Before the drop

After all the excitement from the last stretch of Essence, the hill still had gifts to give the light turnout of faithful who reaped the rewards of making the effort to be there.   Little Cloud, and Powder Paradise remained to be opened, but the High North faces were smooth, soft and good to go.  The Sun was out in force, though there was a distinct nip in the air, the direct exposures were  not going to last long.  Mineral Basin was calling, but the opening of Paradise was delayed, so I took advantage of the ignored shots while the crowd stood at the gate.  The snow was delightful, forgiving, and felt like heaven.  Little Cloud opened with a full on La Mans start as the rope dropped, but by letting the initial push go past the pressure was off, and the lines were still wide open with opulent Essence top to bottom.  The Sun did indeed begin deteriorating the snow pack, but even late in the day it had a consistent feel that invited forays into the crud.  Tomorrow, the next weather installment will be pushing in, and with the  cold temps. the off trail will be problematic, except on the High North faces, which did not get worked by the Sun.  The Groomers will be a touch on the crunchy side for the most part, but they will still be great for working up the vertical average.  Here is a shot of Little Cloud before the rope was dropped.  It was such a treat to still have the full Winter feel to the snow pack this late in the season.  More snow is on the way for the next stretch of time, so it is not over yet.  IBBY!!!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 11th, 2011 at 4:43 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.