Jay Silveira
New member
A Very potent combination of moisture and cold air has been mixing over Western Montana for the past week, and it has produced some impressive snow totals, even in the valleys. Lost Trail reported 20 inches of new snow on Thursday, 12 for Friday, and another 12 for Saturday. There was going to be some great skiing, and it was great timing for E’s first day of the season. Since I’d had many powder days this season while E waited patiently at home, the plan was to give her first tracks while I hung out in the lodge with Tyler. Our friend Maureen was also going to go with us, and she’d be able to keep E company out on the slopes. <BR> <BR>Although it had been snowing on and off for a few days in the valley, we’d only accumulated about 5-6 inches in town (3,560’) with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. Interestingly, only subtle differences in elevation made huge changes in the depth of the snowfall. Dave and Maureen’s place a few miles away at 3,800’ had over a foot, and I heard that Byron’s place at 4,000’ had even more. It wasn’t easy picking up Maureen in over a foot of unplowed snow, but the Forester made it through (all-wheel drive rules!) <BR> <BR>Once at the mountain, E and Maureen headed up to ski, while I did the babysitting in the lodge. It was actually fun to be able to relax and watch the hustle and bustle, instead of taking part in the usual first tracks maelstrom. Also, due to the four feet of new snow in the past few days, the opening of Chair 4 would be delayed and I would likely get a chance to partake in the fresh snow over there. I spoke with E on the radio, and she informed me that the snow was actually heavier than we’d though it would be; she guessed it was somewhere around 8-9% H2O (I’ll let E fill in more details when she writes up her report). Still it sounds like they had a lot of fun. <BR> <BR>Around 11:00 A.M. or so, the girls came back in. Maureen was looking to take a break for a bit, and was happy to hang out with Tyler in the lodge. This was a real treat since it meant that E and I could ski together. With Chairs 3 and 4 still being prepped for opening, chairs 1 and 2 had some lines. We decided to head down to Chair 2 in hopes that the line was a bit smaller than what we saw at Chair 1. The snow was much like E described, and with the fats on it was very easy to stay on the top few inches. The line for Chair 2 was about 10 minutes or so, and the sign at the lower terminal said still no go on Chairs 3 and 4. One guy in the lodge had told me that they’d just about dug out the three feet of new snow yesterday, but the new foot overnight set them back. Supposedly, the chairs at the top of Chair 4 were all buried! I could see that even at the bottom of Chair 2 they’d had to do substantial digging to get things moving, and the start of the ride was through a bit of chasm. <BR> <BR>Once at the top, we ran into Derek who was taking his last run before heading home. We joined him for a run down South Face, and it was a bit different than usual. Generally South Face is one of the more popular trails on the mountain and will form some bumps, but due to so much snowfall, all the old bumps had been buried and new ones hadn’t even appeared. It was just a big field of chowder to rip, and it was great. Once at the bottom, I checked in with Maureen who was doing fine, and when I got back to Chair 1, the word came out that they were loading Chair 4! It looked as though I’d be able to introduce E to some of my favorite Chair 4 terrain after all. <BR> <BR>I introduced E to my preferred route to Chair 4, and we hit some amazing powder in the connecting area between Main Street and Side Street. I think that the wind may have been absent in this area, and even though the elevation was lower than the main mountain, this powder skied much lighter. I got to watch E put some of the first tracks in the area and she did it with her usual grace. Even though she was just starting her season, she hadn’t missed a beat (although she did say she got tired faster). I guess starting out your season with four feet of new snow is not a hard way to go on the mental side at least. <BR> <BR>Only a few people had loaded on Chair 4 when we arrived, and the long lift ride was a good chance to show her the terrain from a distance. Even though we had hiked and skied in the area last April… <BR> <BR><A HREF="http://www.uvm.edu/~jsilveir/20APR02.html" TARGET="_top">http://www.uvm.edu/~jsilveir/20APR02.html</A> <BR> <BR>…it was a little different to have the whole place under lift service. Hollywood Bowl was closed due to avalanche danger (I wonder why) so I figured we could hit the Ripper, another favorite area with nice open terrain. They actually had a patrolwoman guarding the roped off area to Hollywood Bowl, but I could see that people were still going down the front side and cutting over to the chutes to the left. Although technically the patrol would have a hard time closing this area off, I’m sure the spirit of the closure was to stay out of there. Derek set off a pretty good slough in there two weeks ago when conditions were likely much more stable. Talking to Byron today, I did hear that a number of people were poaching the area and there were quite a few slides. There are a lot of trees in there, so there is some degree of protection, but there are a lot of open slots as well. Byron told me a story of one guy that got caught in a slide and fortunately grabbed onto a tree as the slide went past and over him. I’m sure there were a number of other stories, but as far as I know, no serious injuries (although an ambulance was around later in the day). Later when I was asking some patrollers about the name of that area with the chutes (they said there is none, so I’m going to refer to them as the Hollywood Chutes) they made it clear to me that they were closed. Regardless, I didn’t think four feet of new snow on 40 degree slopes was the greatest spot for E to hit on her first day back. I know some safe zones, but I figured there’s always next weekend when things have stabilized (if it stops snowing that is). <BR> <BR>As for our own runs, we hit the Ripper and found great untracked turns, but due to the density of the snow and some wind, it was not epic face-choking powder. It was instead a nice settled base that made for some serious planing on the fat skis. Even though it was four feet of fresh, it certainly didn’t beat the 24 inches of snow from two weekends ago which DID make for a serious smoke show (big report with pictures and video to come as part of our Fernie trip report). We continued on down under the lift, hitting some of the groomed terrain which was literally 2-3 feet below the ungroomed powder on the sides. Even where it was groomed you could shove your pole way down into the snowpack. I’m sure it’s not easy to groom so many feet of snow at once. We continued down the lift line and eventually hit Bob’s run to get into some steeper terrain. We found some fun trees that provided a good pitch for the amount of snow available. We only had time for one run on Chair 4 before it was time to check in with Maureen and Tyler, and get a bit of lunch. <BR> <BR>After lunch, E decided that she had done enough for her 1st day, and Maureen headed out for some more fun. I went out a bit after, anxious to try some technical lines in the chutes above Femur Ridge. With all the new snow and base getting deeper (now 98 inches) I figured some new lines would be opening up that would be an exciting challenge. I clicked on the head cam as well, hoping to get some nice shots in the steep trees. Some of these lines are extremely technical, with trees only a couple of feet apart, combined with rocky outcroppings and cliffs. There were tons of lines that looked enticing, and they were choked with snow, but the 180 cm CMH fats were just not meant for the job. As much as I love the fats for their rock solid stability at speed and the way they make big landings feel like nothing, they had just too much beef for this job. After 9 days of skiing with my buds, it was a little tough to get grooving by myself, but I still think I could have stepped it up with my midfats. Still, I did get a chance to use the fatties at their best by working some of the drops in the area, including one to the skier’s left of Slides that is much easier now with the new snow. Next weekend though, I’m throwing my midfats on the car as well, I may have to head back to that terrain for a rematch. <BR> <BR>After a few more runs in the steeps, it was 3:00 P.M. and I was ready to call it a day. Maureen had just returned to the lodge and everyone was set to head home. There is still supposed to be a lot of moisture coming in, but temperatures are supposed to rise significantly, along with the snow levels. I’m sure Lost Trail will get some snow (although if levels rise too high they may get rain), but hopefully things will stabilize enough so E can try out Hollywood Bowl next weekend. <BR> <BR>J.Spin