J.Spin
New member
We?re now up to 2 weeks with no substantial precipitation in the Bitterroot, and it looks like the trend will continue for at least another week. The Sunday forecast called for highs in the 60s F in the valley, and highs in the 40s up at the ski area with fair weather. It certainly sounded like another great day to be out on the slopes, so we headed up for more H-Bar skiing with Ty. He actually managed a record 8 runs on the Bunny Hill, and was pretty tired at the end.
After Ty?s ski session, I joined up with Bruce and Joan for a few runs. We skied Southern Comfort, and the snow surface ranged from packed powder to corn, depending on the exposure. All surfaces were nicely carveable and we enjoyed some nice cruising. Bruce and I then skied a couple of runs down South Face, which was getting pretty bumped up. I haven?t skied a good bump line in a while, and it was refreshing to get the feeling of skiing some relatively soft bumps again. It wasn?t anywhere near as good as Killington in May of course, but it was enough of a taste to remember just how much fun bump skiing can be.
The general skiing at Lost Trail has been nice the past couple of weeks, even though we haven?t had powder. Today was actually the first day that I noticed coverage starting to become an issue. Some of the most sun-exposed trail areas are beginning to have a few patches of trees or rocks showing through. Although the lower than average snowfall and snowpack hasn?t had a huge impact on the conditions at Lost Trail this season, it seems that it has had an impact on skier numbers. The mountain plans to try to stay open through the end of this month, but a friend who instructs at Lost Trail informed us that the mountain needs ~400 paying customers (this is probably the weekend number with all 7 tows/lifts running) to make it worth their while. I?m not sure how many people were around on Sunday (200-300?) but it felt pretty deserted. Montana may actually have some precipitation coming this week, but we?ll just have to wait and see if it?s anything more than light showers.
J.Spin
After Ty?s ski session, I joined up with Bruce and Joan for a few runs. We skied Southern Comfort, and the snow surface ranged from packed powder to corn, depending on the exposure. All surfaces were nicely carveable and we enjoyed some nice cruising. Bruce and I then skied a couple of runs down South Face, which was getting pretty bumped up. I haven?t skied a good bump line in a while, and it was refreshing to get the feeling of skiing some relatively soft bumps again. It wasn?t anywhere near as good as Killington in May of course, but it was enough of a taste to remember just how much fun bump skiing can be.
The general skiing at Lost Trail has been nice the past couple of weeks, even though we haven?t had powder. Today was actually the first day that I noticed coverage starting to become an issue. Some of the most sun-exposed trail areas are beginning to have a few patches of trees or rocks showing through. Although the lower than average snowfall and snowpack hasn?t had a huge impact on the conditions at Lost Trail this season, it seems that it has had an impact on skier numbers. The mountain plans to try to stay open through the end of this month, but a friend who instructs at Lost Trail informed us that the mountain needs ~400 paying customers (this is probably the weekend number with all 7 tows/lifts running) to make it worth their while. I?m not sure how many people were around on Sunday (200-300?) but it felt pretty deserted. Montana may actually have some precipitation coming this week, but we?ll just have to wait and see if it?s anything more than light showers.
J.Spin
