Tuesday was pretty close to perfect. After a night of winds in the 60s, they died down just in time to load the Gondola at 8:50 AM. The new snow overnight and the cold temperatures created real, legitimate powder skiing in Green Valley and later in Snorting Elk.
The sun even came out
Some hearty souls arrived at 6 AM for first chair on the gondy. The crowd was bigger than we expected, and I heard the line wrapped all the way around and back down to the ticket kiosks. Once we opened Chinook, everyone spread out and had a good day. We patrollers spent most of our day setting up ropelines and raising tower pads rather than hauling injured skiers. It was a good day.
Yesterday we opened Forest Queen and even got High Campbell Chair open before the wind increased. Some lucky skiers and riders had a little more to be thankful for yesterday.
Unfortunately, the temperature has increased rapidly in the past few hours. As of 6AM it is starting to rain, and the snow is dropping from the trees. According to the forecast, this should be a fast “blip” of warm air, then the temperatures should drop again tonight and bring more snow showers. I’m anticipating a do-over of our current snowpack–a rain crust with fresh snow on top. Today’s warmup will increase the avalanche hazard, but once it cools again we hope to open Northway Chair on Saturday. The coverage out there is excellent for this time of year.
See you on the slopes.
