March 22, 2013, Alpental

Wow, another great fresh tracks day at Alpental.  Thanks to patrol, operations, and all Summit staff for getting chair one open at 834!!!  Three untracked powder laps before 9AM what the heck?  Chair 2 opened promptly at 9, lines were 10 minutes or less, snow was 12-20" untracked powder goodness.  Elevator gate opened around 930 I believe, we did a few runs there, but lower International was still trackless at 1030.  Once the snow got cut up, the 190cm Wailers made my knee wail sadly, so I left after only three hours of fresh lines.  Nash gate opening must have been epic. 

Oh, by the way, there is a huge U12 race this weekend, so chair one could be quite busy?  The little rippers seemed to be enjoying freeriding today, after an hour or so of Sessel gate running.

a safer day for you indeed.
b

Have to agree that it was an excellent day.   Arrived in upper lot at 8:20 and was slowly putting on my gear. I figured it would be awhile before lifts opened given the new snow over night.   I happened to look over towards Armstrong and saw people on the chair, but it was only 8:30?  I then moved MUCH faster and skied over to an empty lift line and on my way up the first wave of people were coming down.   Nice and light and DEEP snow.   Very un-Cascade like with fluffy snow and cold temps in late March.   I was surprised at how fast they got Snake Dance and Elevator open, so as Silas said kudos to Patrol for working so quickly.

Nash opened before noon and after a small flurry of skiers/riders I rarely saw people on the upper traverse nor crossed a track on the way down until I had to leave at 2pm. It just seemed to got better and better the further out I traversed.   Sun came out on the other side of the valley but it stayed overcast in the backcountry the whole time I was there.  Given the forecast cold temps tonight there should be LOTs of great lines to be found in the morning.

I have to Say Silas, I missed you up there. But holy shit. I've never skied such great pow ever.

Break-Over and Shot-6 were amazing. I mean just epic, snake dance was pretty awesome too when we hit it later in the day, but it was pretty chopped up when we were there.

Schlut and Rollen were both great and I don't think I hit an ice spot all day. Tree's on lower mountain were still in top shape even in later part of day. All in All, E P I C.