Feb 25, Kendall Dawn Patrol

Wanted to get one last taste of the good snow in before the warm weather ruins it all later this week, but it looks like we were a day late.  As we started the ascent we lamented the thin but consistent breakable crust layer that had formed on top of what appeared to be some of the lightest, driest snow that you€™ll ever see in this part of the state.  During our brief ascent we noticed some rather large tree bomb holes (~2-3 feet in diameter) and joked about how we sure wouldn€™t want one of those to drop on our heads.  Within minutes we heard the first bomb hit, then another and another.  Then all of a sudden a big gust of wind came through and dozens of bowling ball sized tree bombs all came down at once (thankfully not on either of our heads).  We took that as a sign to get the hell out of there, so we quickly transitioned and made a run for it.  Our 30 minutes of hard climbing rewarded us with 500€™ of the most challenging powder skiing of our lives.  Based on the tracks we saw it looks like people had a lot of fun on Kendall, but those good times are officially over, at least for now.

We got back to the car with an hour before we had to leave, so we decided to make a quick run up Summit West to get some exercise and enjoy a nice groomer.  What we found was a gnarly ice crust on top of frozen mank.  Going up was a breeze, but the only way to come down was either to go as slow as possible or point it and hope for the best.  I choose the latter option and was glad I survived.

Upon returning to work I noticed that Alpental closed the upper lift due to an €œextreme ice crust€.  That seems like a very good decision by the patrollers.