An Energetic Saturday

There was all sorts of energy in the atmosphere at Alpine Meadows and the Northern Annex today. The skiing turned out pretty good, for most of the day. For that reason the review of the Moment Deathwish 104 skis will have to wait for another day. I had an inkling to check out the Pain McShlonkey this morning, but ran afoul of logistical issues. The main event, the KT-22 snowlerblade downhill, began at 8am. Being a Saturday, my parking reservations were at Alpine Meadows. There’s no early shuttle, nor shiny boxes running early enough to actually get to the event. Oh well. We just went skiing instead.

I’m not going to lie, the somewhat wettish flakes that were falling out of the sky this morning were a bit off-putting, bringing back memories of yesterday’s poor visibility. But as we neared the top of Summit, the sun started burning through the clouds. That revealed that between snowfall and wind buffing, the upper mountain sported a couple of inches of creamy new snow. We took laps in D7, Tower 19 and the Palisades zone enjoying soft winter like snow and the ability to see bumps.

It was a good news thing and a bad news thing that the sun started getting brighter and brighter as we approached lunch time. While visibility improved, some areas rapidly turned into glue. The snow also started feeling a bit heavier in the sunny areas.

As we came back up Summit after a short lunch break, the clouds stared building again, leading to the same sort of drizzle we saw yesterday. It kind of looked like snow at the top of the mountain, but melted on contact with anything. That caused further deterioration of the quality of skiing, at least for those of us that get to ski everyday and are therefore likely pickier, or smarter.

I did a quick new rendition of an all purpose meter today. I have not named it yet. Hopefully we can push all three meters past the glue and into a good corn cycle very quickly over the next few days.

We had an hour to spare before Joy and Madness took the stage on the Sun Deck, so we ditched our ski gear and took a field trip on the shiny boxes to get a Wild Flour cookie and check out the scene in the village. It definitely was a scene, with wacky costumes and a DJ giving the KT Base bar area sort of a Burning Man look. That said, there was also a huge crowd at the Chalet today enjoying a DJ set. Personally, I enjoyed the high energy performance by Joy and Madness on the Sun Deck in a light drizzle. Yup, a high energy day all around, and not a bad one.

That sunny period starts tomorrow, with no snow or rain in the forecast until Wednesday night. As of this minute, the temperatures have been toned down a bit, which should be a good thing. See you out there tomorrow….

P.S. I still like Melanie’s cookies better 😁