Crystal Feb 25

Bit the bullet and skied a weekend day. Who are all these people that leave so early and drive in snow so poorly? Arrived at 7:30 in A lot, the last sphincter rows. It dumped snow, really dumped, all day. It was foggy, really foggy. The wind gusts were face blasting nasty. Visibility was less than zero at times in the open and on the traverses. It was deep, deep, and perfect in the trees. One Frontside, then a couple Northways before the line built, EH was incredible. Exterminator for the rest of the day. It was horrible getting around, but there were unending face shots going down. Dumped a foot in places over the day as track after track filled back in. Finally had to quit when my coat was a frozen chunk of ice from too many face shots. I thought the uphill morning traffic was bad, the downhill maxed out at 15 on the Blvd and 30 on 410 till Greenwater. Who are these guys? Luckily, they weren't out taking my pow.

Ken
+

I agree. One of the finest afternoon of storm skiing I can remember.
Arrived at noon to  minivan stuck on the road infront of the Elk blocking the road.. Tired to help the Indian gentleman and his family  with verbal instruction but eventually I told him to get out and I drove his van into the lot for him.

Conditions were amazing. Horseshoe Cliffs to Northway was epic, Shakers was over the shoulder face shots. Right Angle and Exterminator skied great.
No lines in the afternoon just never ending pow.

Spotted a couple in Green valley looking for a ski so I went over and found it first try!

Parking lot exit was an exhibition of humanity at it's worst and total chaos. Ride home was at 30 mph max due to nervous drivers.

Mid-weekers( which group now includes my wife) are going to have an epic day tomorrow.

Galactic refills from sub-space, made this day inter-stellar . Years pass by inbetween days like this.How does one survive the time within, well skiing tomorrow will help with the re-entry to reality....also ...Tacos/Dogs/Beer....but they all pale in comparision to 9 hours of awesome powder skiing....this was a penultimate ski day!

Yes, another TREE-mendous day at the local hill. Arrived 8:30 and parked up close in A lot. There was already a foot of uncompacted snow from the day before in the lots (just to set the table for the drive out).

The Gondola was on wind hold, but the 6-pack was running at full speed. We ran a warm up through the terrain park before drilling braquage on Rolling Knoll and Deer Fly. I said goodbye to the Mrs and her friend as I rode up C6 with a solid, reliable ski bud. Today was one of those days where you wanted to ski with a partner. We opted for west ridge of Powder Bowl (10:30am). The wind was howling and the viz sucked. We carefully crawled out between the cannons, very cautious of the cornice to our right (Powder Bowl) and the cornice to our left (into the Park). The snow was great, easily past the knee, and we linked our turns right down to Lucky Shot. Looking back up, Powder Bowl was a whiteout! And we had just romped through. OK -- knock on wood.

Bear Pits was outstanding, with just a tad of scrape in the choke points. But once through the cliffs and into the meadow, our skis began disappearing under a couple feet of unconsolidated snow -- conditions were outstanding. After a brief safety discussion in the trees, we exited out and got on REX. There we befriended a husband and wife -- her first ski day of the year. We teamed up with our new powder pals and proceeded to ski almost blind down Upper Ferks where the wind was blowing snow all over! Around the big knob and we all met up atop Middle Ferks. The run was groomed and the snow was silky smooth -- for me it was linked turns on the balls of my feet with a quiet upper body -- very nice! About 1/2 way down, we detoured out to sample some secret stashes within the environs of lower Melby's, lower Bull Run and lower Ferk's. If this sounds like my report of yesterday, it was because nailed the same line.

After lunch, we headed North through Penny's delightful trees -- but then a nice detour into Paradise trees (skiers left). All very very nice, with numerous face shots and many many untracked lines. Whit's End was easey-peasey - and right up the chair and over to gate 6 where the back-end-around-Horseshoe approach was a tad scary (cause it was so very deep) until we wiggled into the teetering start of the hidden snowfield. By now, my heart was jumping and my focus was intense. Conditions were truly amazing, but again -- you got to ski/ride with a partner.  Then across Paradise Bowl in a whiteout into the next cluster of trees for more safety attention and a relaxed parade of pillows, bumps and buzzing tree wells.

By now the afternoon was waning, but the storm was really getting going. 13" of freshie fell on me today at the local hill. But not wanting to leave anything on the table, we opted for a last run of Right Angle. WOW! An amazing meadow at 3pm -- and where was everybody? Lots of untracked lines that eventually funneled us to the exit ramp and then over the Hole in the Wall gate. Hmmmm. No tracks at all. No worries as I know the general layout of getting through Hunter's Rock safely. After tracking a little too far north into the stacked cliffs, we carefully kicked turn our exit and then slithered our way through the wall. So the only wrong move all day was 6 trees too far here. I knew the hassle was worth it because once we got below Hunter's the snow got very deep -- easily to midthigh. By now, I was a tad worried about getting into Lower Right Angle Trees only because the snow was SO DEEP and the tree wells were SO DEEP and because we were somewhat tired after battling the elements all day. So we opted to exit via the Gap Road -- which had a foot of dayfall freshie. The Gap Road was in the best condition that I have ever seen in my 25 years on the local hill. A final exit through lower E ended my ski bud's day -- and he was off to the Elk.

For me, I have been reserving my last 2 runs of the day for solo time where I work on my technique by skiing on the front of my arch for every turn (no exceptions) and initiating turns by pulling my uphill ski underneath my hips (with no exceptions). So I caught the last chair of Rex and when I got to the top there was Patrol waiting on the last customer. And the wind was howling -- and the viz sucked. But with Chicken Shot and Lucky Shot all to myself, there was an eery quiet to the end of my day. Now how often can you say you had a powder run all to yourself on a powderfest Sunday in February?

The parking lots and exit road was full of stuck cars and stuck trucks. With a foot on the ground this morning and another foot during the day, you had me digging myself out.

So checklist for Monday:
powder skis
powder cords
beacon
2 shovels in truck
snorkel
ribbon

"Now we have a basement full of wet drying gear. Hoping it dries by morning for a repeat session tomorrow."

LOL. Best of luck. I'm in the same boat. Cheers!