17/18 Hyak Report

Better late than never...

The last Sat. of operations was greatly improved by a burst of early morning snow which added a few more inches to what had fallen during Fri's midday snow squall. While the crust was still lurking beneath, it was supportive but edgable in Hidden Valley and, if you planned your turns right, barely noticeable on the Face-side. I departed for Alpental at lunchtime, at which point the lower reaches of the hill had softened into spring snow and later heard that the whole hill softened nicely in the afternoon sunshine.

The final day dawned clear and cool and while I'd usually wait a bit for things to soften, that turned-out to be unnecessary. The groomers were excellent, dry corduroy and there were still pockets of powder left in the trees. The crowd turned-out en masse by 11 and there were actually lift lines for quite some time. I'd reckon it was the busiest day at Hyak w/o new snowfall of the season! The soup was chicken-flavored ramen noodles w/ a microwave beef chimichanga on the side and a refreshing tallboy of Oly. For a change of pace, I took my last run straight down a semi-softened Hyak Face and joined the locals for apres at the bar. "Slogged" home after last call, reminiscing about the great season we've had, even if the conditions didn't improve until as of late.

Skinned 2 leisurely laps after work last night up the hyak hiway. Looked like lots of good turns had been had earlier in the day from the overnight dump, but there was plenty of untouched leftovers. Stayed on the frontside face, skiers left was nice, little heavy from the warming during the day, but lots of fun. Saw about a dozen people with the same idea between 5-730pm.