Arrived at the Silver Fir lift at 8:30am and the sun was out. The lift was not running yet but it should in a few minutes. We went into the lodge and waited. Lift not running yet. Got in the line and at 9am, no chairs moving. At 9:10am, the lift was not run until they checked for ice on the line. They said that there was free coffee and hot chocolate and would be ready about 30 minute. They were looking at Central Express and Silver Fir would be next. While we were inside having hot chocolate, Jill met Frank and he mentioned that he has read about some of our TR . Plus, my venture a few years ago with a heart issue in the hospital. It was a wonderful meeting with Frank and his group. The group are “tele” folks and it sounds like we have traveled in similar places during our decades of backcountry adventures.
At 10am, they started loading Silver Fir. During our ride, I heard some “icy noise”. Upper Outback was fine but Lower Outback was icy and some ruts along the way to the lift. Silver Fir trail icy half way to the lift base. The upper part had lots of powder lines. We rode Central Express and found the Alpine and Golden Nugget trails were in good shape and the slopes were not icy until the final approach to the base area. When we left, we noticed that the backcountry folks that put on there skins had nice lines at Summit West. The next storm arrives Thursday afternoon and night for the next powder event. It could be the storm that gets Alpental ready.
