Ben flew home last night, but I suspect he might have found today a familiar experience after 5 years living in Boston.
Nakiska is almost completely snowmaking dependent. They cover nearly all runs blowing snow from October 15 to around New Year's. It's strictly trail skiing, as the trees between runs are very dense, and the mountains above the ski area and above the trees show only scattered natural cover.
The fall lines are pretty good, since the mountain was built to host the 1988 Olympic alpine events. One of the trails from the upper Gold chair is used all morning for race training.
The snowmaking trails are all groomed, with firm packed powder more often than not, particularly on the lower Silver chair. But some steep pitches had frozen granular, in particular the skier's right trail off the top.
Temps were around -15C, completely overcast in the morning. But after lunch there was some sun and it became more comfortable with better visbility.
While riding the upper lift I observed part of 2 trails without snowmaking, numerous weeds showing but still passable. I told Adam that the MRG people here on FTO would be all over a run like that. So we skied them, and as you easterners have said, no snowmaking may mean thin cover, but there wasn't any frozen granular. And Baldy has trained us some in avoiding obstacles.
Nakiska is almost completely snowmaking dependent. They cover nearly all runs blowing snow from October 15 to around New Year's. It's strictly trail skiing, as the trees between runs are very dense, and the mountains above the ski area and above the trees show only scattered natural cover.
The fall lines are pretty good, since the mountain was built to host the 1988 Olympic alpine events. One of the trails from the upper Gold chair is used all morning for race training.
The snowmaking trails are all groomed, with firm packed powder more often than not, particularly on the lower Silver chair. But some steep pitches had frozen granular, in particular the skier's right trail off the top.
Temps were around -15C, completely overcast in the morning. But after lunch there was some sun and it became more comfortable with better visbility.
While riding the upper lift I observed part of 2 trails without snowmaking, numerous weeds showing but still passable. I told Adam that the MRG people here on FTO would be all over a run like that. So we skied them, and as you easterners have said, no snowmaking may mean thin cover, but there wasn't any frozen granular. And Baldy has trained us some in avoiding obstacles.
