Several new inches of freshness greeted those who made it up today.  The first several runs of untracked were good on the groomed runs where the smoothness assisted the ride.  Off trail,was another story entirely, with the crusty texture fully in play.  The North facing aspects offered the best options, with most other shots being difficult at best.  The visibility did not help matters where fog and snow showers obscured the sight lines.   Later in the morning the Sun began peaking through improving that problem with large windows of sunshine moving through.  I took advantage of a large window in Mineral Basin, that I saw open from the Tram, finding good carving on the groomer.  Again, off the beaten path was replete with very rough pack underneath the new snow, sending me back to the front of the hill where I took advantage of the light Tram line and longer runs.  The Fork lift Chair was  a welcome place to rest my knees, which had taken a beating all morning.  I must admit that I made it a short day in consideration of the conditions and the fatigue that my knees were  signaling.  Snow showers continued all day long and are still falling here in the valley this late afternoon.   This will give us a bit more for tomorrow and every little bit helps.  I am glad for the contestants participating in the Freeride  Comp. this week end, which will be held on North West Baldy.  This exposure has avoided most of the Sun, and with the new snow will be a great venue providing excellent sight lines and bright sunny definition.   Be sure to take in the runs these folks put down.  Past demonstrations have been incredible and well worth the time taken to watch.  I will be making a special effort to get up and watch the Comp., so I’ll see you there.  Ciao!!!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 3:29 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.