Afternoons are prime time for corn skiing
Conditions took a turn for the better mid-morning and by afternoon it was prime time for spring skiing! Early morning rain/snow showers blasted through the region and winds gusted up to 90 mph on the ridgetops- shutting down the upper mountain for the first few hours of the day. By 11am, winds started to calm and we were able to start opening upper mountain lifts.
Freeze Thaw Cycle- Great Corn All Weekend!
For the past few nights, temps hadn’t been cold enough for the snow surface to get a good hard freeze. Last night temps dropped back down to 26, and it looks like we’ll continue to have a good freeze thaw cycle through the weekend- great conditions for producing the silky smooth corn snow we love to ski!
This morning the snow surface started off hard pack, so I gave the sun some extra time to do its softening magic. By 1pm temps had warmed to the mid 30’s and the corn was fresh and ready! I headed over to Shirley for the sustained steep pitch, where you can cruise fast even when the snow gets soft. The top was just starting to bump up a little by mid-day. I love bouncing through the soft moguls at the top and ripping big arcing turns through the groomed lower section. Passing clouds and a strong cooling breeze kept the snow surface in good shape.
Hot Tub Update
After my legs were feeling warm from a few hot laps on Shirley, I headed over to High Camp to check out our progress on repairing the hot tub and pool area.
The team has been making serious headway on the project but there is still a substantial amount of work to be done. Teams have finished clearing snow over 20 FEET deep from the area and can now concentrate on completing maintenance repairs.
The project entails repairing 100’s of feet worth of handrails, detecting and repairing leaks, doing electrical work on the switches for the spa jets and emergency stops, completing tile and paver work and rebuilding the badly damaged bar.
Long story short, the massive 721” of total snowfall we received this year was awesome, but it did cause A LOT of damage. On the bright side, this raging winter has left us with an incredible snowpack. It’s May and it’s still 18 FEET deep up there! We’re stoked to keep riding on that thick hunk of snow all the way into summer!
