It was a classic case of "You should have been here yesterday!" Other skiers told us how yesterday's weather somehow defied the forecasts, with morning showers giving way to clearing skies and snow that softened all the way from the base to the summit. We had decent snow today too, but gray skies and a socked-in summit.
The soft snow was fun - more like late March wet granular conditions than January 1 - but it wasn't much of a day for taking pictures. I decided to convert a couple of photos into black-and-white, which produced a result that's actually not much different from the color versions. Just the browns of the trees and the colors of the skiers are missing.
The skiing today seemed to get better as the day progressed. Maybe it was the softening snow, maybe it was running into our friend Derek and skiing the afternoon with him. Showcase, Sleighride and Wild Air all skied well with soft, spring-like snow conditions, and Topridge was fun too. Daniel and I took a couple runs up the Straightbrook Quad to the summit right after lunch, but conditions were firm and socked-in up there. Beth and Derek made the better choice and did a lap on Topridge.
Today's skiing was fun (enough so that I'll probably go back tomorrow), but make no mistake about it, WE NEED SNOW. In a typical season, it's reasonable to expect at least 50% of the mountain to be open by January 1, and we're well below that mark. Thin spots are showing through on some trails, and inconsistent cold temperatures have made it difficult for snowmaking operations to make headway. The hard work of the snowmaking crew is much appreciated, what we need now is a helping hand from mother nature.
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