Six inches of new snow fell overnight. It was a surprise to me. I looked at my deck railing in the middle of the night and only saw one inch of snow dusting it. Early in the morning, I woke up to the sound of a snowblower. My driveway was being cleared at 4 or 5 in the morning. They normally do not plow the driveway until 6 inches of snow have piled up on the asphalt. Surprise! Just under 6 inches of snow fell last night. It was cold, and it looked as if the sun was about to rise from the east and flood the mountain with bright light. I knew I would have to change my ski goggle lens. Yesterday it was gray with flat light, but today it looked as if the darker lens would be necessary.
All of the important lifts were scheduled to open, and most trails appeared to be opening after patrol completed their avalanche control work. Bombs could be heard as we squeezed our feet into our ski boots. An air of excitement could be felt in the locker room because we had not really experienced many, if any, mornings with new snow and cold air.
It did not take long for us to realize the skiing was going to be a real surprise. 6 inches of relatively light snow did a good job of covering the chunkiness of hard snow that was scattered over the area yesterday. There is nothing better than leaving fresh tracks on a pristine slope. We hunted for untouched snow all morning, and I would say we did pretty well. God’s Knob is always a good place to start, followed by Yellow Trail if it has not been groomed. The trees to the side of Yellow Trail were perfect for making tight turns in new snow.
Bobby’s followed by Scott Meadow always puts a smile on my face. They did not disappoint this morning. There were plenty of places to leave our prints on various trails accessible from the Lakeview Chair.
The best surprise of the day was the opening of Promised Land and Gentian Gully. It was just so joyful to be turning through the forested area and leaving imprints on the untouched surface. Skiing these runs, which are two of my favorites, makes me feel like I have come home.
We were a little late riding over to Sherwood, but we found bright sunny slopes on the Powerline slope with fresh snow waiting for us. Art’s Knob had been cut up, but the snow was soft and easily skied when we dropped into it. There is not much else to say about this excellent day on the mountain.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Mark’s Note About The Mobile Page
We did 11 revisions of the mobile page last night and thought we had it dialed in…until all notifications failed today. So the unpaid intern and myself will be working on a completely different strategy this evening. It will likely break any previous versions of the mobile status pages we have been creating. We are doing our best to make something that is functional, reliable and free. Stand by for more details tomorrow…
Man that looked like a good day! Thanks for sharing.