Fully 20” of new snow was on the Plaza when I got up this morning. It was obviously a bit dense;  I am betting in the 10% range.  This was exactly the kind of snow we need to get us going. It will have a good cushion as opposed to light snow which won’t really cover the hazards.  The Tram was delayed for a long time and the chair openings were delayed as well.  The faithful were in full attendance and who could blame them after waiting for so long. The one run still remains and Big Emma got really crowded  requiring constant vigilance. The new snow skied with buoyancy and cushioned the firmer base, however the density made the transitions a bit tough. After weeks of hard pack it is tough to switch to the 3-D medium of deep snow.  The ski responds entirely differently in deep snow making you work to move smoothly through the turns.  There is a delicate balance between carrying speed and maintaining the flow.  I was getting knocked  around quite a bit, so I took the slow and round approach as it gives me the stronger endurance factor.  If I keep going too fast I run out of legs and that could spell trouble if they fold up like a folding chair.   By  Noon the harbor chop was in full effect sending me headed for the locker and then the couch.  It was snowing hard when I left bringing more goodness.  Tomorrow might have some delays as well, so keep posted on the Bird site.  I am sure they are working feverishly to get Peruvian open and with this new snow that will be happening soon.  Folks were finding all those snags  that I was talking about in the past few days.  As I went back to the Tram I looked up to see folks plastered everywhere after the encounters.   Ouch!  It is ON now so let’s get busy!

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 1:48 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.