Day 1
The last previous storm cycle had dumped 70cm, but that was 10 days prior after barely any snow at all in January. On the other hand, it had been very cold, so untracked and sheltered snow was in still very good shape and totally right side up were it had not been wind affected. Jasper was our guide for all three days and seemed to know the tenure well. The first day started bluebird and gradually clouded. Accordingly, we started in the alpine/subalpine and worked our way out to the northernmost part of the tenure in search of good snow. Going all the way to the northernmost part of the tenure is suboptimal on the first day after avi drills, as it requires more time in the cat with fewer jump runs to get all the way up there and back with the shortened ski day. Conditions in the alpine were generally subpar due to substantial wind crust. The snow in the subalpine and northern tenure trees was surprisingly good. Vert for the day was approximately 12k. Runs included: Silver Lining, Hail Caesar, Mad Max, Truffula Trees, Brad's Pond, Mulberry Trees/Cat in the Hat, Halfpipe, Stage Right, and Cooper's Run. Highlights were Hail Caesar, Truffula, and Cooper's (which faces east and offered the best best and deepest snow of the day).
John and @Skiace
John:
Tail guide:
Day 2
Our last run of the day on Saturday made it clear that the best snow might be on the tenure's somewhat-limited east-facing exposures. It had started to snow early in the morning, but only 3cm had accumulated at Mustang's weather plot. Nonetheless, it quickly became apparent that substantially more than that had accumulated on east-facing exposures and that snow was stacking up as it continued to storm. It was also still fairly cold, so the accumulating snow on top of settled untracked snow was very much right-side up and a lot of fun to ski. We occasionally encountered tracks in the older snow from previous groups on the leadins and/or runouts from the lines we skied, but Jasper was pretty good at putting us on fresh lines throughout our three-day tour. Everything was boot-top deep or more by the end of the day. We skied approximately 16.5k vertical feet. Runs skied included: June's (in the No Zone), Anyone You Want/Any Tree You Want, Jack's Lake, Peter's, Flying Squirrel, Hitman, Mardi Gras, three different lines down Mad Hatter (its a huge ridge), and Bossa Nova (left).
John:
Russell from Toronto (I think):
Ryan from Toronto:
Day 3
It stopped snowing overnight, but the snow was pretty much the same as the day before, with the exception of Ernie's, described in a bit more detail bellow.
16K vertical with one stop at the lodge to drop off Matt from Toronto who had injured his knee late in the afternoon the day before and had hoped to be able to comfortably ski on it, but was not. Runs skied included: Carnivale, Mardi Gras, another three different lines down Mad Hatter, Grace Slick/Waterfall, Mumbo-Jumbo, Ernie's, Flying Squirrel, Creme Brulee, and another line down Carnivale.
Matt (I think) and Ryan from Toronto:
John:
John:
@Skiace
Ernie's. The snow here and all the way down this long, open run, was just a few cms of pixie dust on a very supportable wind crust. I dropped in just behind Jasper and by watching him, quickly realized it was best to: (a) stay off my edges, making big, surfy, smeary, turns, and (b) let my Black Crow Animas go as fast as they wanted to. This was a whole lot of fun, and according to Russell, who was next behind me, produced some impressive rooster tails.
Carnivale: note the glide cracks. Some of these were quite deep and all were very difficult to see from above. Jasper gave us solid instructions at the top the allowed everyone to navigate them at speed. @Skiace:
John:
Ed:
Departure:
Another view of the glide cracks on Carnivale:
Our pilot on the departing flight:
The last previous storm cycle had dumped 70cm, but that was 10 days prior after barely any snow at all in January. On the other hand, it had been very cold, so untracked and sheltered snow was in still very good shape and totally right side up were it had not been wind affected. Jasper was our guide for all three days and seemed to know the tenure well. The first day started bluebird and gradually clouded. Accordingly, we started in the alpine/subalpine and worked our way out to the northernmost part of the tenure in search of good snow. Going all the way to the northernmost part of the tenure is suboptimal on the first day after avi drills, as it requires more time in the cat with fewer jump runs to get all the way up there and back with the shortened ski day. Conditions in the alpine were generally subpar due to substantial wind crust. The snow in the subalpine and northern tenure trees was surprisingly good. Vert for the day was approximately 12k. Runs included: Silver Lining, Hail Caesar, Mad Max, Truffula Trees, Brad's Pond, Mulberry Trees/Cat in the Hat, Halfpipe, Stage Right, and Cooper's Run. Highlights were Hail Caesar, Truffula, and Cooper's (which faces east and offered the best best and deepest snow of the day).
John and @Skiace
John:
Tail guide:
Day 2
Our last run of the day on Saturday made it clear that the best snow might be on the tenure's somewhat-limited east-facing exposures. It had started to snow early in the morning, but only 3cm had accumulated at Mustang's weather plot. Nonetheless, it quickly became apparent that substantially more than that had accumulated on east-facing exposures and that snow was stacking up as it continued to storm. It was also still fairly cold, so the accumulating snow on top of settled untracked snow was very much right-side up and a lot of fun to ski. We occasionally encountered tracks in the older snow from previous groups on the leadins and/or runouts from the lines we skied, but Jasper was pretty good at putting us on fresh lines throughout our three-day tour. Everything was boot-top deep or more by the end of the day. We skied approximately 16.5k vertical feet. Runs skied included: June's (in the No Zone), Anyone You Want/Any Tree You Want, Jack's Lake, Peter's, Flying Squirrel, Hitman, Mardi Gras, three different lines down Mad Hatter (its a huge ridge), and Bossa Nova (left).
John:
Russell from Toronto (I think):
Ryan from Toronto:
Day 3
It stopped snowing overnight, but the snow was pretty much the same as the day before, with the exception of Ernie's, described in a bit more detail bellow.
16K vertical with one stop at the lodge to drop off Matt from Toronto who had injured his knee late in the afternoon the day before and had hoped to be able to comfortably ski on it, but was not. Runs skied included: Carnivale, Mardi Gras, another three different lines down Mad Hatter, Grace Slick/Waterfall, Mumbo-Jumbo, Ernie's, Flying Squirrel, Creme Brulee, and another line down Carnivale.
Matt (I think) and Ryan from Toronto:
John:
John:
@Skiace
Ernie's. The snow here and all the way down this long, open run, was just a few cms of pixie dust on a very supportable wind crust. I dropped in just behind Jasper and by watching him, quickly realized it was best to: (a) stay off my edges, making big, surfy, smeary, turns, and (b) let my Black Crow Animas go as fast as they wanted to. This was a whole lot of fun, and according to Russell, who was next behind me, produced some impressive rooster tails.
Carnivale: note the glide cracks. Some of these were quite deep and all were very difficult to see from above. Jasper gave us solid instructions at the top the allowed everyone to navigate them at speed. @Skiace:
John:
Ed:
Departure:
Another view of the glide cracks on Carnivale:
Our pilot on the departing flight:
