Stevens 3/23 - Fun & Sun & Empty

Stevens was sweet today. when I rode with Bob F in the morning, after each of our backside runs he said at least once "Great run" . . . and "This is so much better than I expected."

Same for me. I'd been so worried that the snow would be hard hardpack first thing, I'd considered taking skis instead of board, even tho I prefer board at Stevens. I'm a whimp about hard hardpack and ice when riding, I admit it.

Snow WAS surprisingly good, soft on backside by 9:45, as that got too soft, we moved to Big Chief, then Skyline. There was still unskied fresh in the shady area of Skyline at 2:30 pm. Go figure. Tho quality was variable.

One little bit of bad news, 7th Heaven closed around noon, apparently due to lack of customers. As theliftie at bottom of Skyline advised me, hit it early on these empty days. I think that translates into 'you snooze, you lose."

And it was empty. I can't remember being anywhere where conditions were this good yet mtn. was this empty.

I generally like big powder (or fresh, at least) dumps. But with this good of snow, few people, plenty of uncut, no wind, no viz problems, no wet clothes as you sit on the chair, no cold, a warm face at the end of the day even after applying sunblock 2x, I can go for this spring skiing.

Again, best run of the day was Big Chief Bowl. (but if we'd gotten to 7th Heaven earlier. . .?) BCB pre lunch had good snow but little death cookies were a bit firm. Post lunch, snow not as good but cookieswere softer. I prefer pre lunch.