There was a few new inches of high density product covering the hill, cushioning the set up layer below. Though the visibility was marginal, the first 5 Trams were really fun to carve through the fresh frosting that was holding up under the light traffic. At Noon, the snow began to fall as the next impulse began moving in. The visibility seemed to become a bit better, though there were times of fogginess that challenged the equilibrium. Mineral Basin opened a bit late, and with the visibility being as it was, there was lots of untracked to be found when the Sun began peaking through the cloud deck, revealing tantalizing lines. The underlying crunchiness was problematic, but with a deliberate turn approach those lines seemed fun and worth a repeat. Here is a shot of the chunks below the Road to Paradise, where the cornice had been blown the other day. These chunks are very large, on the order of washer dryers, with a couple of refrigerators thrown in for good measure. If we get more accumulation overnight, these might present some issues in bad visibility. Just letting you know. The spring program is underway with only The Tram, Little Cloud, Mineral Basin, and Chickadee lifts providing the uphill options. The lower Gad Valley is also closed off as well as the Gad 2 area, so if you happen to duck the rope, it will be a very long walk, as there is no shuttle service any more. Tomorrow, look for additional accumulation, with the present accumulation providing some cushion over the set up layer. The high North did in fact get set up, and is not as user friendly as it was just recently, but such is the spring time expectations. The Groomers have been still holding up some very smooth cruising, so they are a good option if you need the straight up consistency. Since there is such limited lift options, the Tram is going to be very busy if we get any real depth. See you in the AM.. Ciao!! P.S. If you click on the picture you will get the captions. If you click on it again, you will get the full screen version, then you can zoom in on the details.
Giant Chunks