J.Spin
New member
Mid February brought the second ?cold? snap of the season to the Bitterroot, the first one being back in December before the holidays. Temperatures during the February snap weren?t quite as low as those in the December one, and the snap wasn?t quite as long either. We only got down to single digit readings below zero F (about -4 to -5 degrees F) at our place in Hamilton, and that only happened on a couple of nights. Fortunately (in terms of skiing comfort at least) temperatures were slowly rising day by day as we approached the weekend. Sunday looked to be the warmest and sunniest day, so that?s when I decided to head out to the slopes with Ty. Although the temperature was predicted to be near 20 degrees F, that was still a bit cold for taking Dylan out. E wanted to catch up on cleaning and work anyway, so she and Dylan would hold down the fort, while Ty and I took care of things on the skiing end 
.
We left Hamilton near noontime to catch the warmest part of the day, and the temperature in town had risen to a comfortable 23 degrees F. By the time we got up to the pass, the temperature was down to 14 degrees F, but it was sunny with no wind and felt much warmer. It?s hard to say exactly what it felt like, but I would put it around 30 degrees F. It was incredible how different the day felt from a similar day I?d had with Ty back on December 18th. The reported air temperatures were very similar, but while the pale solstice sun of December had done little to warm us up, the February sun made a huge difference in how we felt. Not only was the sun stronger in February, it stayed up much longer, and the trails didn?t fall into shadow until after the lifts closed. I was amazed at what a dramatic effect a couple months of solar progression could have.
We started our ski day by heading up Chair 1 and taking North Bowl. I decided to crack down on Ty?s lack of speed control, so I?d bring him to a complete stop with the leash whenever he got lazy about his turning and started going too fast. I would let him know that I stopped him because he wasn?t in control, and that if he didn?t want to stop like that, he?d have to keep turning appropriately. We next headed to the little powder-filled connector trail to the base of Chair 5, and my strategy for getting Ty to turn and stay in control must have worked, because he was able to go without the leash for the rest of the day. He skied the Raven trail without a leash, and then proceeded to ski the whole traditional Meadow Run/Meadow Trail route on his own and under control as well. He did get going a bit too fast at the corner starting Meadow trail, so I slowed him down slightly by hand. This was the first time skiing the run on his own since our day with James three weeks earlier, when I?d forgotten the leash. The big difference this time of course was that he didn?t have any huge crashes because he could (or at least was willing to) control his speed.
At the end of the day, we went inside for Ty?s traditional post-ski snack, and hung out with a woman (from Helena I believe) and a friend that was visiting her from out east. The friend used to live in the Bitterroot, and commented on how much bigger Lost Trail was with the addition of the Chair 4 terrain. For some reason I almost think the women said that they didn?t actually get to ski the Chair 4 terrain, and the lift may have been closed because it had been so cold. They said that the weather had been surprisingly warm all morning despite the actual air temperature, and we all discussed the nice Lost Trail snow conditions. Since I had to manage Ty by myself all day, I didn?t get any pictures, so it?s just a text report for this outing.
J.Spin
.We left Hamilton near noontime to catch the warmest part of the day, and the temperature in town had risen to a comfortable 23 degrees F. By the time we got up to the pass, the temperature was down to 14 degrees F, but it was sunny with no wind and felt much warmer. It?s hard to say exactly what it felt like, but I would put it around 30 degrees F. It was incredible how different the day felt from a similar day I?d had with Ty back on December 18th. The reported air temperatures were very similar, but while the pale solstice sun of December had done little to warm us up, the February sun made a huge difference in how we felt. Not only was the sun stronger in February, it stayed up much longer, and the trails didn?t fall into shadow until after the lifts closed. I was amazed at what a dramatic effect a couple months of solar progression could have.
We started our ski day by heading up Chair 1 and taking North Bowl. I decided to crack down on Ty?s lack of speed control, so I?d bring him to a complete stop with the leash whenever he got lazy about his turning and started going too fast. I would let him know that I stopped him because he wasn?t in control, and that if he didn?t want to stop like that, he?d have to keep turning appropriately. We next headed to the little powder-filled connector trail to the base of Chair 5, and my strategy for getting Ty to turn and stay in control must have worked, because he was able to go without the leash for the rest of the day. He skied the Raven trail without a leash, and then proceeded to ski the whole traditional Meadow Run/Meadow Trail route on his own and under control as well. He did get going a bit too fast at the corner starting Meadow trail, so I slowed him down slightly by hand. This was the first time skiing the run on his own since our day with James three weeks earlier, when I?d forgotten the leash. The big difference this time of course was that he didn?t have any huge crashes because he could (or at least was willing to) control his speed.
At the end of the day, we went inside for Ty?s traditional post-ski snack, and hung out with a woman (from Helena I believe) and a friend that was visiting her from out east. The friend used to live in the Bitterroot, and commented on how much bigger Lost Trail was with the addition of the Chair 4 terrain. For some reason I almost think the women said that they didn?t actually get to ski the Chair 4 terrain, and the lift may have been closed because it had been so cold. They said that the weather had been surprisingly warm all morning despite the actual air temperature, and we all discussed the nice Lost Trail snow conditions. Since I had to manage Ty by myself all day, I didn?t get any pictures, so it?s just a text report for this outing.
J.Spin