Thursday - A skiable day.
Well.... we haven't had any significant new snow for a while. Last week we had a few inches of freshies over the hardpack and that was certainly appreciated. But those freshies are long gone. So today it was pretty much groomer skiing. Chair six, South Back and Northway were closed. Although, technically Northback was open if you wanted to exit via I-5.
Morning - turned up corn snow over hardpack. I could feel my edges railing the ice below the loose stuff. Actually, the groomers were pretty good. Runs that didn't have much traffic were a little frozen and slick. Off groom was frozen.
Last week, lower Cmac had a developing bare spot. Apparently, Crystal has dumped some snow on that, which is good. However, they also left some loose rocks. One rock was the size of a brick. I was planning on going back to toss that rock, but I got sidetracked. I learned a few years ago how hard it is to toss rocks off the groomers... if they are big, just can't toss them very far. At this time there are various bare spots developing... nothing fatal to the the skiing experience. But we really want to see snow, not brown spots. I am impressed that Crystal has tried to cover some bare spots.
Lower groomers all bomber still skiable. Up the Rex. Green Valley Bowl - nice fast and smooth groomer ride. Iceberg was a nice ride. Luckyshot was good. I think they dumped some snow on bare spots on Luckyshot. That was good. Rolling Knolls - a nice ride. I think they dumped some snow on a thin spot there also.
By lunch, lower Bull Run was a little sticky at the top, but the good ride down made me forget that. I am getting used to the little willow type branches sticking up through the snow.
By 1:00 some precip.... then a trace of snowfall. Then the off groom went soft.... but I was getting tired.
There was parking in A lot this morning and the crowd was slim. It was getting downright lonely by 2:30pm. I caved by 3:30. Tired, which is good.. that means I got in lots of runs.
It is amazing that the ice pack has lasted so long, to support groomer skiing. But this isn't good if we don't get some fresh snow. Base area is still good. I have done Spring skiing when I had to walk across the dirt to get to the base area lift. So, things aren't there yet. I believe the weather is due to mix it up a little, freshies on the way. But what I would give for a major dump! I really appreciate the big snow we got the last couple of years.
