friday 1/19/2018 report

[skiadikt]

not the warm sunny day we expected. at the bell, hit a perfectly groomed east fall. however the fog & brutal wind on the canyon chair drove me to bear. the bear trails were all nicely groomed. same at needles. mid vertigo down skied well on a firm base. thinking that death slide off the crossover limits the action. rotd was probably superstar with the guns turned off. surprise of the day was how well lower o skied. plenty snow on the weed side. snowdon was all good. ridge run had been groomed and was eh. downdraft also groomed was mostly good. escapade was ok but crashcade featured sections of yellow ice which dispelled any ideas of hitting double dipper (in addition to the brutal wind) and sent me home. overall the mtn has rebounded nicely.

[Bubba]

I did some mid day skiing and can confirm colder than expected and windy as well except at Bear which was both warmer and calmer. Snowdon runs skied well but the chair ride wasn't fun. Same on Northridge, after which I headed to Bear. Much better there. Hit middle and lower Supe on my way back and they were definitely the runs of the day.

[Humpty Dumpty]

How were the gaper headwalls? Wedgeworthy?

[MrsG]

Out at first bell - visibility finally got me at Sup - vertigo I guess ... enjoyed everything at Bear and Needles!! Lots of Max Pass peeps out there - keep them coming and happy

[eagle628]

Wind was BRUTAL in the Canyon in the afternoon. Shame, cause Downdraft was in good shape, although the lowest pitch was a little treacherous. Ovation was fantastic. Vertigo similar except marginally worse at every point. Snowdon woods not horrible but not great.

[twilkas]

I did some mid day skiing and can confirm colder than expected and windy as well except at Bear which was both warmer and calmer. Snowdon runs skied well but the chair ride wasn't fun. Same on Northridge, after which I headed to Bear. Much better there. Hit middle and lower Supe on my way back and they were definitely the runs of the day.

what is it with that? is it is as simple as we all just don't take it as seriously as when the temps read 0 or below? i've recognized and experienced the same phenomena, and still get get caught out.

[tyrolean_skier]

Got going a bit late today and started my day in the Canyon area. I preferred Downdraft in that area. Cascade was ok if you skied on the right side - the middle on the lower half was pretty slick. East Fall skied fine. Double Dipper was a bit slick in spots and you had to search for some snow. It got better lower down. Went over to Bear planning to do a Southridge run but everything was closed there so just skied at Bear. All the groomers were skiing fine. Even skied the half pipe with GIS. I took a look at OL but seeing people not having fun skiing it convinced to wait until it warmed up a bit. At Needles I liked Thimble over Old Needles. Cruise and Needles skied fast. Don't know why part of Cruise was closed. Vertigo headwall was interesting but I did manage to ski it without falling. The entrance to the lower part is quite slick but the rest skied fine. Skyhawk had nice snow on the left side and Skylark skied pretty good on the left side too. Bittersweet skied ok too - the old headwall was open and it was skiable. Superstar had nice snow on it all the way down. Ovation was a pleasant surprise and it skied well on the right side but heard it was good on the left side too. Got to Snowdon too late to make a lot of runs so skied Upper Royal Flush and Mountain Training off the poma. Skied Northstar which since it was opened was a bit tracked out but still skiable if you skied it carefully. Didn't get a chance to sample Great Bear or Vagabond as the lift had closed by the time I got to the top of the quad. I did sample some closed trails and they were pretty good probably because they were closed.

[Bubba]

I did some mid day skiing and can confirm colder than expected and windy as well except at Bear which was both warmer and calmer. Snowdon runs skied well but the chair ride wasn't fun. Same on Northridge, after which I headed to Bear. Much better there. Hit middle and lower Supe on my way back and they were definitely the runs of the day.

what is it with that? is it is as simple as we all just don't take it as seriously as when the temps read 0 or below? i've recognized and experienced the same phenomena, and still get get caught out.

No, I think it's the clouds and fog the past two days, ie higher humidity, along with the wind that makes the 15-20 degrees simply feel colder than expected from just looking at the thermometer.

[Mister Moose]

I must have been at a different mountain, it was balmy. No face mask skiing. 2 layers down from Michelin Man. Leave beer in your car and it won't freeze weather. Almost broke out the BBQ.

[skiadikt]

I must have been at a different mountain, it was balmy. No face mask skiing. 2 layers down from Michelin Man. Leave beer in your car and it won't freeze weather. Almost broke out the BBQ.

did u ride the canyon quad?

[Jeff_CT]

did u ride the canyon quad?

Forget the canyon quad did you ride the triple? Wind was intense after mid station and that ice cold cloud fog only made it worse.
On another note I saw more accidents today than I have seen at any mountain in a while. Saw a poor kid having a yard sale on the lower section of wildfire while I was on the sky quad. I was worried he was dead for a few til he finally lifted his head. Fairly certain he knocked himself out and this equipment was everywhere. Also saw a poor older woman eat it on the stairs at K1. Thought she broke a leg at first and was about to get a lifty to call come ski patrol when she managed to get up. S black eye at least. Also saw several large wipeouts on Snowden. Mouse trap was icy and I think it caught some intermediate skiers off guard.

[brownman]

Friday was a decent day over on the southern side.
Played there for a bunch of Dreamaker air lifts
Those kickers are truly biggest evah
ROTD for us was lower left at Preston's ridge.
We did find the canyon breezy, but nothing near what it must be today.
Feel Good Friday with Joey putting out the tasty licks
Lotsa peeps hangin out for the merriment.

Happy International women's Ski and Snowboard Day !

[Captain Hafski]

Afternoon Report: I would also chip in on 'colder than expected' because the forecast was for warming up in the afternoon [that did not happen]. Butt, along with MM, very comfortable temps, beers not freezing up in the cars, etc. And yes, I did ride the Snowdon chairs quite a bit.

ROTD: I figured most folks would call it Superstar, after the recent blow, but I am going with Vertigo. Good technical eastern skiing TTB. I liked the top headwall which was very doable at least on the right side. Next section was better than last time I skied it. The real jewel is the 'gated' [monolithic death slide] lower section that had some nice carveable bumps on it and little to no traffic.

Runner up, and close behind Vertigo was Old Supe -> Middle / Lower Ovation. Might have given this top honors except for the Old Supe exit and meh'ness of middle O. As already reported, lower O was very good; I skied it on the weed side. And my normal bonus points for getting me to Snowdown w/o skating across KBL.

Third place was Superstar. The upper headwall is fantastic [blown with the '300 guns]. The rest of the trail was pretty good.

On Snowdown, North Star better then Great Bear that was sketchy on the lower section.

They re-opened Thimble and Upper Dream Maker. I chose Dream Maker full well knowing it would be bony. And it was. Folks are going to get hurt on this and/or destroy equipment on it if it stays open this weekend. I am sure Thimble was much better.

South Ridge is very techincal. Most everything is blown off [take a look at Pipe Dream from the top of Bear]. Upper Jug only has a very narrow path down it on the right side. Lower Jug is probably OK. On Breakaway, looked like only a handful of folks had gone down it since the last dump. Difficult windpacked start on the flat section that got better [easier to make hop turns on steeper terrain] on the lower pitch. It will get better as it gets skied in; I did my part. Then, a very nice untracked powder run from the bottom of the lower pitch all the way to the old lift station that was not windpacked.

At Bear, disappointed that they groomed Upper Wildfire. Nice grooming mind you but flat and boring. Same for Lower WF.

All in all, a great recovery is in progress. With that said, the hill is gonna take a beating this weekend I am afraid.