Wednesday 01/31/2024 Report

[Captain Hafski]

Hi - Just starting this report for today with some info from the K report, and a question as well.

First: Here's the reported conditions for today [summarized]: 5' of snow this month. Dropping ropes due to recent snowfall. OK so far. Conditions are packed powder and perfectly groomed terrain [chunky monkey ? cat tracks? etc.]. Plenty of powder stashes in glades and ungroomed terrain [5" on ice]. Be mindful that our snowpack is firm underneath the blanket of fresh snow [yep] so conditions may [are] seem variable in areas that are ungroomed and with the most ski traffic. Guess that's what I was seeing on the recently opened Stitchline yesterday. Variable !

Second: Written report states "we were not able to put a groomer on Double Dipper last night". Trail report shows Lower Double Dipper groomed. Which is it? KILLINGTON - YOU GOTTA FIX THIS INCORRECT REPORTING.

Afternoon report to follow later on!

[skiadikt]

again lots of fog on the upper mtn as the sun, though she peeked at times, couldn't really commit. rather windy on snowdon & the canyon w warmish temps. light turnout. 9-1:30 shift though an hour of that was standing on highline as it was skibum wednesday w 2 races.

highline was good flat & firm at the bell. by our 2nd run, the course itself was totally demolished. as for the real skiing, escapade still skiing quite well and even cascade was decent. upper pipedream had lots of wind blown snow on the sides. very nice. breakaway overall was "ok" but as is the case with all the nats - variable w powder pockets on top of ice.

claw/burst very good. upper wildfire continues to surprise w how good it is (at least the left edge). lower fine for some fast carving. panic/needles very good and lower stich good. not good was vertigo - middle down. similar to thimble yesterday. plenty of ice & frozen tracks under the snow. wrotd.

the supe runs were all ok. old supe was better than vertigo. could at least make some reasonable turns but suffers from the same syndrome. always enjoy the low road bumps.

finished on upper chute/GB. pretty much picked clean but the surprise was a couple guns on the top of lower GB. will call that section rotd. after scraping down, a pleasure to hit some silky snow.

hey cap - was my report yesterday chopped liver ...

[Captain Hafski]

hey cap - was my report yesterday chopped liver ...

Not at all. Just trying my best, with not much success, to point out that K has got to figure out how important accurate lift and trail status is. It's a no brainer. There needs to be a central location [database], and that one location only, where the info such as lift and trail status is kept. All other things [the App, Website, etc.] tap into that. I hope they are not still keeping track of trail status on a Ski Patrol chalkboard !

It's also a liability. Take today's reporting on Double Dipper for example. A newbie to K sees it as groomed on the App, Website, etc. They get to the start and it looks great from there as you can't see the pitch further down. Etc.

Afternoon Report to follow !

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: More of the same ! Groomers are very good for the most part and ungroomed is "variable". Overall, viz was a bit better than yesterday although it was exremely variable with patches of sun, fog, snow, etc. Constantly changing it seemed.

LEF opener to get to the Canyon Quad very good. Escapade -> Cascade [to get to Supe and away from the Canyon fog] also very good.

Up Supe and over the back to Wildfire. Like I posted past two days, and SA found as well, Upper Wildfire is one of the best "not completely groomed out" trails on the hill. Lower Wildfire mostly flat but bottom half right side, starting under the lift, has some bumps and good snow rest of the way down. Went up for a do-over but got suckered into O.L. Top third was OK, but not as good as yesterday, with semi-poor viz. Bottom 2/3 was better without the fog up top. Good run. Had it to myself. Dream Maker and Stash closed so didn't hit those.

Took a run that included parts of Needle's, Bitter, Great Eastern, Panic, and Cruise Control - Cruise Control was best groomer I've seen in a while. Back up for a do-over but went into some trees [meh], down Upper Needle's Eye [icy bumps], and down Needle's Eye - Right side gondi line was pretty good at first, but bailed out of it halfway down as it got real icy.

Bittersweet, with HW and Low Road options was very good.

Surprise ROTD: Toilet Bowl ! Icy for sure, but smooth ice with a bit of grip to it and some bumps to turn on here and there.

Surprise WROTY: Lower Royal Flush. Best description is that it appeared someone threw wet ice cubes over the entire trail that froze in place immediately. Felt like skiing on rocks. Can't believe it was that bad right after skiing the Toilet Bowl [Throne, for those too new to recall the Bowl] the run before.

Fun day.

[skiadikt]

hey cap - was my report yesterday chopped liver ...

Not at all. Just trying my best, with not much success, to point out that K has got to figure out how important accurate lift and trail status is. It's a no brainer. There needs to be a central location [database], and that one location only, where the info such as lift and trail status is kept. All other things [the App, Website, etc.] tap into that. I hope they are not still keeping track of trail status on a Ski Patrol chalkboard !

It's also a liability. Take today's reporting on Double Dipper for example. A newbie to K sees it as groomed on the App, Website, etc. They get to the start and it looks great from there as you can't see the pitch further down. Etc.

Afternoon Report to follow !

for sure. saw the written report so i took that as gospel but someone who only checks the app would be screwed. for a less than advanced skier, the way it skied yesterday would have been dangerous. they need to do much better with the accuracy of the lift and trails report. there's absolutely no excuse, particularly in the morning report for any inaccuracies.

i do think they'll winch it tonight so it should be quite good first thing. i'll be at pico, so i'm gonna miss it.

[Mister Moose]

Surprise WROTY: Lower Royal Flush. Best description is that it appeared someone threw wet ice cubes over the entire trail that froze in place immediately. Felt like skiing on rocks.

Ugh. Maybe at least that rubbly surface will hold the snow better once we get some natural of significance.

[Captain Hafski]

Surprise WROTY: Lower Royal Flush. Best description is that it appeared someone threw wet ice cubes over the entire trail that froze in place immediately. Felt like skiing on rocks.

Ugh. Maybe at least that rubbly surface will hold the snow better once we get some natural of significance.

LOL - Why didn't I think of that positive spin on it !