December 10 Alpy Opening Day

Plans to be in line well before 900 am were foiled by the very slow and tedious drive up. By the time I got to the top of Armstrong, the line for the padded seats extended well past the Pettigrew building (around 930 am).

I figured Mr. Wild was holding court in line with all the Alpy regulars but he must be training for the senior division of VertFest!

Lots of nice soft stuff everywhere. The occasional bushes and creeks were easily avoided. The traverse over to Lower Nash was even quite reasonable for opening day. Upper Nash opened about 1130 am. When I finally dropped in around noon (surprisingly easy and my rebuilt hip is thankful), the bumps were pillowy and nice. There were three red jackets blocking the Snakedance gate as some poachers probably ducked the rope.

Viz and legs gave way about 200 pm.  Need more laps for those ski muscles. Lots of smiling happy people today! Let the regulars give the rest of the story....

The drive up was indeed arduous, but us early birds arrived safely with plenty of time for socializing in line before receiving the annual safety spiel



Cov'rage was looking good, even on the International side



Earlier snow showers gave way to blue skies



Which made for a tolerable "hurry-then-wait"



And wait many did



The goods were primed





And classic Alpental conditions settled-in for the afternoon top-to-bottom grind



Snowing hard on the way out @ 1500. Another arduous morning drive on tap for tomorrow :