Came with every intention of skinning the backside again regardless of the horror that having to break a trail back out might be. But was thwarted by Closed rope at top of Tye: patrol was in there setting charges. Also, there were rumors they would open 7th early because they had the chair turning and were starting to do prep. So cycled various groomers in packed pow and a few side stashes, (which eventually started to get a little boring) all while keeping an eye on those lifts. Finally, what they ended up opening was ONLY Southern Cross chair around 1:30. And when they did that they didn't drop the rope by Tye until even later than that so it pretty much took being on the Double Diamond chair (or waiting there) to get first tracks. Managed three runs on backside before they closed it again. Deep and heavy but definitely fun. Control work had started some slabs in Polaris and Aquarius upper slopes where gets windloaded and the snow had a definite slabby cohesion in many places.
All that may prove disappointing to anyone that goes tomorrow early and expected freshiness on the backside. You can still get the freshiness on 7th tho - except for all the patrol evaluation tracks ...
About 30 degrees, light needly snow not too much wind. Very brief blue sky breaks. Only real balky line was the Hogs line.
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