What better way to kick off the new month than by such a beautiful bluebird day with little to no crowds.
Reported by Rene Jerez
Today at Palisades was a bit warmer than yesterday, with temperatures in the 30’s down at the parking lot and base but otherwise was very similar conditions wise. The snow softened up a bit it seemed, and all over the Palisades side of the resort the snow was in excellent shape with everything from soft to packed powder without a single exposed hazard or ice patch in sight! With how warm and nice the day got in the afternoon it felt like spring skiing at times, and it definitely was a good idea to have sunblock on.
I started the day off with riding up to the top of KT-22 via the new base-to-base gondola. I haven’t had a chance to ride the new gondola so I was completely stoked to try it! It’s definitely the nicest and most quiet gondola I’ve ever had the chance riding, and I was taken back at how whisper quiet the ride was! I’m totally used to them rocking around in the wind. Once I got to the top of KT the snow down Saddle was in total perfect form, and as I had freshly waxed my board I was gliding on the snow like butter.
Saddle Bowl was my favorite as the snow was a lot softer and faster to ride on than my last trip. I rode several laps down KT doing the same route (But taking the chair up) each time hitting Saddle Bowl faster and faster. Now that I’ve gotten more confident snowboarding down KT via Saddle I want to try some of the more advanced and ungroomed black diamond runs such Women’s Downhill.
After my KT laps I rode the Funitel up to Gold Coast and did laps down Siberia Bowl. Like Saddle, Siberia Bowl had softened up from yesterday and I was shredding down it’s face while taking wide turns to control my speed. Siberia Bowl is a great area to work on your turns on a snowboard due to its steep pitch. Like yesterday the groomers had done an amazing job of preparing the bowl overnight.
I hit the Gold Coast chair after I got my fill of riding down Siberia, and did repeated laps there, and once again I ended up doing some really fast runs on the backside down to the Shirley Lake chair. Going down Shirley Bowl and following the lift line was my favorite run of the day here, and like with yesterday the snow was in great shape and continued to stay that way throughout the afternoon. In seasons past I remember how iced over Shirley Lake could get and it’s so awesome that this totally not the case this season.
For my afternoon session after taking a quick lunch break at about 1:30 I headed back up to Gold Coast via the Funitel, and did laps there and also hit the Emigrant Chair. Emigrant had my favorite runs of the day, and the snow had seriously been softened up by the sun that the conditions there had markedly increased and improved from Tuesday. I did a ton of laps down Emigrant Face and I think for tomorrow I’ll be making this area a priority to ride in. The Main Backside trail definitely looked tempting for me to try in the near future!
Today was a really good day to ride and it felt great to kick the month off with such a beautiful bluebird day with little to no crowds. I’m looking forward to my last day up here before the next storm comes in to drop us a refresher!
