December 21, 2012, Hyak

Way fun day at the lowly Hyak. Temps last night may have dried snow. It was a little chalky (hardly Utahesque) but VERY fun snow, 10" or more. Untrammeled lines could be found although the main face looked pretty butchered. There was also a bit of wind effect there that was not present on other runs. Much better anywhere near trees. Saw maybe a dozen other folks over course of day but there was plenty of room for all. Main face had one of the most fully beat-in skin tracks I have ever seen. So much traffic that even the pole tracks on the sides were continuously flattened.

As far as I could tell, the world did not end while I was there. But non stop Hyak fun may soon be ending. On my last lap there was a big Bombardier cat flattening platforms and pushing snow around and both top and bottom of the Hidden Valley lift, and some random cat action at the main base that looked like more harm than good as far as trying to smooth it out. Also the E Peak lift was being scootched just to knock snow off chairs. The summit calendar says they open the 26th but almost wonder if they are setting up for earlier. Very bottom not necessarily looking prime time for a tix buying public still bushes and suspicious sags in snow on bottom 200' or so.