J.Spin
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A link to more pictures can be found at the bottom of the report.
It?s been an interesting weather week in western Montana, as we continue to be impacted to varying degrees by the latest series of Pacific storm systems. Early in the week, we had a system that promised the potential for even valley snow in Missoula and the Bitterroot. It also prompted the first valley winter storm watch I?ve seen in a long time. Even though there was the chance for as much as 6-12 inches of snow in the valleys, I was pretty skeptical (that would be about the biggest valley snowfall I?d seen here in five winters). In the end, the Bitterroot Valley picked up just the usual dusting. However, the Missoula NWS said that they expected some intense banding near I-90, and Missoula ended up getting 6-8 inches of accumulation. That?s actually pretty impressive for Missoula. Commuting between Missoula and Hamilton, Jon said that the snowpack basically disappeared right around Lolo, so it was indeed highly localized near I-90, at least as one headed southward. As far as accumulations at local ski areas went, Lost Trail reported 6 inches of new snow (which agreed nicely with the Saddle Mountain SNOTEL) and Snowbowl reported 9 inches.
The next system came through on Thursday/Friday. On Thursday afternoon, snow began to fall moderately in Hamilton, in the form of very tiny flakes. It had the feel of a more intense snowfall than the type we usually get here in the valley. By Thursday night we had accumulated 3 inches of fluff at our place in Hamilton (elevation 3,590?), and by Friday morning, it had reached 6 inches. This is by far our biggest valley snowfall of the season, and it is actually one of the top snow accumulations we?ve had since living here. While our snow in Hamilton fell with little if any wind, Jon said that he?d had really strong winds at his place in the Rattlesnake area of Missoula, and that the snow was falling horizontally for the most part. The drifting made it difficult to estimate exactly how much fell, but it sounds like it was similar to what we received in the Bitterroot. This pushes the snow depth in some parts of Missoula to over a foot. Lost Trail reported an additional 8 inches of snow, but surprisingly, Snowbowl reported only 3 inches.
Friday brought just a couple of snow squalls to the valley, but Lost Trail reported another 5 inches, making 19 inches of total reported accumulation for the week. I ran into Cynthia Favara, who said the people who actually skied on Friday called it the best day of the season so far. The first-hand reports indicated that there were actually about 16 inches of new snow, not the 8 inches reported by Lost Trail. So all told, there may have been more than two feet of accumulation for the week, and it looks like we?re into the best ski conditions of the season so far. Enjoying our own snow in the valley, Mom and Ty went out Friday evening for some slide time in the powder around the yard. Ty was out there with his helmet on, as well as one of our head lamps, and it was a funny sight to come home to as I returned from work.
The whole family headed up to Lost Trail on Saturday morning, and E headed out for first tracks. The options were Chairs 1, 2, and 5, since Chair 3 seems to be having some mechanical trouble. E and I discussed her morning plan of attack, and without Chair 3, it seemed that the Chair 5 terrain would be a good way to go since today was the first time it was open for the week. E couldn?t resist a quick trip down South Face for her first run, and she said even that was bottomless and she didn?t cross another track. After that, she did head over to Chair 5, and did several runs with the whole area basically to herself. There were a few snowboarders over there too, but since they were there for the rail park below the lift, there was little competition for powder. At one point, as she had put down the only three tracks on Lynx, she called me on the radio and joked that she would save the other half of the trail for me in the afternoon. We had lengthy discussions on the radio, and I guided her around the Chair 5 area to some of my favorite on-trail stashes. By the end of her Chair 5 session, she was pretty knowledgeable about the terrain in the area. For a final run, she headed up Chair 1 and skied more deep untracked snow in the Powder Bowl area. Basically, it was a pretty fantastic morning of powder skiing for E.
Fortunately for Mom, Ty was more easily distracted than usual from thoughts of skiing, and she was able to stay out until 11:00 A.M., at which point she came into the lodge to feed Dylan. Then it was time to get Ty out on the hill. It was his first chance to ski in his new helmet and goggles. He really seems to love them; in fact, he actually wore his helmet to daycare on Friday, and walked around letting the other kids pat him on the head. Since we had to get him a helmet (as he starts to ski at higher speeds it is becoming increasingly obvious that he should have one) I also got him a new pair of goggles with a dual layer lens. The single lens ones that he has had for the past couple of seasons have been fine, but the other day I noticed that they were fogging up something fierce, especially when we went into the lodge from outside. Now that Ty is much more active and working harder and longer, I think the dual layer lens will help. At only a few dollars more than the single lens version, it wasn?t hard to justify, and now Dylan can use Ty?s old goggles.
We headed out to the Bunny Hill, and Ty had his first runs with the leash. Wow! The leash is definitely the way to go with him now. Just a slight pressure from the leash in either direction really helps him turn, and I have excellent control over his speed if needed. I?m also well behind him, so when he falls, I don?t have to worry about running him over. The instructions say that the person holding the leash should be behind and to the side of the child, and this seems to be the safe way to go. As speeds get faster, you have less and less time to react when they fall down. During the ski session, I occasionally reminded Ty about trying pizza (wedge), and he would give it some effort, but it?s just going to take some time. As Tony suggested, at two years old he might not quite have the leg strength to hold a wedge for very long. He?s at least willing to try, so I figure he?ll work his way into it over time. The laps on the Bunny Hill were just going way too quickly now that we had the leash, and this was compounded by the fact that the rope tow had some ice buildup and was slipping if too heavy a load was applied. Ty wasn?t thrilled with the amount of time we weren?t skiing, so he insisted we go to the chair lift. I wasn?t sure how much skiing he had left in him, but he kept insisting on the chairlift, so we headed up Chair 1.
Ty loved the lift ride as usual, and he skied the entire 800 vertical feet and mile or two of distance provided by the combination of Meadow Run/Meadow Trail. I couldn?t believe it. The annoying part was that he had absolutely no patience for anything but continuous skiing. Falling down, stopping, or talking to Mom on the radio were not tolerated, and generated immediate shouts of ?Help me up!? or ?Let?s go!?. I actually think he was getting tired, and the movement of skiing kept him distracted enough to push through it. Whatever the case, he insisted on two more full runs before E and I could convince him to go in for some lunch. E was so excited to hear about the turns I was guiding him through, that she strapped Dylan in the front pack and joined us for the third run. At the end of our third run, we heard a helicopter approach, and found that the Life Flight helicopter had landed right in front of the lodge. The Charlie Brown area was all roped off and there were patrollers and ski instructors everywhere. I heard rumor that there had been a back injury, and it must have been pretty serious for them to bring the helicopter in from Missoula. Ty got a chance to see the helicopter up close, and the blizzard it created when it took off was very impressive. Ty was definitely burnt out after his third big run, and had a tantrum meltdown as he headed into the lodge to get some food (which he definitely needed). Fortunately, getting some food took care of the issue, and Dad could go out for a few runs. Of course, Ty had done so much skiing that it was already 2:30 P.M., and there wasn?t much time left to ski.
I figured with the late hour, I would just head over to Chair 5 and do a few quick powder runs. Unfortunately, the deserted state in which E had left Chair 5 had not persisted through the whole day. All the trails were pretty much tracked out, as it had been a rather busy day (the parking lot was just about full) and neither Chair 3 nor 4 were running. Seeing this, I decided to explore the woods to the skier?s right of Lynx, which I knew had some potential open lines. There are actually a lot of nice open wood shots in there, and even at this point in the day there were no visible tracks. I enjoyed a few quick runs in the powder, which seemed to be about two feet deep in the shelter of the trees, and then I headed back to the lodge to pack up for home. With such a short, late day of skiing for me, E suggested I head back to the mountain by myself on Sunday morning for some turns. That sounded like an excellent idea to me, and so I did just that. I skinned over to Chair 4 for some absolutely sick powder turns, but I?ll save that discussion and the associated photos for my Sunday report, so stay tuned. For pictures from Saturday, go to:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/03DEC05.html
J.Spin
It?s been an interesting weather week in western Montana, as we continue to be impacted to varying degrees by the latest series of Pacific storm systems. Early in the week, we had a system that promised the potential for even valley snow in Missoula and the Bitterroot. It also prompted the first valley winter storm watch I?ve seen in a long time. Even though there was the chance for as much as 6-12 inches of snow in the valleys, I was pretty skeptical (that would be about the biggest valley snowfall I?d seen here in five winters). In the end, the Bitterroot Valley picked up just the usual dusting. However, the Missoula NWS said that they expected some intense banding near I-90, and Missoula ended up getting 6-8 inches of accumulation. That?s actually pretty impressive for Missoula. Commuting between Missoula and Hamilton, Jon said that the snowpack basically disappeared right around Lolo, so it was indeed highly localized near I-90, at least as one headed southward. As far as accumulations at local ski areas went, Lost Trail reported 6 inches of new snow (which agreed nicely with the Saddle Mountain SNOTEL) and Snowbowl reported 9 inches.
The next system came through on Thursday/Friday. On Thursday afternoon, snow began to fall moderately in Hamilton, in the form of very tiny flakes. It had the feel of a more intense snowfall than the type we usually get here in the valley. By Thursday night we had accumulated 3 inches of fluff at our place in Hamilton (elevation 3,590?), and by Friday morning, it had reached 6 inches. This is by far our biggest valley snowfall of the season, and it is actually one of the top snow accumulations we?ve had since living here. While our snow in Hamilton fell with little if any wind, Jon said that he?d had really strong winds at his place in the Rattlesnake area of Missoula, and that the snow was falling horizontally for the most part. The drifting made it difficult to estimate exactly how much fell, but it sounds like it was similar to what we received in the Bitterroot. This pushes the snow depth in some parts of Missoula to over a foot. Lost Trail reported an additional 8 inches of snow, but surprisingly, Snowbowl reported only 3 inches.
Friday brought just a couple of snow squalls to the valley, but Lost Trail reported another 5 inches, making 19 inches of total reported accumulation for the week. I ran into Cynthia Favara, who said the people who actually skied on Friday called it the best day of the season so far. The first-hand reports indicated that there were actually about 16 inches of new snow, not the 8 inches reported by Lost Trail. So all told, there may have been more than two feet of accumulation for the week, and it looks like we?re into the best ski conditions of the season so far. Enjoying our own snow in the valley, Mom and Ty went out Friday evening for some slide time in the powder around the yard. Ty was out there with his helmet on, as well as one of our head lamps, and it was a funny sight to come home to as I returned from work.
The whole family headed up to Lost Trail on Saturday morning, and E headed out for first tracks. The options were Chairs 1, 2, and 5, since Chair 3 seems to be having some mechanical trouble. E and I discussed her morning plan of attack, and without Chair 3, it seemed that the Chair 5 terrain would be a good way to go since today was the first time it was open for the week. E couldn?t resist a quick trip down South Face for her first run, and she said even that was bottomless and she didn?t cross another track. After that, she did head over to Chair 5, and did several runs with the whole area basically to herself. There were a few snowboarders over there too, but since they were there for the rail park below the lift, there was little competition for powder. At one point, as she had put down the only three tracks on Lynx, she called me on the radio and joked that she would save the other half of the trail for me in the afternoon. We had lengthy discussions on the radio, and I guided her around the Chair 5 area to some of my favorite on-trail stashes. By the end of her Chair 5 session, she was pretty knowledgeable about the terrain in the area. For a final run, she headed up Chair 1 and skied more deep untracked snow in the Powder Bowl area. Basically, it was a pretty fantastic morning of powder skiing for E.
Fortunately for Mom, Ty was more easily distracted than usual from thoughts of skiing, and she was able to stay out until 11:00 A.M., at which point she came into the lodge to feed Dylan. Then it was time to get Ty out on the hill. It was his first chance to ski in his new helmet and goggles. He really seems to love them; in fact, he actually wore his helmet to daycare on Friday, and walked around letting the other kids pat him on the head. Since we had to get him a helmet (as he starts to ski at higher speeds it is becoming increasingly obvious that he should have one) I also got him a new pair of goggles with a dual layer lens. The single lens ones that he has had for the past couple of seasons have been fine, but the other day I noticed that they were fogging up something fierce, especially when we went into the lodge from outside. Now that Ty is much more active and working harder and longer, I think the dual layer lens will help. At only a few dollars more than the single lens version, it wasn?t hard to justify, and now Dylan can use Ty?s old goggles.
We headed out to the Bunny Hill, and Ty had his first runs with the leash. Wow! The leash is definitely the way to go with him now. Just a slight pressure from the leash in either direction really helps him turn, and I have excellent control over his speed if needed. I?m also well behind him, so when he falls, I don?t have to worry about running him over. The instructions say that the person holding the leash should be behind and to the side of the child, and this seems to be the safe way to go. As speeds get faster, you have less and less time to react when they fall down. During the ski session, I occasionally reminded Ty about trying pizza (wedge), and he would give it some effort, but it?s just going to take some time. As Tony suggested, at two years old he might not quite have the leg strength to hold a wedge for very long. He?s at least willing to try, so I figure he?ll work his way into it over time. The laps on the Bunny Hill were just going way too quickly now that we had the leash, and this was compounded by the fact that the rope tow had some ice buildup and was slipping if too heavy a load was applied. Ty wasn?t thrilled with the amount of time we weren?t skiing, so he insisted we go to the chair lift. I wasn?t sure how much skiing he had left in him, but he kept insisting on the chairlift, so we headed up Chair 1.
Ty loved the lift ride as usual, and he skied the entire 800 vertical feet and mile or two of distance provided by the combination of Meadow Run/Meadow Trail. I couldn?t believe it. The annoying part was that he had absolutely no patience for anything but continuous skiing. Falling down, stopping, or talking to Mom on the radio were not tolerated, and generated immediate shouts of ?Help me up!? or ?Let?s go!?. I actually think he was getting tired, and the movement of skiing kept him distracted enough to push through it. Whatever the case, he insisted on two more full runs before E and I could convince him to go in for some lunch. E was so excited to hear about the turns I was guiding him through, that she strapped Dylan in the front pack and joined us for the third run. At the end of our third run, we heard a helicopter approach, and found that the Life Flight helicopter had landed right in front of the lodge. The Charlie Brown area was all roped off and there were patrollers and ski instructors everywhere. I heard rumor that there had been a back injury, and it must have been pretty serious for them to bring the helicopter in from Missoula. Ty got a chance to see the helicopter up close, and the blizzard it created when it took off was very impressive. Ty was definitely burnt out after his third big run, and had a tantrum meltdown as he headed into the lodge to get some food (which he definitely needed). Fortunately, getting some food took care of the issue, and Dad could go out for a few runs. Of course, Ty had done so much skiing that it was already 2:30 P.M., and there wasn?t much time left to ski.
I figured with the late hour, I would just head over to Chair 5 and do a few quick powder runs. Unfortunately, the deserted state in which E had left Chair 5 had not persisted through the whole day. All the trails were pretty much tracked out, as it had been a rather busy day (the parking lot was just about full) and neither Chair 3 nor 4 were running. Seeing this, I decided to explore the woods to the skier?s right of Lynx, which I knew had some potential open lines. There are actually a lot of nice open wood shots in there, and even at this point in the day there were no visible tracks. I enjoyed a few quick runs in the powder, which seemed to be about two feet deep in the shelter of the trees, and then I headed back to the lodge to pack up for home. With such a short, late day of skiing for me, E suggested I head back to the mountain by myself on Sunday morning for some turns. That sounded like an excellent idea to me, and so I did just that. I skinned over to Chair 4 for some absolutely sick powder turns, but I?ll save that discussion and the associated photos for my Sunday report, so stay tuned. For pictures from Saturday, go to:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/03DEC05.html
J.Spin
