Wednesday, January 10 (Taylor’s Version)

[rogman]

LIFT DELAYS:

Skyeship Stage II on hold due to wind, no time estimate
K-1 Gondola on hold, 9:15 A.M time estimate
North Ridge Quad on hold, 9:15 A.M. time estimate
Skye Peak Express on hold, 9:15 A.M. time estimate
Superstar Express on hold, 9:15 A.M. time estimate

For those of you in a hurry to go ski concrete in the r*in, although it is abating. Oh, and just trying to drive traffic to the site.

[simpletwist]

Everything will be alright if we just keep skiing like we're 22

[daytripper]

So if skyeship is on hold due to wind, what are the other lifts on hold for? Why give a reason for one but not the others?

[newpylong1]

All wind, just not thoroughly listed as such.

[Guy in Shorts]

Bubble loaded on time. Ski bum race was cancelled so we warmed up an ungroomed Highline. Hit the North Ridge Quad at 9:30 just as they started loading. First tracks on Upper Ridge Run that held the driest powder on the mountain. Lapped the North ridge for awhile. LEF had full on super manky mix. Loaded the K1 box for a final lap on Old Superstar as we had skied our fill of wet powder. Place was as empty as it gets mid winter.

Snowdon Sign

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Upper Ridge Run

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Lower Superstar

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[skiadikt]

well that was interesting ... 8-10" of perhaps the most water logged "snow" i've ever skied. think we out-cemented the sierra with this one. doubling the fun was the viz or lack thereof. plenty of fog to go around and though the main drip stopped at 8:55, some unknown precip continued on & off requiring some goggle swiping.

as for the "operations failures" this morning, there were maybe 12-15 folks at the bubble for 1st chair and that crowd was "swelled" by the 4 folks who skied down from the gondi. a total non-issue - the absolute least crowded day i've seen in years and the lifts started running shortly thereafter other than the skyeship, which was running when i hit it later. 9-12 shift.

starting on some ungroomed terrain was probably not the best idea. turning was a lot of work - way beyond my pay scale. boarders had the better of it today. but the skiing overall was quite good. sorta like hero snow on steroids. upper bunny good. over at rams, easy street was absolutely beautiful. as the morning progressed, things did get skied in a bit though there was still some untracked on the trails at quiting time. stayed lower angle - bear, cruise & bitter good.

could turn out to be a fine afternoon. the good news is everything got coated with this glop and though it will set up overnight, it will be ready for the next round fri>sat.

[rogman]

Sorry Swifties, “Taylor’s Version” of a powder day kinda sucks. Heavy on the “bass” part, light on the fluff, the antithesis of a typical Taylor tune. To paraphrase “Office Space”, “I see you missed opening bell”. “Nope, didn’t miss it at all”. It was more a “Wizard of Oz” day, “I got out 12 and start to ski at 1. An hour on the hill and then at two was done. (Jolly good fun)” Merry ol’ land of Killington indeed. Truthfully, very short day. After my fall last winter, my entire body went union. Mandatory breaks, wildcat strikes, the works. Today it was the legs (“We could get hurt in this stuff”). Anyway, heavy, heavy mashed potatoes, the kind that make you wish they were French fries. Or vodka. The SS side was crunchier than the Bear side. Lame. Try again tomorrow.

[hillbangin]

Bubble loaded on time. Ski bum race was cancelled so we warmed up an ungroomed Highline. Hit the North Ridge Quad at 9:30 just as they started loading. First tracks on Upper Ridge Run that held the driest powder on the mountain. Lapped the North ridge for awhile. LEF had full on super manky mix. Loaded the K1 box for a final lap on Old Superstar as we had skied our fill of wet powder. Place was as empty as it gets mid winter.

IMG_3846.jpgIMG_3848.jpgIMG_3852.jpg

Thank you for the Pics - looks like crowd levels are back to normal January weekdays - that's good.

Too many people last week......

[GlacierBoy]

"...Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate....
...Shake it up....shake it up!". KZone, shake it up!

Thanks for the snow report and pictures!

Quote of the day and most informative assessment for those us in the flatlands evaluating whether to feel massive pow pow FOMO-
"interesting ... 8-10" of perhaps the most water logged "snow" i've ever skied. think we out-cemented the sierra with this one. ....."

[Big Bob]

At least it was snow and not the alternative. It will dry out tonight if it gets below freezing

[PinnacleJim]

Out from about 11:30 to 3:30. Some pretty good snowshowers from noon to about 1 which made for lots of goggle wiping. Skiing was all over the map, with some pretty nice spring-like groomed surfaces in places and heavy crud if you ventured into the areas that had not been groomed or skied in. Temps slowly dropping throughout the afternoon, and you could feel the surfaces starting to set up. I suspect tomorrow will be a pretty decent groomer day as they have lots of fresh stuff to work with. Ungroomed surfaces will not be fun, at least at the bell after setting up tonight.

[twilkas]

thx for the reports (and pics GIS) probably for the best as it looks like that stuff will weld itself nicely to existing base. gotta be pretty strong to
thrive in that kind of snow.

[Bubba]

well that was interesting ... 8-10" of perhaps the most water logged "snow" i've ever skied. think we out-cemented the sierra with this one. doubling the fun was the viz or lack thereof. plenty of fog to go around and though the main drip stopped at 8:55, some unknown precip continued on & off requiring some goggle swiping.

as for the "operations failures" this morning, there were maybe 12-15 folks at the bubble for 1st chair and that crowd was "swelled" by the 4 folks who skied down from the gondi. a total non-issue - the absolute least crowded day i've seen in years and the lifts started running shortly thereafter other than the skyeship, which was running when i hit it later. 9-12 shift.

starting on some ungroomed terrain was probably not the best idea. turning was a lot of work - way beyond my pay scale. boarders had the better of it today. but the skiing overall was quite good. sorta like hero snow on steroids. upper bunny good. over at rams, easy street was absolutely beautiful. as the morning progressed, things did get skied in a bit though there was still some untracked on the trails at quiting time. stayed lower angle - bear, cruise & bitter good.

could turn out to be a fine afternoon. the good news is everything got coated with this glop and though it will set up overnight, it will be ready for the next round fri>sat.

Sounds like an updated version of an old Rick Torrey snow report: "Today was a good day if you had your skis sharpened at the Basin".

interesting ... 8-10" of perhaps the most water logged "snow" i've ever skied. think we out-cemented the sierra with this one. doubling the fun was the viz or lack thereof. plenty of fog to go around and though the main drip stopped at 8:55, some unknown precip continued on & off requiring some goggle swiping.

Sounds delightful.

[Captain Hafski]

Late Afternoon Report: Snuck 5 runs in, all off SD6, after a bunch of appointments/errands through the day. Mountain reporting 10" which is accurate. Little to no mention of the pouring reign through the night and also some during the day today. Will set up firm tonight.

On the plus side, a decent net gain! Got back some of the nice base we had a few weeks ago. Will help get the woods open, etc.

Top of Snowdon starting to set up as we started. However, where things were skied in/on, not an issue. Would have actually been much better with more traffic through the day.

Bunny -> Mouse Trap good.
LEF fine with some small bumps that had formed through the day.
Full House OK -> Highline very good. Black diamond for sure as you needed to have your turns committed. Close to ROTD.
ROTD: Conclusion. Double Black diamond for sure but had seen some traffic through the day and very enjoyable.
WROTD: North Star. Triple Black diamond for sure. OK on the steeper pitches but brutal on the flats where earlier traffic tried to stay in a narrow lane; you could see where others got tossed out of the skied in line into the cement and fell. I got away with it at least.

Call of the day: On my way to Conclusion Patrol dropped the rope on Lower Royal Flush. I was gonna do it for last run. After skiing Conclusion, I figured North Star was better choice [and it was].

Can't complain - Decent enough for what happened and we gained some base. I don't suggest going down newly opened ungroomed trails tomorrow morning unless strong rider [snowboard]. So, get out there and break it up for the second shift !

[RustyK]

Waited for the weather to calm down and let the wet powder gets some tracks on it. Out from 11-3. Reigning in bay one but snowing lightly up top.

Laps on west glade/powerline. Not a good woods day.

LEF not bad. Old sup and ovation no longer a rock garden.

Lower Sup actually no ice. Bitter and BDFR also good.
Nothing new at Bear.

At 2:00 things firmed up high. Tried to stay low, but temps and wind were making the wet pow too stiff.

Was a good snowman making day though. Better than expected.

Good ski bum party at the distillery. No race though.