We didn't get there particularly early, and headed for backside thinking that would be where the action was. Not really. Snow back there was enormously wind affected. Instead we headed back to main side. It was a pretty crowded day (lots full eventually) but lift lines never bad. And even with all those people, amazing that choppy soft stuff or even a few sections of linkable untouched powder could be found late in the day scattered even in 'obvious' places, like the Parachutes, or Little Tree. Runs on 7th were particularly nice today.
Weather mostly was snowing, occasionally strong enough to fill in tracks. Wind was occasionally a little uncomfortable. The 7" new reported seemed right, and when that was on top of the previous foot+ that hadn't been flattened, it got downright deep. Great snow for attacking the fall line and knowing that this stuff would help scrub speed, even if it was a little chopped.
Lift ticket lines were a bit of a snafu. Eventually someone got the idea to put a 'cash table' out (a guy that would give you your lift tickets quickly, cash only, exact change appreciated). And eventually that cash table accumulated enough cash that someone saw it fit to call for two big industrial strength security musclemen, to help guard this box full of cash on a folding card table out in the middle of the plaza, not properly armored in by the plexiglass. Heh. I didn't even know that ski areas like Stevens HAD industrial strength security dudes ready for deployment like that. But I guess they have to, they are running several full bars ...
BTW the cash table saved us some time, even though it meant sending someone over first to the ATM, then to the cash table. Next time, better yet, buy at the gas station like we had been told in the first place by a friend.
Hwy 2 was a mess on the way back. Passed 2 wrecks, and then saw something like 5 ambulances and 4 WSP cars racing up opposite direction as we continued the drive down. Anyone know what all was going on up there? We didn't think it was all for the wrecks we saw, those looked to be already addressed by the personnel on scene. Really, the roads were not even particularly icy (DOT didn't even have the pass at Traction Required).
