There was a pea soup fog shrouding the hill this morning as the first Tram left the dock.  The visibility looked problematic, and the prospects seemed dim, but as we pushed off to Mineral Basin it was evident that the Basin had it’s own micro climate going on, with bright Sun, a fresh coat of frosting, and some of the best carving of the recent past.  The small accumulation seemed like butter as the covered groomers provided absolute perfection for the very few faithful who showed up for the festivities.  Off Trail was also soft, but there was a slight touch of crust, that gave way to a bit more forceful approach.  The front side of the hill was still frozen solid, but the clouds were breaking up, letting the Sun begin to work the dance floor.  Regulator did not break until Noon, before which it was a real test of edge control to deal with the diamond plate surface.  The lower mountain is melting off very quickly, with lower Silver Fox and Primrose Path beginning to look mighty peaked. The pack got very soft as it will, so tomorrow, look for the same basic timing on the hill, with Mineral Basin offering approachable groomers for first Tram.  10:00 AM. will begin the front side softening, so plan for that if the early program does not thrill you.  There is still plenty of snow on the hill and those few melted off places are not ubiquitous, so you are good to go for the bottom.  Here is a shot of Macaroni looking good, with the lower section smoothing out nicely.   See you in the AM.  IBBY!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 at 4:26 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.