More of the same, but that ain't so bad...
More cold last week means more snowmaking and more trails for the weekend. For the meager amount of natural snow we’ve received over the past month, the mountain is skiing really well now.
We had figured on starting our day at the summit, but ski patrollers at the top of the gondola were re-directing skiers away from the Straight Brook quad. So instead we headed over to Burnt Ridge and spent most of the morning skiing laps on Sagamore and Echo. Like last weekend, these were some of the nicest trails on the mountain. Snowmaking crews put down a soft layer of manmade powder on the top half of Echo, so turns down the Echo headwall rivaled those of last weekend. Sagamore was a bit firmer than Echo, but still in fine shape.
Lift ops got the Straight Brook quad running again (on diesel back-up), so after lunch we headed up to the summit. Daniel and I were anxious to ski Rumor, which had finally opened for the season just a day or two earlier. Huge snowmaking piles covered the headwall, waiting to be groomed out. Skier access was via the “cheater” goat path from Hawkeye. Rumor’s certainly a lot less intimidating when skied from the goat path rather than over the headwall, but it’s still solidly steep. Other than a spot or two of ice, surfaces were a consistent, edgeable “styrofoam” snow.
Chatiemac also deserves mention for nice conditions, thanks again to recent snowmaking efforts. I don’t know if it reflects some change in strategy, but Chati seems to have seen more snowmaking attention than usual this year and has been our pick of the day more than once (not today though, Rumor gets the nod). We’ve been taking 6-year-old Sylvie down Chati quite a bit this winter, and now she’s out-skiing Beth on it at times.
So, good skiing all around, despite the lack of any glade skiing. Hopefully that situation will change with the possibility of significant snowfall on Wednesday, and then again next weekend. If those storms deliver, we may finally see the first real tree skiing of the winter.
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