There’s no sugarcoating the fact that warm temperatures and rain during the January 30 – February 3 period were a significant setback in what has been a tenuous winter all along. Snowmaking and grooming crews were focusing their efforts over the weekend on repairing and re-surfacing the open trails, and by sticking to the trails that had received the most attention we were able to put together a respectable day of skiing, all things considered.
We made our round of all the open terrain pods, including Burnt Ridge, and variability seemed to be the theme of the day. One trail might be scratchy hardpack, while the next trail over might be reasonably decent. No surprise, the best skiing was under the guns on trails like Wild Air, Sunway and Topridge. Very light on-and-off snow during the day added a winter-like feel but did little to change overall conditions.
For those looking to ski this weekend, conditions should be better. Snowmaking crews have continued to focus on existing terrain (although it appears Sagamore may be added to the open trail count this weekend), and a few inches of natural snow that fell during the week should help. Oddly, the summit terrain appears to have gotten very little snowmaking attention aside from some guns on Hawkeye earlier in the week. Open Pit, Lower Darby and Hullaballoo remain closed, and obviously the glades are not in play.
All attention now seems to be pinned on the potential storm that may impact the Adirondacks on Tuesday. Although the storm track is not yet certain, we could be in for the biggest snowfall of the season (granted that is not setting the bar very high). Burn some skis (or better yet a snowboard), flush an ice cube down the toilet, do whatever you need to do: we need snow!
No comments:
Post a Comment