January 20, 2012, Summit Central

Today was ski school for our grandsons and I promised to take them to Alpental for a couple warm-up runs if the conditions were good. We pulled into the lot next to St. Bernard and spoke to a skier who was leaving and he said it did not rain all day.  The boys started walking towards St. Bernards and I asked them if they wanted to ride the "fast lift".  The grin on the 10 and 7 yo was priceless.  Their first ride up Armstrong Express. It was a hoot to watch them navigate down Debbies Gold then hit the moguls and wait for Jill and I.  After another warm-up on Lower International, they were ready for their lesson at Summit Central.  It was snowing during our entire time at Alpental and the slopes were tracked yet still pleasant with packed powder.

When we arrived at Central it was snowing heavily,  While the boys had their lesson, Jill and I cycled Alpine Express in a blizzard.  The bus groups were cancelled so the place was deserted.  We cycled Golden Nugget and it kept getting refreshed. It was packed powder with a few inches new during the blizzard.  During our few hours at Central they picked up about 4" new.  We left in a blizzard and the temperature at the Pass was 22 degrees.  It snowed until the truck exit and switched to rain.  What a surprise powder afternoon with our future trailbreakers.