May 10, 2008 - Alpental lookin good!

Thought I’d do one more weekend of slackcounty before going to 100% earning-turns till next season…

Saturday @ Alpental: mild temps, 50s *F, light winds, overcast and only drizzled light rain for a short time in the AM.
International and most other runs up top sporting pretty deep moduls now, even the run way down below Arm Exp chair was all bumped out!  Still pretty decent snow cover for close to mid-May!
Slackcounty still in pretty good shape overall, (ie - skied gun barrel, trash can area), but stay alert… there are nice cracks opening up in the snow now and not easy to see in flat-light!
Snow up at the top noticeably less heavy than down below, took some work at times to turn in those “untracked” areas, grabby and thick; seemed the cut-up (skier packed) stuff skied better today.
Would have liked to see the snow more corned-up, perhaps by next weekend!?!… an employee shared that Alpy is thinking about opening again for wkend of May 17-18!  Get out there tomorrow so they can see those #’s 

Almost forgot to note, lift lines today were almost non-existent & after 1pm literally.

Today (Sunday) was fun, too. Enough "powder" over the re-firmed slop for some smooth turns. Adrenaline's 3 or 4 turns were sweet. Great way to end the lift season, if it does indeed end. Sparse crowds makes me think so. Bring on the tours.

Open the 17th and 18th

Saturday was pretty nice, the snow level was just above top of chair two by the time the lifts opened. It was pretty mushy snow but very skiiable, lots of bumps in high traffic areas and little bit of a dusting of fresh at the top.

I agree with cesaro though watch out for those cracks in the backcountry. There was a gigantic one just on knoll 0 on the right side, complete with a stream under it. I got a little to close for comfort when I was heading to snake dance, scared the crap out of me. Instant reminder, it's spring time.