We didn't get up early today, and instead watched the snow fall in piles of snowflakes the size of pancakes from our offices until we could take it no more. The 2" and 5° on the 5am report kept building and building, and by the noon report there was a foot. So sometime after lunch we both started putting our gear on for some late day turns and made it to the top by 2.
The wind, snow, and cold were relentless all day apparently; Storm Peak was such a blizzard we couldn't even get across the plain to drop off onto the Face and had to cut across the track to Sideburns, where we dove into thigh-deep powder, blind as bats. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face; even the top of Sundown, which is sometimes milder than Storm, reminded me of Eric Weihenmeyer's ascent up Everest- blowing sideways, bundled mountaineers huddling together deciding which line to take, and visibility nil. Needless to say it was not a day for the camera folks; apologies.
We headed for the favorite stashes as usual, and if there were tracks in 1:30 trees at any point today, they were already covered. Craig buried himself in a treewell, luckily landing upright, because he just plainly couldn't see! Faceshots and fog combined, we were both as blind as Weihenmeyer. By the second lap up Sundown my goggles were toast, and I had to nip into the Patrol shack for a quick clear up.
From there we dropped down Sundown liftline, enticed by skiers below our previous ride, and despite a few screeching halts, Craig bombed those knee deep bumps like a porpoise, getting hoots from the riders above, while I surfed behind to make sure he didn't find another hole to hide in. By the time we hit the bottom of Moonlight we were already spent.
We headed to the top for a frosted-goggle top-to-bottom through the meadow below Storm and the untracked left side of Hurricane. The blizzard was just as bad at the bottom, six inches of fresh lay waiting at the bottom. It's gotta be snowing several inches an hour.
Tomorrow is going to be ridiculous! WOOT!
"See you in the deep" is an understatement.
Another gorgeous day in the Boa, people... a perfect condition kind of day. With 11 new inches today on top of yesterday's foot, and however many before that (how long has it been snowing?), the groomers were covered, the bumps were filled in, and the trees were like butter. The snow was exponentially lighter today than it has been, the temps cooperated, and we're back to our Champagne!
A little wind blown from the dropping jet flow at the top, we ducked into the trees immediately, hitting 3:00, 1:30, and 12:30 right off the bat. A lap through Sunset to Moonlight, cutting into the trees above Moonlight yielded some of the most deep stuff out there.
The place was deserted as well, so seconds and third helpings were a-plenty. Likely the crazy inversion valley fog and clear peak is what kept the peeps at bay; their loss, it was a gorgeous bluebird powder day indeed, you just had to get above the Gondy to see it.
No equipment failure today, just tired bodies from several days of riding in the heavy powder. We had to cash ourselves in at only 10:30, just when the clouds rolled back in for some more dumpage.
What a crazy day.
1. Lifts opened an hour late due to some ice creation making the detachables detach...
We wind up on Gondy much earlier than that but only to take first run down Rudy's and ...
2. Lose a binding. Craig'd been saying that ski felt soft these last few days; last year's demo model Bro with a racing plate and Marker binding. First run, racing plate rips off the back end and renders the Revolution motionless. Skiing down wasn't an option, so we sent the packmule down for the backup, and I made it back in 30 minutes with the ski, a very nice Patroller and his phillips head. We didn't let the late start or groomer ski hold us back. Thanks to cell phones, we met up with Matty and Lang, Craig's Sig-Pi brothers from St Lawrence, for a full day of faceshots.
The temps have stayed around 30, so the snow is heavy, but much softer than we expected. We started in 130 trees; untouched, deep, and controllable. The snow slowed things down a bit, so we sought out the steeper stuff. Rolex was a perfect choice. But then again, so were Sideburns, Sunset and Lights Out, FP Lift Line, Hurricane...
Definitely still stormy up top, the wind was buzzing and the peak snow blown off; visibility was 3-4 chair lengths. Once you got below the cloud coverage though the conditions improved considerably, visibility was endless, and the sun-kissed valley glowed up from below.
Thanks to Lang's visit we had the excuse for Slopeside, so we grabbed some beers and apps- go with the White Out pizza with BBQ chicken if you're there- and made a day of it. We rarely get to do that, so it's a treat when we do. Then we came home and watched the Monocross. Hats off to Andy Cambell for trying his best, and for a quick recovery on that femur... we know how that goes. Of course hats off to Tyler, Sam, and KJ for medalling in that crazy Monocross event!
Storm's supposed to keep hitting us until tomorrow, and taper off through Thursday, temps are also supposed to drop down to 20.
Matty's our guest photographer today, we'll load some foot-o-fresh pics when we get them.
See you in the deep-