Not much to say about today. The unseasonably warm and wet weather significantly impacted Jay’s snowpack. A few gullies had exposed water gushing down the hill and a few lower mountain waterbars were nearly completely bare. It was a disappointing sight to see.
I tried to ski a few glades that I normally avoid and find interesting lines on the periphery. I probably spent more time in the Canyonland today than I have in all of my over 100 days of skiing Jay combined.
Daylight Saving Time powder days provide a special kind of joy. The early riser always gets the untracked. But doubly so when most skiers do not adjust their waking time to accommodate not only snowy roads, but also the time change.
So, it was much to my chagrin that the power was out in the Mad River Valley. Having nothing else to do (and not having my uphill gear), I settled in for the long wait. Many other skiers would not be patient. One by one, they took off their boots, packed their bags, and left.
Half of the crowd left and then, sure enough, the power kicked on at noon. I will gladly wait four hours for lifts to open late if it means half as many skiers are in line.
Given the Double had no one waiting and would be the faster chair to open, I lined up for third chair. The snow was dense and a foot deep, but it fell on top of somewhat bare ground. Steeper would better, but I was mindful of unseen obstacles under the surface.
I started with a cautious opener down Panther and gained more confidence merging into Gazelle. Riders on the chairs above cheered the first tracks of the day. Waterfall skied as good as I have ever skied it. After skiing untracked top to bottom, I hopped on the Single for a longer and steeper run.
I overheard a patroller mention that Paradise was good. That raised my confidence a bit too much. The undulations were significant and so were the hidden obstacles. Halfway down Paradise, I took a trip over the handlebars, and tehn finished the run with Upper and Lower Glade.
I went back up the Single and found some of my favorite in-bound off-map rabbit holes where I scored mostly first and second tracks on my third, fourth, and fifth runs. The super heavy and dense snow was best where it was untracked. Multiple ski cuts really chunked up the snow.
I could not return the next day for the expected foot of blower. But I can rest easy knowing that the late season is saved and I still have more opportunities to use my two remaining Mad Cards. A week ago, I had feared an early end to the season might be imminent.
The forecast suggested that Jay would get a foot of snow throughout a forty-eight hour period. However, Jay reported only a dusting by Friday morning. And the report for Saturday showed not even a dusting overnight. On the drive up, I knew things were not well when I did not see any new snow in the Notch nor Sheffield Heights.
Worse yet, the snow pack was moisture laden frozen hard pack. Word on the lifts was that the groomers had a difficult night and did their best with a challenging snow pack. It was the worst snow of the year, many better white ribbons of death have skied better.
My original plan was to ski the lifts a bit and then enjoy the natural over on Gilpin. So, I had my touring rig with me. I decided it would be more fun to skin than to ski, and I was right. I always enjoy a good hike on a pleasant sunny day (if a bit cold, but skinning keeps you warm).
The only concern was lower level holiday skiers losing control and hitting me. Conditions were slick and fully engaging an edge was challenging. Thankfully, the skin route is mellow enough that no one lost control. The ski down was abysmal, as conditions were rapidly deteriorating due to skier traffic.
The “Powder Day” tag may be stretching it a bit. The day before was the true powder day. Today was about cleaning up the leftovers. I found many untracked powder turns, but no untracked lines. It was an off map hunting expedition (and even then, pushing the edges of the skiable zones).
In some ways, the final few inches that fell last night were more a curse than a blessing. A few inches of super light blower covers up obstacles and provides no cushion. I tried Vertigo for my first run and sloughed three inches of dust off three sizeable rocks. Thankfully no base damage, but it could have been worse.
The base under the new snow isn’t pretty, it isn’t for charging hard. Cautious turns in the low angle off map woods for me today, and nothing too steep. Where I found untracked turns, I got the cumulative boot deep bounty. But it never lasted more than a few turns on the periphery of the skiable zones.
The new snow came just in time for the holiday and bailed out a poor February. But the base is still thin and the new snow didn’t bond well nor pack down well. A solid gain, but not enough to salvage a failing season.
After what feels like weeks of cloudy darkness, it was wonderful to see the sun today. Despite the general lack of snow, I kinda felt that the sunny day was needed more than a powder day.
Conditions were not bad all around. A bit firm, but not hard pack or scraped. The undercast was beautiful and the weather was pleasant. Given the stillness in the air, I even rode the freezer today! A rare day, indeed.