Day 38: Another warm one
Blue cruisin' with the Mrs. She's never been to Solitude, and I haven't skied BCC yet this winter so it was off to Solitude we went. She's getting better -- we boarded a chair by 11:15 -- but still hasn't got the get-up-early-to-ski thing down pat yet. :roll: It's just as well, for from what I heard things were a little crusty and stiff this morning before the UV did its magic, even through high overcast of varying thicknesses as our next storm approaches from the west.
I had to pick up my ticket at the Village, so we didn't enjoy the convenience of parking at Moonbeam. We started out on the new Apex lift, which is a nice new addition as is the new Moonbeam chair, which we rode next. We continued to work our way west to the Eagle Express, and off each lift we found wonderfully soft groomed snow everywhere.
Continuing back across, we headed up Sunrise and Summit. I had planned to bring Mrs. Admin down Woodlawn to show her the beauty of Honeycomb Canyon, but she dropped a pole onto Liberty and we had to ski down under Summit to pick it up. On try two we finally got onto Woodlawn.
Woodlawn appeared to have been groomed yesterday, so I figured that we were all set...until we hit that first steeper pitch below the top. They had groomed down to the pitch and groomed up from below, but didn't groom the pitch itself, which was speckled with moderately sized moguls. All of Mrs. Admin's confidence went straight out the window, and she negotiated the pitch by sliding down on her behind. 8-[ Once below that and back onto the groomed, though, it was smooth sailing down to the Honeycomb Return chair, and a quick cruise down Sunset Bowl to the Moonbeam base brought us to lunch.
Lunch, frankly, was a disappointment. Quality has dropped and prices have skyrocketed. Be forewarned. $2.46 for a regular-sized Butterfinger is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
After lunch we worked our way east again. With Mrs. Admin's confidence restored we stepped things up a notch by riding Powderhorn and descending via Diamond Lane, her first black run. She did wonderfully! Although not really steep, this is a run that would have freaked her out even at the beginning of this season. Not anymore, as it was groomed and soft, but the pitch is still there.
I also wanted to show her the SolBright connector, which was unfortunately groomed only one cat wide, and groomed days ago, such that the one-cat patch is now somewhat concave on the steeper spots. So much for confidence!
We took another lap on Sunrise, bumping into Tirolerpeter and Kingslug on Alta Bird. Peter had enough, but Kingslug was still ticking, so he joined us for another ride up Powderhorn and down Diamond Lane, which Mrs. Admin skied with even more confidence the second time. We had time for one more, so we traversed across mid-mountain to cruise down Rumble to the Eagle Express for one final run, on which Mrs. Admin scored her second black by skiing Rhapsody.
We finished up with a coffee outside the Stone Haus to wrap up our day.
Untracked was a bit crusty in some places, and heavy in others thanks to our warm spell. Coverage is sufficient, with just a couple of things poking through in some of the traditionally nastier off-piste locations. No pics -- with the high overcast it wasn't a terribly photogenic day.
Blue cruisin' with the Mrs. She's never been to Solitude, and I haven't skied BCC yet this winter so it was off to Solitude we went. She's getting better -- we boarded a chair by 11:15 -- but still hasn't got the get-up-early-to-ski thing down pat yet. :roll: It's just as well, for from what I heard things were a little crusty and stiff this morning before the UV did its magic, even through high overcast of varying thicknesses as our next storm approaches from the west.
I had to pick up my ticket at the Village, so we didn't enjoy the convenience of parking at Moonbeam. We started out on the new Apex lift, which is a nice new addition as is the new Moonbeam chair, which we rode next. We continued to work our way west to the Eagle Express, and off each lift we found wonderfully soft groomed snow everywhere.
Continuing back across, we headed up Sunrise and Summit. I had planned to bring Mrs. Admin down Woodlawn to show her the beauty of Honeycomb Canyon, but she dropped a pole onto Liberty and we had to ski down under Summit to pick it up. On try two we finally got onto Woodlawn.
Woodlawn appeared to have been groomed yesterday, so I figured that we were all set...until we hit that first steeper pitch below the top. They had groomed down to the pitch and groomed up from below, but didn't groom the pitch itself, which was speckled with moderately sized moguls. All of Mrs. Admin's confidence went straight out the window, and she negotiated the pitch by sliding down on her behind. 8-[ Once below that and back onto the groomed, though, it was smooth sailing down to the Honeycomb Return chair, and a quick cruise down Sunset Bowl to the Moonbeam base brought us to lunch.
Lunch, frankly, was a disappointment. Quality has dropped and prices have skyrocketed. Be forewarned. $2.46 for a regular-sized Butterfinger is an insult to anyone's intelligence.
After lunch we worked our way east again. With Mrs. Admin's confidence restored we stepped things up a notch by riding Powderhorn and descending via Diamond Lane, her first black run. She did wonderfully! Although not really steep, this is a run that would have freaked her out even at the beginning of this season. Not anymore, as it was groomed and soft, but the pitch is still there.
I also wanted to show her the SolBright connector, which was unfortunately groomed only one cat wide, and groomed days ago, such that the one-cat patch is now somewhat concave on the steeper spots. So much for confidence!
We took another lap on Sunrise, bumping into Tirolerpeter and Kingslug on Alta Bird. Peter had enough, but Kingslug was still ticking, so he joined us for another ride up Powderhorn and down Diamond Lane, which Mrs. Admin skied with even more confidence the second time. We had time for one more, so we traversed across mid-mountain to cruise down Rumble to the Eagle Express for one final run, on which Mrs. Admin scored her second black by skiing Rhapsody.
We finished up with a coffee outside the Stone Haus to wrap up our day.
Untracked was a bit crusty in some places, and heavy in others thanks to our warm spell. Coverage is sufficient, with just a couple of things poking through in some of the traditionally nastier off-piste locations. No pics -- with the high overcast it wasn't a terribly photogenic day.
