Love It or Leave It

There are days when the weather and the snow conditions are not perfect. In fact, there are many days when conditions are not perfect. On those non-perfect days, skiers have a choice whether to love it, or leave it. This morning was one of those days.

Overnight and into the morning hours snow was falling. When I woke up this morning, and looked out the window, I saw less than a dusting of snow on my deck railing. However, higher up the mountain I spotted trees and rocks laced with new snow. Looking further up the valley and towards the top of Summit Chair, I was not able to see anything. A cloud obscured my view. My thought was that a dusting of new wet snow had fallen overnight and skiing might consist of dust on crust. Rather than bag it for the day, I went off to get a closer look.

The parking lot was empty, and locker room 3 was a ghost town. A few of my local friends were in the locker room this morning, but only one or two other people dared to boot up.

Not many in the locker room this morning.

Walking up to Roundhouse, it was obvious that the upper mountain sat in a cloud. Visibility was zero for anyone brave enough to ride Summit. The same was true to a lesser extent on the slopes of Roundhouse. There were enough skiers waiting in line at Roundhouse to fill three or four chairs. There were perhaps enough skiers to fill one chair at the base of Summit. The place was basically a ghost town. It was obvious that the snow was wet as I sat down for my first chair ride. My rear end became wet before I reached tower one, and my hands soon followed as my gloves soaked up moisture from snow still falling from the sky. Expectations of a nice powder day were very low.

Surprise met us as we made our first turns on Charity. Skiing somewhat blind, on untracked snow that was soft and wet, turned out to be much better than some of us expected. We were smiling upon arriving back at the base of Roundhouse with snow sticking to our clothing and water seeping in everywhere. Often fools find love, where others find misery.

We enjoyed a number of runs on Roundhouse including Yellow Trail, God’s Knob, Rolls and Knolls, and our semi-secret Poultry Zone before heading over to Sherwood for a quick trip down Power Line. Friends took a number of runs on TLC telling me they enjoyed it.

The trick this morning was to find untracked snow because the snow that was tracked up by other skiers turned into a lumpy mess.

We quit around 11 because we were soaked to the bone and cold. After putting all my equipment away and leaving the locker room, the sun came out. Visibility returned. It looked beautiful, but I was not going to boot up a second time. The weather changed again later and snow fell once again.

Some of our group “Loved It” and others left with frowns on their faces.

Enjoy you day,
Andy