Earlier this week, I wondered if it would be possible to ski more days this month than I had last month. Thankfully, I am now halfway towards that benchmark. The weather forecast didn’t seem likely to deliver enough snow for earned turns. But several online reports on Saturday suggested otherwise. The Mansfield Stake recorded 8″ up high but I also knew there would be far less down low.

Despite the warming temperatures, there was enough snow to start skinning from the base of Nosedive. I am always thankful to have my skis on the snow rather than on my back during the ascent. It felt great to be skinning again and I was anxious to ski natural snow for the first time in many months. But with only an inch of snow on top of fast grass down low, I knew that I would not be skiing top to bottom.

Above the intersection with National, Nosedive had splotchy snow on most of the trail. Skier’s left looked solid if not quite bomber in terms of base depth and coverage. I continued skinning around the switchbacks to the top of the Forerunner where I found a wintery paradise and well over a half a foot of dense base. It felt great to be at the top of a mountain with skis in winter conditions.

On the upper section of Nosedive, I would charitably characterize my turns as functional. The skiing was much better than expected on the middle section of Nosedive. I found my rhythm halfway down Nosedive and managed to make some enjoyable quality turns. It was definitely worth the drive despite having to down hike from just above the National/Nosedive intersection.