J.Spin
New member
A link to this report's pictures can be found at the bottom of the text.
Lost Trail had picked up about a foot of snow since last weekend, but E had some errands to run on Saturday morning, so I looked after Ty and didn?t get up to the mountain until the afternoon. When I arrived at the mountain, I checked by radio and found Bruce and Joan in the parking lot about to head home. Bruce gave me the scoop on the snow. The powder had developed a wind/sun crust at some point, so various ungroomed areas were hard to ski. I asked him which skis he?d recommend for me to use for the day, and he said bring my cruising skis if I wanted to ski the main mountain, or my powder skis if I was heading over to Saddle Mountain. Apparently, the sun had softened up the crust over there and made the powder more manageable. It took about a second for me to decide which skis to use. There probably aren?t that many powder days left this season, so seeking out the available powder was the obvious choice for me.
My initial trip down to Chair 2 revealed nice soft snow on Drifter, but it felt much more amenable to my cruising skis. My legs were pretty cooked from my daily workouts during the past week, and I debated making it an easy cruiser day. But, I resolved to wait until I?d skied some powder before I made my decision. Over on Side Street, I found plenty of untracked powder, although it did have that crust that Bruce spoke of in most areas. I still wasn?t convinced that I should make it a powder skiing day, but I decided to reserve final judgment until I explored the top of Chair 4/Saddle Mountain.
Since it was already afternoon, there were a lot of tracks present on the trails of Saddle Mountain, but I could still see plenty of unblemished snow just waiting for some turns. The skier?s left of The Slot was untracked, so I caught some sweet turns down the face in this area. I was a little more cautious than when I?d been on it the previous Saturday, since I could see a few more hazards like sticks and rocks in the middle section. After skiing the top part of The Slot, I cut left as high as I reasonably could (based on uncovered obstacles in the terrain) and skied the trees between The Ripper and Two Dot. Basically nobody had been in this area, and I could choose from any of the sweet untracked lines. The snow, as Bruce had suggested with regard to the Chair 4/Saddle Mountain terrain, was nicely softened. It was mostly sunny, and the sun had worked to soften up whatever crust had formed over the past few days. Somehow, this happened without turning the powder to mush. It certainly wasn?t up to the hip, face-shot powder we were talking about here, but it was really fun and I was pleasantly surprised. Once I finished with the trees, I merged onto the ungroomed Odyssey trail, which still had some lines of fresh snow. Finally, I ran into groomed terrain on the lift line. The groomed runs were certainly on their way to corn instead of mush, which isn?t always the case at Lost Trail. The snow was of such a nice soft consistency that carving short turns was relatively easy, even on the CMH fats. At this point I was really happy with my ski choice for the day.
The center of the face has been closed all season due to poor coverage, but while riding the lift, I noticed several sets of tracks dropping right in from the top of Lewis and Clark. It was possible that the latest snow accumulations had allowed patrol to open up the top face of the trail, so I had to head over and check it out. It turns out that the top was still closed, and all the tracks I?d seen were just the result of rampant poaching. I have to say that at least from a distance, coverage looked pretty good. I decided to play it legally and headed down Sacajewea, ultimately cutting over to Lewis and Clark at the first opportunity. Boy, was I glad I?d come over to this side of the mountain with all its untracked snow. I skied part of Lewis and Clark proper, which yielded great turns, and then cut to the trees on the skier?s right. I was the first one to visit these trees all day, and chose a nice snaking line through the most open areas. I then merged onto a totally untracked upper Two Dot and made some nice big screaming powder turns. The afternoon was getting better all the time! Heading down below, I ran into Val and Dom, who had just skied The Ripper. They said it had been challenging but fun, and Val was really getting into a groove with her turns there. We finished off with Bob?s Run and headed up for another.
After actually skiing the upper part of Lewis and Clark, I could see why patrol had not removed the rope at the top. There were still a few surprises in there that might catch the unsuspecting skier, and they would have needed to mark them. For those of us that went in with that in mind at least, they didn?t pose a problem. Two Dot was in similar shape, with a few easily negotiable obstacles present on the trail.
I?d had so much fun on Lewis and Clark/Two Dot and the surrounding trees that I had to hit them again on my next run. I wanted to try cutting in even higher off Sacajewea to get more turns on the untracked trails. Val and Dom wanted to work on The Ripper again, so I told them I?d catch them on the trails below. I cut into the trees off Sacajewea, even higher than my previous traverse, and found myself well into the upper reaches of Lewis and Clark. I skied the trail a bit, and then cut further right into the trees. Eventually, I came flying out onto the untracked expanse of upper Two Dot, trailed by two snowboarders who had followed my lead. We were all screaming through the untracked snow making huge arcs. It was just too much fun. I skied some more untracked snow as I progressed down Two Dot, and then looked for Val and Dom. Eventually I decided they were ahead of me, since I?d stopped to take a few photos. I kicked it into GS speed and headed down Bob?s Run. The CMH fats were really stable at such high speed, even in the irregular snow conditions. The turn below the steep pitch on Bob?s run had never been so much fun.
I headed back to my car via Chair 3 at that point, but the lift operators were closing down Chair 4 anyway. I never though I?d have so much fun on powder that had settled for a few days (especially in April), but it sure beat out the powder from the previous weekend. The coverage on upper Lewis and Clark and upper Two Dot is probably the best it has been all season; it?s too bad it?s the last weekend for lift service. Maybe if we continue to get snow, it will be worth hiking over for some turns in the next couple of months. It?s a lot longer hike than just visiting the main base though, so there might have to be other factor involved to make it worthwhile.
Some pictures from the day are at:
http://www.jandeproductions.com/2005/02APR05.html
J.Spin
Lost Trail had picked up about a foot of snow since last weekend, but E had some errands to run on Saturday morning, so I looked after Ty and didn?t get up to the mountain until the afternoon. When I arrived at the mountain, I checked by radio and found Bruce and Joan in the parking lot about to head home. Bruce gave me the scoop on the snow. The powder had developed a wind/sun crust at some point, so various ungroomed areas were hard to ski. I asked him which skis he?d recommend for me to use for the day, and he said bring my cruising skis if I wanted to ski the main mountain, or my powder skis if I was heading over to Saddle Mountain. Apparently, the sun had softened up the crust over there and made the powder more manageable. It took about a second for me to decide which skis to use. There probably aren?t that many powder days left this season, so seeking out the available powder was the obvious choice for me.
My initial trip down to Chair 2 revealed nice soft snow on Drifter, but it felt much more amenable to my cruising skis. My legs were pretty cooked from my daily workouts during the past week, and I debated making it an easy cruiser day. But, I resolved to wait until I?d skied some powder before I made my decision. Over on Side Street, I found plenty of untracked powder, although it did have that crust that Bruce spoke of in most areas. I still wasn?t convinced that I should make it a powder skiing day, but I decided to reserve final judgment until I explored the top of Chair 4/Saddle Mountain.
Since it was already afternoon, there were a lot of tracks present on the trails of Saddle Mountain, but I could still see plenty of unblemished snow just waiting for some turns. The skier?s left of The Slot was untracked, so I caught some sweet turns down the face in this area. I was a little more cautious than when I?d been on it the previous Saturday, since I could see a few more hazards like sticks and rocks in the middle section. After skiing the top part of The Slot, I cut left as high as I reasonably could (based on uncovered obstacles in the terrain) and skied the trees between The Ripper and Two Dot. Basically nobody had been in this area, and I could choose from any of the sweet untracked lines. The snow, as Bruce had suggested with regard to the Chair 4/Saddle Mountain terrain, was nicely softened. It was mostly sunny, and the sun had worked to soften up whatever crust had formed over the past few days. Somehow, this happened without turning the powder to mush. It certainly wasn?t up to the hip, face-shot powder we were talking about here, but it was really fun and I was pleasantly surprised. Once I finished with the trees, I merged onto the ungroomed Odyssey trail, which still had some lines of fresh snow. Finally, I ran into groomed terrain on the lift line. The groomed runs were certainly on their way to corn instead of mush, which isn?t always the case at Lost Trail. The snow was of such a nice soft consistency that carving short turns was relatively easy, even on the CMH fats. At this point I was really happy with my ski choice for the day.
The center of the face has been closed all season due to poor coverage, but while riding the lift, I noticed several sets of tracks dropping right in from the top of Lewis and Clark. It was possible that the latest snow accumulations had allowed patrol to open up the top face of the trail, so I had to head over and check it out. It turns out that the top was still closed, and all the tracks I?d seen were just the result of rampant poaching. I have to say that at least from a distance, coverage looked pretty good. I decided to play it legally and headed down Sacajewea, ultimately cutting over to Lewis and Clark at the first opportunity. Boy, was I glad I?d come over to this side of the mountain with all its untracked snow. I skied part of Lewis and Clark proper, which yielded great turns, and then cut to the trees on the skier?s right. I was the first one to visit these trees all day, and chose a nice snaking line through the most open areas. I then merged onto a totally untracked upper Two Dot and made some nice big screaming powder turns. The afternoon was getting better all the time! Heading down below, I ran into Val and Dom, who had just skied The Ripper. They said it had been challenging but fun, and Val was really getting into a groove with her turns there. We finished off with Bob?s Run and headed up for another.
After actually skiing the upper part of Lewis and Clark, I could see why patrol had not removed the rope at the top. There were still a few surprises in there that might catch the unsuspecting skier, and they would have needed to mark them. For those of us that went in with that in mind at least, they didn?t pose a problem. Two Dot was in similar shape, with a few easily negotiable obstacles present on the trail.
I?d had so much fun on Lewis and Clark/Two Dot and the surrounding trees that I had to hit them again on my next run. I wanted to try cutting in even higher off Sacajewea to get more turns on the untracked trails. Val and Dom wanted to work on The Ripper again, so I told them I?d catch them on the trails below. I cut into the trees off Sacajewea, even higher than my previous traverse, and found myself well into the upper reaches of Lewis and Clark. I skied the trail a bit, and then cut further right into the trees. Eventually, I came flying out onto the untracked expanse of upper Two Dot, trailed by two snowboarders who had followed my lead. We were all screaming through the untracked snow making huge arcs. It was just too much fun. I skied some more untracked snow as I progressed down Two Dot, and then looked for Val and Dom. Eventually I decided they were ahead of me, since I?d stopped to take a few photos. I kicked it into GS speed and headed down Bob?s Run. The CMH fats were really stable at such high speed, even in the irregular snow conditions. The turn below the steep pitch on Bob?s run had never been so much fun.
I headed back to my car via Chair 3 at that point, but the lift operators were closing down Chair 4 anyway. I never though I?d have so much fun on powder that had settled for a few days (especially in April), but it sure beat out the powder from the previous weekend. The coverage on upper Lewis and Clark and upper Two Dot is probably the best it has been all season; it?s too bad it?s the last weekend for lift service. Maybe if we continue to get snow, it will be worth hiking over for some turns in the next couple of months. It?s a lot longer hike than just visiting the main base though, so there might have to be other factor involved to make it worthwhile.
Some pictures from the day are at:
http://www.jandeproductions.com/2005/02APR05.html
J.Spin
