Feb 26, Alpental, Fat (Powder) Tuesday

Yes, the real Fat Tuesday was a fortnight ago, but Mother Nature dumped it down heavy Sunday + Monday, setting-up quite the Super Tuesday. Easily a foot of fluffy snow awaited eager powderhounds at the bottom of Chair 1 - some of which started lining-up before even lift ops arrived. Armstrong started accepting butts right at 9:00 and Chair 2 loaded from the start. It was clear that a powder-hungry, locals-only crowd was in attendance as everyone knew the protocols and sent it as big as possible. Slow openings of both Snake Dance and Elevator gate encouraged many to send inbounds lines they'd been eyeing all season and early passengers on the padded seats were treated to quite a show!

When Elevator gate did open it was wonderful, knee-to-waist powder from wall-to-wall offered endless faceshots for several laps in a row. Upper gate stayed sealed tight all day, when that drops it will be the best lift-served snow in the state, if not the lower 48!

Even Chair Peak emerged from the fog and said hello to its admirers in the parking lots below:

good session indeed and nice shot of chair peak peaking out today, great light and not too bad of crowding. silas was there in a gorgeous blue jacket.
b

silas was there in a gorgeous blue jacket.

Thanks for the admiration Chris, now if only the girls would notice and share the comment!  Below 4000' was a bit heavy snow for my knees, but above was heavenly like the trees we skied.  Shot 6 was the old guys favorite of the day, awesome to ski with my idols Frank (71) and Al (75.)  Hope to age like them.  Indeed it was a local crowd, well behaved and 10 minute maximum line in Chair 2 before noon, zero after, also no blues (I guess it only breaks down when conditions are really breezy?)  We are fortunate to live where we do.

Glad to hear the feast was tasty! Will and I headed up to catch some late-night leftovers. Snow skied well, and we had plenty of fun, but as we worked through the library of stashes below Chair 1, we were surprised to find that the new snow had been largely picked clean. Nice work, gang!

Fun times. And you are quite dashing in blue, Silas!