I believe many of us were expecting great corn early this morning, as we tilted right, and then left, on our way down CB’s, Sun Bowl, Big Bend Bowl or any other trail accessed via the High Traverse. We were disappointed to learn that the area was closed, and Sherwood Chair was not operating.
The word on the slopes was that a mouse, or perhaps more than one mouse, chewed through an electrical wire causing the lift to be placed on maintenance hold. Evidently, it was not an easy repair, thus, the lift was noted as “off schedule” for the entire day. Without Sherwood Chair running the entire area available from the High Traverse was closed for the day. In addition, TLC was only open to the mid-station. This eliminated Expert Shortcut, and Art’s Knob along with the Sherwood Cliffs, Counterweight Gully, and Our Father.
The good news was the other options were available. High and Low Beaver Bowl, and Estelle Bowl were open and offered some good spring corn to those willing to hike the ridge for access to these relatively unused slopes. I did not make the hike, but I was told that High Beaver was excellent during the first couple of hours after open bell.
It felt pretty warm today even though I tried to dress lightly. It was 50 degrees at the top of Summit Chair at 4pm this afternoon, and 55 degrees at the base. Honestly, it felt warmer than that to me.
In the late morning and early afternoon we made a number of runs up Scott Chair taking advantage of the soft snow in Gentian Gully and Promised Land. Most of the snow was soft, but not sticky. A big thank you to the grooming crew for spreading snow at the base of Subway making the approach to the lift white instead of brown. Just for the fun of it, I rode every open lift with the exception of the Big Carpet. This was not all that difficult to accomplish with Sherwood, Lakeview, and Kangaroo closed for the day, but it got me around the mountain that was open.
After touring Scott Chair we headed back to Palisades and Medium Yellow Gully to slowly make our way down soft, slushy, moguls on a steeper slope. I loved it, because I love soft bumps. Of course, the flat areas below each slope were sticky and required some vigorous poling to continue moving forward. We ended the day with a short run down Gunner’s Knob.
From my perspective, today was an excellent day with plenty of good spring corn. The day ended meeting my greatest expectations.
Enjoy you day,
Andy
That sign would have been so helpful yesterday! Great skiing today in all of the non High Traverse terrain we love.
#iloveslushbumps
“We ended the day with a short run down Gunner’s Knob.”
Ah, one of the finer things in life: “We ended the day with a short run down Gunner’s Knob.”