If the mountain was a butter factory, today's snow would be the homemade creamy kind that spreads easy even on cold toast. You'd think the warmer temps would have made for heavier stuff, and the lower layer may have been so, but it was coming down so hard and fast that we didn't notice, today was voted creamiest day of the year by our bunch.
Winter Storm Warning came in around 10pm last night, although it started snowing around suppertime. By morning, the 5am report said 9 inches up top, but - see Craig's last post to understand this word - it was NUKING all morning, so by the time we'd gotten to our second run, the previous tracks had been covered, and well over 9 inches.
We loaded the Gondy just early enough to beat the Thunderhead crew to Four Points yet again, and our pack of hounds started with a Cyclone-Vortex run into the clouds. Or was it fog? Or nuclear aftershock? Either way, the visibility was zilch, and we were all talking about the vertigo effects on the ride back up Storm. I had to hug the left hand trees of Cyclone to keep my bearings, and yet still found myself on DropOut instead of Vortex since I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, and rolled over the lip before the fall line because I couldn't tell the ground from the sky. But who's complaining? It's deeper now that it was then.
Next we did Storm Face-Sunset-Lights Out, still blinded and asking "Where am I?" about every 5th turn, and still cackling at the shin deep butter. The turns were silent, but to quote Dylan, "the wind was a-howlin' and the snow was outrageous!"
Next run Craig and I ducked into 12:30 while the rest of the crew did 1:30, and everyone bragged about knee deep first tracks when we met back up at Sundown. "Amazing," "unbelievable," and "gorgeous" type adjectives were thrown around like confetti.
Following that up with a Sundial trees to Ramrod, fast and furious. Then captured this on Westside to prove that despite the 9am report saying only 1 additional inch, we were choking down face shots like we were boxing The Hurricane.
1 inch my ass. And sometimes a run is so nice you do it twice. Sure enough, Sundial/Ramrod/Westside was a two-fer for us today.
By then it was 10:30am and I had to part ways with the crew to get some work done. They went for a 1:30 lap, then a Morningside lap, and a top-to-bottom from there. I went straight for Storm Face nose trees again, and caught the deepest butter of the day on lower Concentration. Good gawd, untracked and knee deep all along the left side... glorious.
I sure hope if you're reading this and can make a few pm turns you do, because it's still coming down like a frozen monsoon out there. Get some.
See you in the deep!
Winter Storm Warning came in around 10pm last night, although it started snowing around suppertime. By morning, the 5am report said 9 inches up top, but - see Craig's last post to understand this word - it was NUKING all morning, so by the time we'd gotten to our second run, the previous tracks had been covered, and well over 9 inches.
We loaded the Gondy just early enough to beat the Thunderhead crew to Four Points yet again, and our pack of hounds started with a Cyclone-Vortex run into the clouds. Or was it fog? Or nuclear aftershock? Either way, the visibility was zilch, and we were all talking about the vertigo effects on the ride back up Storm. I had to hug the left hand trees of Cyclone to keep my bearings, and yet still found myself on DropOut instead of Vortex since I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, and rolled over the lip before the fall line because I couldn't tell the ground from the sky. But who's complaining? It's deeper now that it was then.
Next we did Storm Face-Sunset-Lights Out, still blinded and asking "Where am I?" about every 5th turn, and still cackling at the shin deep butter. The turns were silent, but to quote Dylan, "the wind was a-howlin' and the snow was outrageous!"
Next run Craig and I ducked into 12:30 while the rest of the crew did 1:30, and everyone bragged about knee deep first tracks when we met back up at Sundown. "Amazing," "unbelievable," and "gorgeous" type adjectives were thrown around like confetti.
Following that up with a Sundial trees to Ramrod, fast and furious. Then captured this on Westside to prove that despite the 9am report saying only 1 additional inch, we were choking down face shots like we were boxing The Hurricane.
By then it was 10:30am and I had to part ways with the crew to get some work done. They went for a 1:30 lap, then a Morningside lap, and a top-to-bottom from there. I went straight for Storm Face nose trees again, and caught the deepest butter of the day on lower Concentration. Good gawd, untracked and knee deep all along the left side... glorious.
I sure hope if you're reading this and can make a few pm turns you do, because it's still coming down like a frozen monsoon out there. Get some.
See you in the deep!