J.Spin
New member
We haven?t received any new snow since last weekend, but Lost Trail decided to open on Friday for the holiday week. They?re reporting 29 inches of settled base at the summit, which is actually fine for opening just about everything on the main mountain except for the steepest, rocky pitches. The nice thing about having the area open is that the bunny hill is groomed, and the rope tow is running. These are big bonuses for skiing with Ty, since the smooth surface is easier on him, and the running tow means less hiking and a lot more runs for everyone.
The parking lot had about 40-50 cars, but chair 1 looked empty and we couldn?t really see anyone on the hill. People were about though, it was just one of those weekends where there was no new snow and the scene was mellow. It was 30 degrees with blue skies and little wind, essentially great conditions for Ty to get out on the hill and not get cold too quickly. I was worried about a crust, but the groomed slopes were fantastic packed powder, everything seems to have dried out nicely since the warmer temperatures last weekend.
We actually got in about 6 runs on the bunny hill with Ty, and he was really having a blast. For the first time, we tried out the ?Kid Lift? harness from KiD-SKi, and it was fantastic. For those who aren?t familiar with it, it?s basically a harness with a handle on the back that your child can wear. It?s as if your kid suddenly grew a nice handle out of their back for grabbing them. You can easily lift them up securely with one hand while riding the lift, skiing, or whatever. I had never ridden a rope tow with Ty, so for the first time, I just held him in one arm and held onto the rope with the other. That worked well, but from then on I let him stand, and just stabilized him with the kid lift. That way he was actually getting in some slide time on the way up the hill as well. He enjoyed the speed of the rope tow a lot, but he still needs a lot of work on fore-aft balance.
The new issue we?ll have to deal with is that a lot of rope tow riding (especially starting from a standstill) will eventually do a number on our gloves. E and I both have Marmot gauntlets that we really love, but they?re quite pricey and we want them to last a LONG time. Even though they?re well made and rugged, constant grinding on a rope tow is a bit beyond what we?d like to put them through. So, after realizing this, I took a page from what I?d seen at Cochran?s when I was younger, and went out and got some insulated leather work gloves. They were on sale for ~$6 a pair, and should be able to handle a serious beating from the rope tow.
When Ty was done skiing, he hung around the base and played in the snow with E, while I got my season?s pass picture taken and went for a couple of runs (it was my first real chance to get a ski fix). I brought my Atomics, anticipating only cruising, but there were also other options. I did cruise for my first run though, and found nice packed powder all around, even down to 6,600? on south-facing terrain at chair 2. On my second run, I skied South Face, and found that although it wasn?t quite the super soft conditions that you often get at Lost Trail, it wasn?t scratchy. The typical ungroomed conditions were about 2-3 inches of very light powder/hoar over a solid base. I?d actually bet that backcountry conditions would be pretty nice in this elevation range as long as you found a smooth base. So, despite the recent warm-up, I?d say conditions in the Bitterroots are shaping up nicely. Unfortunately, it doesn?t look like there are any big storms in the immediate future to really kick things into mid-season, so we?ll have to wait. We?re heading back to Vermont for the holidays though, so hopefully we can catch up with some snow there (although the latest forecasts suggest there may be some rain next week, we?ll just have to see what happens).
J.Spin
The parking lot had about 40-50 cars, but chair 1 looked empty and we couldn?t really see anyone on the hill. People were about though, it was just one of those weekends where there was no new snow and the scene was mellow. It was 30 degrees with blue skies and little wind, essentially great conditions for Ty to get out on the hill and not get cold too quickly. I was worried about a crust, but the groomed slopes were fantastic packed powder, everything seems to have dried out nicely since the warmer temperatures last weekend.
We actually got in about 6 runs on the bunny hill with Ty, and he was really having a blast. For the first time, we tried out the ?Kid Lift? harness from KiD-SKi, and it was fantastic. For those who aren?t familiar with it, it?s basically a harness with a handle on the back that your child can wear. It?s as if your kid suddenly grew a nice handle out of their back for grabbing them. You can easily lift them up securely with one hand while riding the lift, skiing, or whatever. I had never ridden a rope tow with Ty, so for the first time, I just held him in one arm and held onto the rope with the other. That worked well, but from then on I let him stand, and just stabilized him with the kid lift. That way he was actually getting in some slide time on the way up the hill as well. He enjoyed the speed of the rope tow a lot, but he still needs a lot of work on fore-aft balance.
The new issue we?ll have to deal with is that a lot of rope tow riding (especially starting from a standstill) will eventually do a number on our gloves. E and I both have Marmot gauntlets that we really love, but they?re quite pricey and we want them to last a LONG time. Even though they?re well made and rugged, constant grinding on a rope tow is a bit beyond what we?d like to put them through. So, after realizing this, I took a page from what I?d seen at Cochran?s when I was younger, and went out and got some insulated leather work gloves. They were on sale for ~$6 a pair, and should be able to handle a serious beating from the rope tow.
When Ty was done skiing, he hung around the base and played in the snow with E, while I got my season?s pass picture taken and went for a couple of runs (it was my first real chance to get a ski fix). I brought my Atomics, anticipating only cruising, but there were also other options. I did cruise for my first run though, and found nice packed powder all around, even down to 6,600? on south-facing terrain at chair 2. On my second run, I skied South Face, and found that although it wasn?t quite the super soft conditions that you often get at Lost Trail, it wasn?t scratchy. The typical ungroomed conditions were about 2-3 inches of very light powder/hoar over a solid base. I?d actually bet that backcountry conditions would be pretty nice in this elevation range as long as you found a smooth base. So, despite the recent warm-up, I?d say conditions in the Bitterroots are shaping up nicely. Unfortunately, it doesn?t look like there are any big storms in the immediate future to really kick things into mid-season, so we?ll have to wait. We?re heading back to Vermont for the holidays though, so hopefully we can catch up with some snow there (although the latest forecasts suggest there may be some rain next week, we?ll just have to see what happens).
J.Spin