Not your typical Sunday . . . not everyone gets MLK day off, so thought maybe the crowds would be less than the normal Holiday . . . nope, and they were out early. Snow surface not as good as Saturday, but definitely enjoyable the first two hours - third hour started getting skied off. ROTD was Highline with the guns going on skier's right - had to get back on the horse
Lines really started growing by 10:00 am - even the Snowdon Quad which is usually the 'go to' lift when others are crazy. Headed to North Ridge and was surprised that you could almost ski up to the chair!! The former "anti venom' was open today so hopefully 'The Viper Pit' will not get as crazy as the pics we saw from yesterday.
I got out early and I am glad I did so because I got most of my runs in before the crowds appeared. We went straight to Bear because the conditions report stated that Wildfire was open. We discovered that was not the case. We did some runs on Bear Claw and Skyburst until the crowds appeared. Went over to Needles and skied an opened Old Needles. The conditions on it were not as good as yesterday when I poached it. We skied everything at Needles and it was basically ok. Went over to Superstar and found everything very solid except for a good portion of middle Ovation that had some soft snow. Someone told us the Canyon was good so we went there via the Snowdon quad (single line) because the lines for the K1 were almost up to the traversing area. We skied Cascade with a little detour on lower Escapade. Wish Escapade went further because the rest of Cascade was extremely slick and dangerous. We got out of there and skied under the guns on Highline. Visibility was low but the snow was wonderful. We took a break for lunch with the intention of going back out but plans changed when a very nice couple from the ski club offered to save me a ride to Boston to bring Iceman back to college. Since they were leaving within an hour or so we quit skiing to go back to the condo and get him packed. Wish I could have skied Highline multiple times but it was not meant to be.
Highline r/s was ROTD. I would have loved to lap it a few more times but the gondola line was way too long and I just can't stand the Snowdon Quad. Skyhawk r/s was damn nice too. A few snow snakes and slick spots but there was still some pockets of fresh towards the bottom. Love that little run. I think I figured out these skis. They're not too bad after all. Maybe just needed a little detuning. They worked well today. I enjoyed them.
I got a call from my sis earlier who told me it was snowing in the city. Hoping it gets up here for tomorrow.
Anyone know if they're opening up wildfire for tomorrow? I heard they had the guns on it full assault today. I avoided bear today because of the fiasco there yesterday.
Afternoon Report. Although OK for avoiding the crowds, skiing not as good.
ROTD Highline right side late afternoon. non sticking guns and soft snow w/ med size moguls.
SROTD was middle o. Pretty dangerous and got worse as u went down. had to be some folks miss the right hander back to lower ss.
Lower bear claw bumps very good as well about 2;00.
Cascade back to normal winter groomed form; shitty. East fall was much better.
Needles eye ok. cruise control boring; nice bumps day before on left side. should not have groomed them.
Couple good poaches as well.
Goes to show, you don't never know
Watch each card you play, and play it slow
Don't you let that deal go down
Don't you let that deal go down
Looks like its going down no matter what I do !!!
Overcast start to kick-off day two of the holiday weekend. Gondi line started loading a couple of minutes early as the crowd was ready to go. Summit temperature of 10 degrees with my first Cascade warmup on tap. Groomed trails had a stiff solid feel with the softer turns of yesterday harder to find. Lower Cascade pitch had a fast carving ice surface right out of the gate that we would avoid later in the day. Ropes dropping on many natural snow trails with the best turns already chewed by the early birds. Bypass open around the Viper Pit will help with keeping the traffic moving in that area. Watched a group of four tackle the closed Lower Ovation safely from our parking lot seats during a carb loading break. Stayed riding the Snowden Quad for the afternoon doing laps under the Highline guns and making new friends in the lift-line.
Grade B-
Quote of the Day - This base is ready for little help from Mother Nature.
I'm bored too
Thanks all for the support! I love North Ridge too but time to move on with what we are known for, lots of trail diversity.
- Holding pattern on Ramshead with angst of how many snow guns I have sitting there, but we need to open more upper level terrain to get in sync with demographic coming on MLK.
- Needles Eye before Cruise Control and Vertigo per previous statement.
- With upper level temps, we are picking away at entrances to Bear Mountain and getting ready for all out assault down Skyeburst top to bottom.
- Wildfire, Cruise Control and low level into Bear, as well as Easy Street all on the planning map.
See you on the hill,
JT
Evidently the demographic that actually showed up wasn't quite up for the Viper Pit.
