It was an overcast morning with the warmth still holding on the peak.  Mineral Basin was awash in flat light, with little definition to illuminate the groomers, and the off trail was much too bouncy to be fun.   The South facing aspects are melting off in a hurry back there, and here is a shot that shows how melted off the lower cliffs have become in just the past couple of days.   The front of the hill was breaking early, however, there were some crunchy aspects that seemed out of place in the overall feel of the snow pack.   The early opening bought many more quality turns as the timing was similar to yesterday, though the lack of Sun did let the goods hold up just a touch longer.  The off trail on the front side is smoothing out, but it requires the big fatties to make the ride negotiable, and for me, the buff smooth tilling job was feeling too good to venture off just for the challenge.   Tomorrow, look for weather to have moved in overnight, so the temps will be dropping, freezing the dance floor, but there may be just a touch of new accumulation.  We will see.  There is no telling this time of year, but I am still holding the vision of a big cycle settling in and making another legend.  Again, we will see.  There are some rock points beginning the crop up in the middle of some of the runs.   Lower Men’s Downhill Chute is one such spot,  Anderson’s hill has an edge ripper right in the middle of the groomer just short of the top, so watch that closely as you fly through there.  Be careful of the hard icy lines, as they do not offer any speed dumping opportunities, and a long line to maintain is required.  See you for the first Tram.   Ciao!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 6:41 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.