July7 Stevens

Took a break from sanding and staining chores for a couple runs on Cowboy. Hiked up the terrain park and hit mostly continuous snow about 3/4 way up finding threads over to Skyline Chair then wide open snow all the way up.

At top of Skyline I ascended the ridge up Cowboy mostly along the boundary signs. Snow had decent grip, about an inch of soft on hardpack about noon, this area mostly in the shade. I couldn't avoid some really steep spots so ski cramps would have been helpful. Once on the ridge, skirted around the south side where there was softer snow in the sun and open slopes heading into the woods and the upper ridge. Very pleasant after the steep climb. Snow was continuous until about the last 30 feet, and the ridge itself was snow covered (see 7th Heaven Bowl pic, thanks to friend Paul Reed).

The bowl was a little suncupped but very skiable with 1-2" soft on top. Way more fun than staining cabinetry! Climbed partway back up then skied over to Skyline chair to try and get maximum snow to bottom getting almost 1/2 way weaving some shaded spots together then walked over to Hog Wild for two more 50m patches.

It's easy hiking -- no downed trees, gnarly stream crossings or anything so maybe a week left of easy access snow.