March was not quite a complete meltdown (it was no 2011-2012). But given the abnormally low snow base depths, it felt like the end was closer than it should have been (even during a bad year). My frustration with the lack of snow was compounded by unused vouchers. It was a race that I knew I was going to lose big time. I picked Smuggs to burn a voucher due to seeing some ungroomed trails (which I thought might mean spring bumps). Alas, my read of the snow report was not accurate.

Ungroomed trails were left untouched due to coverage issues rather than availability of bumps. This included an extremely icy F.I.S. trail, perhaps one of the worst runs I’ve had all year (which is saying something). Despite full afternoon sunshine and warm temperatures, the trail refused to soften from flat porcelain. Chilcoot was the only other option from Madonna’s summit so I skied Sterling the rest of the day.

Sterling didn’t have any fun options as the ungroomed Smugglers’ Alley was only slightly better than F.I.S. and also did not soften nor bump. Upper Rumrunner to Black Snake offered some fun turns on soft snow. Thankfully, patrol finally relented late in the day and opened Upper Exhibition and Highlander Glades. I was delighted to have a glade option available (with soft snow, no less) and I happily lapped it despite (or perhaps because of) the thin coverage and challenging conditions.

This was a mostly forgettable ski day. But I burned a voucher, so that is something. And the day ended well with some fun glade skiing through “interesting” conditions.