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May 21, 2005, Timberline Lift Serve
23 May 2005 02:17 - 23 May 2005 02:28 #211917
by snoslut
May 21, 2005, Timberline Lift Serve was created by snoslut
With all that precip there must be powder somewhere higher up. With that in mind and the fact that I was jonesing for some white stuff, the gear got packed and off I was. The plan was to ride lifts from 8am till just before close. Just enough time to grab the split and head higher. The forcast predicted was between partly sunny and mostly cloudy then becoming worse. Picked up John at Grand Mound and headed south.<br><br>On the drive up the weather looked promising but by the time we arrived at the lot (8am) it was overcast clouds. Wind was blowing about 5-10mph and temps felt in the high 20's. Pretty chilly for late May and the fact the place looks like December. ;D John and I met up with Chris and Rene and we all laid $32 stones for a lift ticket. 
On the ride up we spied many lines to be had. There was enough snow to pick your way all the way down. With the help of the wind blowing from the w-sw there were people getting body shots from their turns. ;D By the time we topped Palmer the clouds had dipped and it was whiteout off and on. Well at least it will thin out what little crowd there was. If I can't see em they must not be there. We took a top to bottom on the groomers to feel things out. Not bad but why ride groomers on pow alert. Found this out in the terrain park. One edge of the pipe had a 2ft pow lip to bash off of. <br><br>So our noses took the 4 of us far boarders/skiers right of the Palmer snowfield. After a nice quarter mile traverse and a break in the weather the harvest was on! 1,300ft of boot deep windblown and windpacked powder. Snow below (the other 1,300ft) started to consolidate with rising temps so it was only creamy. ;D This was to be our line for the rest of the day. Add both halfs and you get 2600ft of goodness. Thanks to the kine wind for the free refills. Didn't cross too many tracks today. Maybe except for our own here and there. Every run or so Chris and Rene would figure eleven on their pistols, lean back, and send rooster tails that would make them disappear. Couple of times Chris forgot to signal before changing lanes and my path too disappeared. ;D John and I did our thing on the white canvas. Lower down we took turns meandering our way thru chocolate chip cookie fields. Found some nice stashes of untracked boot deep cream off Norman and some more around Little Zig Zag but that required a bit more traverse back. Too bad lifts close at 2:30pm.<br><br>On our last 2 runs the weather really came in. First the snow and then the whiteout. A decision then was made to scratch skinning above the lift. Was trippy traversing out but clouds did part ways long enough to enjoy another successful harvest. Not the same could be said for our final line, which we eventually had to traverse back early. I led our pack which was cool until I stopped and fell over cause I thought I was still going. What a cool feeling. ;D After that I had to follow. Once back on the groomers we carved down the Mile Canyon to the parking lot. Yup it still goes just watch out for pedistrians. What a sick day! My altimeter read just under 33,000 vertical feet gained so I'm assuming that we descended close to that amount. Powder day in May.<br><br>Btw message to Kam:<br>I bumped into a dreadlocked fellow that was skiing on some fatties. One ski looked like a GS snowboard. I think you need to talk to your manufacturer. ;D He made it look hard but then again he did not have in hand the cryptonite, in which you drawl your powers from.
On the ride up we spied many lines to be had. There was enough snow to pick your way all the way down. With the help of the wind blowing from the w-sw there were people getting body shots from their turns. ;D By the time we topped Palmer the clouds had dipped and it was whiteout off and on. Well at least it will thin out what little crowd there was. If I can't see em they must not be there. We took a top to bottom on the groomers to feel things out. Not bad but why ride groomers on pow alert. Found this out in the terrain park. One edge of the pipe had a 2ft pow lip to bash off of. <br><br>So our noses took the 4 of us far boarders/skiers right of the Palmer snowfield. After a nice quarter mile traverse and a break in the weather the harvest was on! 1,300ft of boot deep windblown and windpacked powder. Snow below (the other 1,300ft) started to consolidate with rising temps so it was only creamy. ;D This was to be our line for the rest of the day. Add both halfs and you get 2600ft of goodness. Thanks to the kine wind for the free refills. Didn't cross too many tracks today. Maybe except for our own here and there. Every run or so Chris and Rene would figure eleven on their pistols, lean back, and send rooster tails that would make them disappear. Couple of times Chris forgot to signal before changing lanes and my path too disappeared. ;D John and I did our thing on the white canvas. Lower down we took turns meandering our way thru chocolate chip cookie fields. Found some nice stashes of untracked boot deep cream off Norman and some more around Little Zig Zag but that required a bit more traverse back. Too bad lifts close at 2:30pm.<br><br>On our last 2 runs the weather really came in. First the snow and then the whiteout. A decision then was made to scratch skinning above the lift. Was trippy traversing out but clouds did part ways long enough to enjoy another successful harvest. Not the same could be said for our final line, which we eventually had to traverse back early. I led our pack which was cool until I stopped and fell over cause I thought I was still going. What a cool feeling. ;D After that I had to follow. Once back on the groomers we carved down the Mile Canyon to the parking lot. Yup it still goes just watch out for pedistrians. What a sick day! My altimeter read just under 33,000 vertical feet gained so I'm assuming that we descended close to that amount. Powder day in May.<br><br>Btw message to Kam:<br>I bumped into a dreadlocked fellow that was skiing on some fatties. One ski looked like a GS snowboard. I think you need to talk to your manufacturer. ;D He made it look hard but then again he did not have in hand the cryptonite, in which you drawl your powers from. Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
