EMSC
Well-known member
Old school lifts and steeply pitched long vert in powder \
/
6" of unpredicted powder awaited on top of the 46" of powder that fell earlier in the week... Well, the 46" part while true, was already consolidated into the snow base, but mostly soft under foot with ~6" or so of pure fun on top. There was a huge inversion going on where the top was approaching the freezing mark (or felt that way), but the lower mtn was probably in the single digits. It created the first ever sun dog I've personally witnessed below the sun (vs at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock positions). It also meant freezing your face on the traverse out of the chutes.
Great runs were had in the south 'shoots' and in the trees to the north. With one lap on the upper Red chair first thing in the morning while the snow was still mostly untouched in the upper bowl before doing top to bottom laps for the rest of the day. They had had 246km/hr winds the week previous (over 150MPH), but winds were almost non-existent on my day.
However the effect of the winds here means being very aware of rocks in the south side terrain and other alpine areas. The entry into some of the further along chutes was sketchy - as in take off your skis for 15 feet sketchy (but plenty of snow in the chute). In the north side trees I skied some of the steepest gladed terrain I can recall. The far skiers left being a bit tougher to ski since it had had less traffic during the earlier storms giving a bit less consistent sub-surface. Despite only 4 slow speed chairs (one for beginners, one for intermediates, then 2 right up the middle of the main mtn) I can safely assure that with all the top to bottom runs on the >2800' of vert made for a tired EMSC last night.
So 5 new resorts in a week all with great coverage and at least a few inches of fresh on every ski day made for quite a trip. The views are expansive and rugged and impressive and well.... thanks Alberta - get out there if you can!
/ 6" of unpredicted powder awaited on top of the 46" of powder that fell earlier in the week... Well, the 46" part while true, was already consolidated into the snow base, but mostly soft under foot with ~6" or so of pure fun on top. There was a huge inversion going on where the top was approaching the freezing mark (or felt that way), but the lower mtn was probably in the single digits. It created the first ever sun dog I've personally witnessed below the sun (vs at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock positions). It also meant freezing your face on the traverse out of the chutes.
Great runs were had in the south 'shoots' and in the trees to the north. With one lap on the upper Red chair first thing in the morning while the snow was still mostly untouched in the upper bowl before doing top to bottom laps for the rest of the day. They had had 246km/hr winds the week previous (over 150MPH), but winds were almost non-existent on my day.
However the effect of the winds here means being very aware of rocks in the south side terrain and other alpine areas. The entry into some of the further along chutes was sketchy - as in take off your skis for 15 feet sketchy (but plenty of snow in the chute). In the north side trees I skied some of the steepest gladed terrain I can recall. The far skiers left being a bit tougher to ski since it had had less traffic during the earlier storms giving a bit less consistent sub-surface. Despite only 4 slow speed chairs (one for beginners, one for intermediates, then 2 right up the middle of the main mtn) I can safely assure that with all the top to bottom runs on the >2800' of vert made for a tired EMSC last night.
So 5 new resorts in a week all with great coverage and at least a few inches of fresh on every ski day made for quite a trip. The views are expansive and rugged and impressive and well.... thanks Alberta - get out there if you can!
