It was a perfect morning for Mineral Basin to open for the season. The Sun was bright, the temps were balmy and most of the available terrain offered some very nice turning after so many days waiting for the goods. I opted to start with a tour of The Lewis and Clark area, which offered low traffic, empty lines of variable cushion, and very good cover over most of the area. There were sections that were obviously thin, which were given away by some grass stalks sticking up through the pack. I was staying with the fat guts, that offered very solid cover with the best consistency, as they seemed to have dodged the wind. I kept going back to the same lines time after time, while the crowd was working the area off the Path to Paradise. With the Basin open, traffic on the Tram really fell off, making back to back laps fun and fast, with both sides of the hill offering great Groomers that had sweet corduroy to dial in. Interestingly, as traffic worked the lines, the shaved off dust seemed to pile up becoming delightful deposits of goodness even later in the day. That was a bonus for sure. Here is a shot of 4 key people that make the Summit the amazing place that it is. On the left is Tina, who leads the Ski Patrol keeping the hill safe and ready for fun. George is the Executive Chef who makes the cuisine so memorable. Elizabeth serves up the best Pizza, that is worth the trip to the peak just to get, and Mark, who it the manager of the Summit. It takes a great team to keep all the plates spinning and they do such a great job. Tomorrow, look for more great lines to be available out in Mineral Basin, with the Groomers dry, chalky, and smooth. The off trail got a bit chopped up today, but I think it will still be offering soft lines especially after the variations got chopped up by the traffic. The front side of the hill will be offering good lines as well, but the Sun out in the Basin will be hard to beat for the morning session. Here is a parting shot of the Hillary Step area still waiting in the wings. There may be some hints of changes in the weather as the High Pressure begins to move off to the East. Don’t forget to SIZZLE!!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2018 at 6:49 pm and is filed under Snow Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.