A very nice 4.5 out of 5 day.
After clearing the 'Claw this morning, didn't see another car in my lane until halfway up the blvd. Did see several herds of elk. Really nice now that ski season is over for the greater Seattle/Tacoma area.
Bluebird skies until just before the end, no wind, and warm temps. What a day, weather-wise! 2 out of 2.
I want to give the snow a 3 out of 3, but I reserve that for lots of new 10 degree powder or excellent spring corn snow. However, today was a very sweet spot right in between. GV nice soft packed powder into warm and softening Ferkberg right out of the gate. From there we didn't have a bad run from Bruces Bowl to Campbell Basin. As noted in ddk's report, REX was running at 60% speed with a very loud diesel. The go to run was a smooth, soft Powder Bowl into the warmth of Bear Pits with soft getting-big bumps. More laps of that today than I've done in a long time. The front side was just OK where it had been skied a lot, but it's still fairly unconsolidated, and for that reason, I give the snow a 2.5 out of 3. Also, on some of the flats, the snow was getting a bit grabby towards the end. We need some good freeze-thaw cycles before the heat hits Thursday.
About 1:30, clouds rolled in and we could feel the snow changing, so grabbed the packs for one last run out Kelly's Gap. We were hauling down Snorting Elk when two ladies flew by us even faster and were waiting with smirks on their faces at the top of lower-E when we finally caught up with them. Love that.
