Snow in excellent condition
Friday, January 17, 2014
The last new snow that fell was during the day Tuesday, but temperatures in the single digits during the night and twenties during the day have kept the snowpack in peak condition. I was up on Wednesday for the leftovers, which were great, but I brought my narrower boards today since I figured the snow would lend itself to a carve-ier ski.
First run, as usual, was down the upper part of Closet and then a traverse into Shadows. Closet was great with the snow soft and grippy, and there were even patches of unskied powder that was still soft and deep. The sun was starting to make the the snow thicker and heavier in Shadows, so I retreated back to skier’s right to find terrain with less of a southern aspect. The low sun angle this time of year really helps to preserve snow quality. so most things tilted west of due south remain very good.
Then into Lower Shadows where the ridgeline on skier’s left also skied great, especially if you can plan to turn where other’s haven’t!. Next run was a ripper down the Sundown lifline which skied soft and consistent. Short, medium or long radius turns - it didn’t matter as the snow allowed you to ski however you wanted.
Next run was in the 3:30 trees, but I found this to boarded out - by which I mean that several snowboarders have evidently turned in similar places making huge ruts in tight trees that made the skiing inconsistent. So I ambled over the 3 O’Clock and found the right side just off the grooming track to hold more great carveable snow. I then took Duster for another run down Lower Shadows, but noticed Patrol had dropped the rope on the left side of Lower Shadows recently, maybe even today. There were several very steep but short southern aspect lines that held very consistent but deep, heavy untracked powder. I traversed to the right to regain the ridge and the colder snow before getting dumped back into the lifline.
Last run up top was upper Closet and over to Typhoon. Lots of soft snow, and even some untracked in the tighter lines, and that skied great. Then, a couple of runs over in the Why Not trees that skied as well as anything up top.
It looks like we are in a dry spell for at least the next week, and models are struggling mightily with a pattern change advertised for around next weekend, so get the snow now while its at its freshest.
