The rain sounded insistent on the skin of The Trailer this morning, which made it hard to surface out of the sleep that felt luxurious with the drone of the drops.  Up on the hill, snow was falling briskly, but no significant accumulation was evident in the parking lot.  There was a fair push for the goods by the faithful, who have been waiting for additional Winter excitement.  Yesterday’s very wet product had frozen with the colder temps. and the underlying pack was very tricky.  I chose to seek out the known smooth sections I has spied yesterday and found that the medium density product had cushioned the ride fairly well for the opening runs.  It seemed that the West facing aspects had the best feel, with the mostly smooth pack holding up underneath the new snow.  Mineral Basin opened a bit later in the morning, offering dodgy visibility, but a much more consistent feel after being closed all day yesterday. Here is a shot of Brian Beck throwing up spray over on the West faces of Lower Baldy today.  While it was not deep, the medium density mitigated the rumble a bit, though there were still echos of the Gnar coming through.  It seems that every time the Bird holds a race event we get snow, and here is a shot of the GS race staging up to run down Big Emma this morning.  It was a very fast course and the kids were ripping.  Tomorrow, look for clearing weather  as this system moves East. Temps. should be cool and the snow should still be soft and workable.  The Groomers will be the place to get the smooth lines, and Mineral Basin can be counted on for the early morning goods.  With the Sun out, the quality will be short lived back there, so start early and stay ahead of the curve. There is more waiting in the wings, and with the additional accumulation during the day today, those areas should be well worth keeping and eye on. I met Laura from London England first thing this morning, and I caught her again as I was making my way off the hill.  She was having a great day, but wished she could see the hill and surrounding vistas.  Perhaps tomorrow she will be rewarded with a blue bird day.  I really enjoy meeting all the folks who come here from all over and am excited for them to experience the hill.  As Joe Man the Snow Man says, ” Don’t Skimp On The Groove Sauce!!”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017 at 5:59 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.