Dec 21, 2013, Stevens Pass

Big, early-arriving crowd guaranteed today would not only be the shortest day of the year, but probably the shortest powder day, too. Got in line at 8:30 for, at best, 50th chair on Skyline and didn't end up on top of 7th Heaven until almost 9:30. A lap down bobby chute confirmed our fears, that the new snow hadn't bonded much at all and anything sufficiently steep was going to sluff down to the underlying rock-and-tree-studded ice crust. After an interesting lap through Cloud 9/Little Tree, we found ourselves cycling Tye Mill waiting for an advertised 11am opening of the upgraded Jupiter Express.

With perfect timing we unloaded from our third ride up the chair as patrol spun the signs and made a mad dash for the bottom. Up high, conditions were similar to those on 7th Heaven, but perhaps 1/3 of the way down the snow thickened and the underlying crust became less of an issue. Despite long lines, we cycled at least a half dozen laps before the goods were fully gone, swinging-out wide skiers right into the newly thinned south park area which has been greatly improved and offers a similar experience to man-made glades out east, just with a lot more fresh snow and pillows

A pair of laps on the frontside took us back to the car around 2 so we decided to get a head start on traffic and made it back to the city as the sun was setting. An excellent start to "official" winter, indeed.

I was there as well. Fat skis helped stay above the crust layer. Early runs off Kehr chair were nice, especially when traversing over to Lower Diamond one side and Chief trees the other.

They dropped the rope early on the backside (I think around 1015 as opposed to the advertised 11am) Got three sweet runs in before the hordes got there, Great snow when traversing over to the Southern Cross side and sticking to the trees. Started a few mini slabs, crown about 7" but didn't slide far. Made sense since the crust layer was around there. As stated, lower was more stable, but heavier. Early lunch and then back out rewarded you with no lines on the backside the rest of the afternoon. Still found fresh over at Southern Cross area. Boulder field skiers right off Tye were a blast to play around in both before lunch and last run, lots of fresh still in there.

All in all, a great Backside opener!