EMSC
Well-known member
Took a little more work than usual and some exploration, but better than I had expected. Blue bird days do help.
Spent the rather chilly morning on the front side with my wife seeing if I could get my hips to touch the ground in a carved turn. Almost, but not quite. But in spite the fact much of the front side faces east and had warmed up for a day or two during the week, the grooming and 3" on Friday had things skiing surprisingly well (you just didn't want to venture off the groomed at all). Much more like packed powder than dust on crust. Even the persistent wind only scoured the very top where the lifts dump you off, with the trails pretty well protected and covered with a few inches of soft snow.
After lunch, my wife packed it in for the day and I headed for the backside. The backside was much more variable. Several of the cut trails (muleshoe especially) were more like skiing a cue ball (billiards reference for ya). Thank goodness I didn't bother staying on the trail. Because the steep north facing stuff on the backside, especially in the trees, was still in good shape with untracked areas in the stashes with ~3-6" of powder to be had.
During one exploration I finally found the snow measurement site for Eldora (after 11 years here; I'd never bothered to ask really). As I read it, a couple inches below 5 feet or ~58" so the 65" being reported by the mtn is a touch overstated. The site is also only about 100 vert below the highest point of the ski area, which I'm sure is not quite 'proper' (Tony?), but the vert for Eldora at only 1600' is probably small enough that it is not too dramatic an overstatement.
Might be my last day at Eldora for this season with a road trip coming up and then probably moving on to (by then) a newly uncrowded summit county area. Eldora stays open till mid April like the big resorts too, and with plenty of snow this year they could go beyond that, but I've had a lot of good days there and time to hit some other venues.
Only cell phone pics today. I keep trying to find new material...
Spent the rather chilly morning on the front side with my wife seeing if I could get my hips to touch the ground in a carved turn. Almost, but not quite. But in spite the fact much of the front side faces east and had warmed up for a day or two during the week, the grooming and 3" on Friday had things skiing surprisingly well (you just didn't want to venture off the groomed at all). Much more like packed powder than dust on crust. Even the persistent wind only scoured the very top where the lifts dump you off, with the trails pretty well protected and covered with a few inches of soft snow.
After lunch, my wife packed it in for the day and I headed for the backside. The backside was much more variable. Several of the cut trails (muleshoe especially) were more like skiing a cue ball (billiards reference for ya). Thank goodness I didn't bother staying on the trail. Because the steep north facing stuff on the backside, especially in the trees, was still in good shape with untracked areas in the stashes with ~3-6" of powder to be had.
During one exploration I finally found the snow measurement site for Eldora (after 11 years here; I'd never bothered to ask really). As I read it, a couple inches below 5 feet or ~58" so the 65" being reported by the mtn is a touch overstated. The site is also only about 100 vert below the highest point of the ski area, which I'm sure is not quite 'proper' (Tony?), but the vert for Eldora at only 1600' is probably small enough that it is not too dramatic an overstatement.
Might be my last day at Eldora for this season with a road trip coming up and then probably moving on to (by then) a newly uncrowded summit county area. Eldora stays open till mid April like the big resorts too, and with plenty of snow this year they could go beyond that, but I've had a lot of good days there and time to hit some other venues.
Only cell phone pics today. I keep trying to find new material...
