendly appearance. One of Mark’s friends relayed a report after riding Summit Chair early in the morning indicating it was one of his worst trips down ever. I guess visibility was zero. We stuck to Roundhouse and TLC for a number of runs enjoying the well-groomed slopes with an occasional diversion to bumpier trails.
The amazing thing was that all of the members of our party that skied down the first run on Red Trail and Dance Floor said the same thing about the soft surface that thinly covered the corduroy. It was sensuous. The feeling under foot was hard to describe other than it was just a soft wonderful feeling. Of course, this did not last all morning, but it was heavenly for a short period of time.
I checked out Chicken Leg where visibility allowed me to see moguls to avoid being jarred to death. I hate meeting a mogul that looks like a flat piece of white paper. East Creek, where snowmaking had left a breakable crust surface yesterday, was groomed overnight and quite pleasant today.
Before heading in for a break, we decided to ride Summit because we were feeling guilty about staying on the lower mountain. In addition, the visibility increased goading us to get on the chair to the top. It turned out the winds were less than we expected and the visibility was not as bad as we envisioned. However, it was not great, so we took the road to the groomed area and enjoyed a nice surface back down to the lower mountain. I actually missed the road and ended up picking my way down the right side of Sunspot. The snow was soft between moguls and the light just enough to see the top of the bumps. It was better than I thought it would have been. We ended up riding Summit a couple more times before heading in for the morning. You never know until you go! In the early afternoon the snow stopped and a little bit of sun showed up, however snow has resumed later this afternoon.
Happy Birthday Bill Buckner.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Editor’s Notes: Looking at the schedule tomorrow, now that it is past 4pm. Summit, Roundhouse and Scott are listed as “anticipated weather impact” for tomorrow. If they are on hold, that could make Meadow the top of the mountain. – Mark
Bill Buckner? Didn’t he play outfielder for the Dodgers back in the 1970’s?
While the velvet of the first run was great, I far preferred the soft moguls in the poultry zone. Once a couple of inches of new snow had fallen, they were delightfully soft and devoid of any other skiers, other than Mark_The_Skibum. Hopefully tomorrow pans out better than expected as well.
Not a Dodger, just a local skier living in Alpine Meadows.