Conditions stabilized Monday-Wednesday. There was enough sun and warmth to soften the lower mountain each day. But it was intermittently cloudy with light breezes Monday and Wednesday and strong winds Tuesday. Thus the areas with winter snow stayed that way, but higher west aspects never softened and I did not venture into Mineral Basin any of these days.
Monday, March 12:
Our Iron Blosam group concentrated on the areas retaining winter snow, starting with 2 Little Cloud runs to Rasta and Last Choice.
From Little Cloud we next traversed to Middle Cirque, a questionable call for late morning with a big group. The traverse was bulletproof and only the first chute near the Hanging Tree gate retained winter snow. Ed and Suzanne skied that but most of the group moved lower to more open parts of Middle Cirque that were sun affected. That eventually included me assisting Liz through a variable snow entry.
Silver Fox was another area with fairly soft winter snow though it did get skied off a bit each day.
Silver Fox funneled into a chute much tighter than usual this season, but a traverse left at the rope line led to 2 bowls with the softest snow on the mountain.
Lower down we skied Dalton's. Mark Meisner there.
Below Rothman's Surprise Gully was sufficiently shaded to retain winter snow until it opened up lower down.
After lunch we took the tram up to hit Silver Fox from the top. The entry at the gate was very rocky so best to go under the rope above or below. Liz didn't like the entry and went down the Gad Valley. After the Silver Fox run I met her lower down and we skied Baby Thunder, Bassackwards and Gadzoom to finish the day. 21,100 vertical.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
There were high winds in the morning that closed the tram and Mineral Basin. Several of our Iron Blosam group did not ski at all. I took the morning off and went out for the last 2 hours, meeting Liz at mid-Gad where those who skied the morning had lunch. First we skied to Gadzoom via Elmer Fudd.
Then we took 3 runs on Little Cloud where Liz could work on some skiing some more confined runs with good snow. On the first ride a porcupine crossed under the lift, but I was late getting the camera out.
We first skied a Rasta chute.
Next two open bowls linked by a sketchy slot traverse.
And finally the opening in the East Bench trees at the center of this pic with a slight dogleg past the rocks lower down.
The snow here was chalky but fairly firm and about 35 degrees most of the way.
The lower mountain softened even today despite the high winds up higher. I skied 9,300 vertical while Liz was with other Iron Blosam people in the morning and skied 20,000.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Liz and I started Chip's to Dalton trees.
We then met more of our group and skied similar runs as the past 2 days in the areas retaining winter snow: Silver Fox, STH, Black Forest. Below the Silver Fox traverse I skied a couple of the tighter lines for variety. When the lower mountain softened we skied upper and lower Waterfall. Lower Waterfall lives up to its name this year as there was a tight spot with a sidestep over a hole with running water flowing below it.
The high winds Tuesday had deposited wind sift in the Rasta/Last Choice area.
My total for Wednesday was 20,000.
Monday, March 12:
Our Iron Blosam group concentrated on the areas retaining winter snow, starting with 2 Little Cloud runs to Rasta and Last Choice.
From Little Cloud we next traversed to Middle Cirque, a questionable call for late morning with a big group. The traverse was bulletproof and only the first chute near the Hanging Tree gate retained winter snow. Ed and Suzanne skied that but most of the group moved lower to more open parts of Middle Cirque that were sun affected. That eventually included me assisting Liz through a variable snow entry.
Silver Fox was another area with fairly soft winter snow though it did get skied off a bit each day.
Silver Fox funneled into a chute much tighter than usual this season, but a traverse left at the rope line led to 2 bowls with the softest snow on the mountain.
Lower down we skied Dalton's. Mark Meisner there.
Below Rothman's Surprise Gully was sufficiently shaded to retain winter snow until it opened up lower down.
After lunch we took the tram up to hit Silver Fox from the top. The entry at the gate was very rocky so best to go under the rope above or below. Liz didn't like the entry and went down the Gad Valley. After the Silver Fox run I met her lower down and we skied Baby Thunder, Bassackwards and Gadzoom to finish the day. 21,100 vertical.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
There were high winds in the morning that closed the tram and Mineral Basin. Several of our Iron Blosam group did not ski at all. I took the morning off and went out for the last 2 hours, meeting Liz at mid-Gad where those who skied the morning had lunch. First we skied to Gadzoom via Elmer Fudd.
Then we took 3 runs on Little Cloud where Liz could work on some skiing some more confined runs with good snow. On the first ride a porcupine crossed under the lift, but I was late getting the camera out.
We first skied a Rasta chute.
Next two open bowls linked by a sketchy slot traverse.
And finally the opening in the East Bench trees at the center of this pic with a slight dogleg past the rocks lower down.
The snow here was chalky but fairly firm and about 35 degrees most of the way.
The lower mountain softened even today despite the high winds up higher. I skied 9,300 vertical while Liz was with other Iron Blosam people in the morning and skied 20,000.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Liz and I started Chip's to Dalton trees.
We then met more of our group and skied similar runs as the past 2 days in the areas retaining winter snow: Silver Fox, STH, Black Forest. Below the Silver Fox traverse I skied a couple of the tighter lines for variety. When the lower mountain softened we skied upper and lower Waterfall. Lower Waterfall lives up to its name this year as there was a tight spot with a sidestep over a hole with running water flowing below it.
The high winds Tuesday had deposited wind sift in the Rasta/Last Choice area.
My total for Wednesday was 20,000.