Today’s conditions were a full-on spring slush hunting mission, from KT and Headwall to the Park and Sun Spot. The mountain took a bit to soften up with the cold temps last night and by late afternoon the warmer temps made spots in the sun rip!
This blog was written by Ryan Williams.
KT22
We started our afternoon slush hunting session on KT22 with the goal to make the full mountain tour to find the best springtime slush off-piste. Walking to the lift, the snow was feeling awesome, with full-on spring conditions that were fast because of the cold temps last night.
On the lift up, it was sweet to see a few lines in the great soft snow, on the south-facing slopes. The sun was out and the wind was minimal. It was going to be a ripping afternoon. With the warm temps the past week, the snowpack has been dwindling down. However, with our massive snowpack, it is still amazing how stacked it is around the mountain.
At the top, Olympic Lady’s south-facing slopes were looking good and just softening up. Looking over to Headwall, we saw some ripping turns being had in Sun Bowl, and it looked like they groomed it too. We jammed down the Saddle, enjoying some amazing soft fast turns on the ridge, awesome for some slashes all along the way. Once we dropped into the groomer, it was straight back to winter – hard icy glazed that was right out of a January east wind day. It was bulletproof – a total surprise. Once we got down halfway and in more sun, the groomer softened up and was super edgable and fun.
Headwall
When we got on the lift, we heard quite a few people talking about how great Sun Bowl was today, from the new groomer to the slushy off-piste. The cold temps last night were keeping the rest of Headwall looking a bit glazed. At the top, it was full spring with the sun and soft snow on the south-facing slopes.
Sun Bowl was the place to be today. The snow was amazing! On our first lap, we venture out to find some great smooth slushy snow. This zone is so cool to check out the massive cornice line running down from the Bowl to Five Lakes and beyond to Alpine.
The view of the Lake was incredible today. Dropping in, the turns were amazing. Smooth, fast, and classic slush spring off-piste. The traverse out was a breeze today too. Chasing the sun, we found a nice slice on Bullet with soft snow on the right side. The turns on Bullet were awesome too.
The snow was so good on Sun Bowl that we continued lapping Headwall, ripping the slushy turns.
Gold Coast
Our mountain tour for springtime snow took us through Gold Coast. The park is looking awesome, with a great triple jump line at the top, a cool new rhythm section in the middle, and a great rail garden in the lower section. Love to see the park expanding each day. They even built a new beginner park in a new section by Waterfall.
Sun Spot
We wrapped up the day’s mountain tour traversing into a classic south-facing zone – Sun Spot. This zone was by far the best conditions all day. The turns ripped. The snow was soft, smooth, and fast all the way down. Stoked we scored this awesome zone on the way out, the highlight of our slush-hunting session.
