Wind was driving clear droplets against my window early this morning. It looked very grey, wet, and cold as I contemplated dressing for skiing. To be honest, the only reason I dressed for skiing, and pulled into an empty parking lot, was to make sure my friends did not make fun of me for not showing up.
True to form, they did show up, and we decided to give it a try. The winds were blowing strongly enough to require Summit, Roundhouse, Scott, Sherwood, and Lakeview to be placed on windhold. Later they were all closed for the day. Treeline was the only lift available for anyone other than beginners, and today might not have been the best day for a beginner to be out attempting to learn to ski.
If you don’t go, you won’t know what the conditions were really like on the slopes. As negative as I was in the beginning, it turned out that the skiing was pretty good. It was sleeting, or snowing lightly, when we sat on Treeline just after 9. I was happy to see that the seats were not wet.
The winds were blowing, but not as strongly as they were the other day when everything was shut down. Of course, the options for trails off Treeline are limited, but the snow surface was creamy. Areas that had been groomed overnight received an early morning topping of new snow making the surface soft. I thought I would be outside on the hill for the minimum of 5 or 6 runs (depends on who you are skiing with on any particular day). I stayed out until 11 and enjoyed 9 or 10 runs on Treeline (perhaps the most I have ridden on Treeline this year, or in any other year).
We skied the main run(s) venturing a little away from the groomed areas. East Creek was soft and included a spattering of wind blown debris on the ground. We also traversed as far as Yellow Trail in the other direction. A number of people were playing in Hot Wheels Gully, but we stayed out of that area.
The real beauty of today’s adventure was the lack of other skiers and boarders. Of course, there were a few people on the hill, but at times we did not see anyone coming down Weasel Run as we rode up the chairlift. The breezeway was empty as was the parking area.
Although it was raining at my house this morning, it is now snowing down to the Truckee River.
A quick shout out to Andrew who is having his Leap Year Birthday today. Happy Birthday Andrew.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Peer pressure can be a positive thing!
Missing my locker room-mates.
Thanks for the photos especially the empty stairway. Gave us flatlanders a sense of what it was like to be there. Do I see 5′ or more on the roof in the last photo?