Ho Ho Ho!
Tuesday's Report = An easy drive up 410 through a flagged construction site, parked up close, parking limited to 500 cars, walked onto gondola, at the top we chose Lucky Shot as run #1 which was ungroomed and pretty lumpy. The 2nd hairpin on the skier's left access road was dirt only (skedaddle #1). Skied right onto the new REX (much quieter) and it stopped 4x on us!! Run #2 was Blazing Elk in Snorting Elk Bowl and also ungroomed so we had to traverse skiers right hard (skedaddle #2) and we avoided the hike out from the lake (many were not so fortunate). Up GV and the plan was Middle Ferks until Patrol reminded us of why it was roped off (skedaddle #3). So down to GV chair via the trees of West Face (not bad). Another run down Lucky Shot and we poked our nose into lower Bear Pits -- hah (skedaddle #4). Over to Forest Queen on its opening day (lodge shut completely) and we turned down a semi-groomed Queens to TLC (Never Ending Trail). Hah -- what an early season mess but with plenty of untracked. We needed a chain saw as several downed trees made for mandatory "what the heck do we do now?" moments. Under, over, don't crash, follow the orange ribboned trees, don't go down into the creek, skis on/off, over trees, what a mess and finally wound up at the entrance to Boondoggle. We have enough sense to ignore that temptation (yeah prolly first tracks but also we would need to lay down first tracks to exit) so we enjoyed the very nice 6-8 of freshie along the old top of chair 4 line -- and then we ran into the snow/rain line and the snow got crappy fast (final skedaddle = #5). So we called it a day at 1pm, stopped in our GW cabin for some R&R and then drove out through the construction site where the boys had been busy. Many yards of rock, tar, compaction, crushed gravel, more compaction and a guard rail = road fixed in 2 days. Crystal reversed their parking limits and are refunding folks $10. Lots of fake news about 410 being closed for months. Kudos to the non-DOT contractors who got the job done. Kudos to Crystal ops and patrol who got the hill opened. Then on Wed C6 opened. So while conditions aren't great, the resort is open and ready to thin your wallet more. Wed/Thur = plenty of wind in your face so wind replaces freshie. Season #35 for me. I figure I need about 12 days to break even with my IKON.
Merry Christmas.
