It was warm, a little too warm, today on the slopes. I was over dressed from the start because I dressed for cooler weather. The morning temperature on top of the mountain indicated it was in the 20’s with a moderate wind. I was overheating as soon as I walked up the steps and over to the base of Summit Chair.
The overnight grooming crew did an excellent job smoothing out the mountain. The trails were groomed nicely and pleasantly wide. They needed to be wide to handle the crowd that showed up to ski under beautiful blue skies. All lifts were in operation, and all trails were available at the opening bell. Something happened at Sherwood in the morning, I am not sure, but it was closed for a while. The fact that Sherwood was not operating for a period of time might have helped create some pretty long lines at TLC and other lifts.
Skiing down the well-groomed slopes that offered a firm corduroy surface that easily held an edge quickly cooled me off. We screamed down Sunspot, Alpine Bowl, and Wolverine taking advantage of the firm corduroy created by the grooming crew. The only issue was that speed was easy to attain, creating a speedway for the early morning skiers. We all like to ski fast, but too many people skiing fast is a little frightening.
Some off-piste trails were in wonderful condition and others were filled with rubble from yesterday’s skiers. I enjoyed Pygmy Forest and Palisades under Alpine Bowl Chair. The Lower Saddle looked good, as did the Keyhole area, but I did not venture that direction.
Alpine Bowl perfectly groomed
High Traverse well was well used today
I did enjoy a run through Lower Beaver Bowl, but the exit down to Kangaroo was a little rough.
Lower Beaver was filled with winter snow.
Scott Chute looked good, but it sounded as if people were scraping ice on some turns.
Today, every lift and every trail were open. Signs at the base of each lift were all green. We have not seen all trails open this year, at least not on many days. Skiers were hiking to Upper Beaver, Estelle, and Bernie’s Bowl. It was an excellent day of skiing.
Enjoy Your Day,
Andy
Editors Note: About that unfortunate Sherwood Mechanical Hold…As people migrated back to the front side of the mountain, the lines all got oppressively long on just about all lifts. That was a bummer. We actually went to Palisades Tahoe for a while, where Silverado and Solitude had very short lines! – Mark