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Anonymous
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7:15PM, 17 April 2002- 82F degrees: The view coming up Mountain Road confirmed there was at least 100'+ skiable above the second road cut on Smith-Walton, so there was no question- time to go skiing. Skippping the usual donning of shell pants & gloves, it was time to jam the dogs in the Veloces and move it while there was still good light. <BR> <BR>Conifer & 10th were pitiful sights. What had been an easy 300' shot on lower Conifer less than a week ago was now a slab of sun-baked mud only intemittently interspersed with white. But Smith was the goal, and it had the goods- or at least some of the goods. <BR> <BR>The long cruiser below the road cut is too broken up to ski (quite a change from last Thursday's adventure), but the section between the road cuts was wall-to-wall dirty suncuppy firn! The snowpack on the uphill side of the upper road cut is still more than 4' and full-width, and it extends up another 125-150' vertical. Near the top of the snow line 4 youthful hikers stopped to watch the show as I booted up the snow on climbers' left. <BR> <BR>"I guess this is about it!" I commented upon finding the uppermost wisp of frozen mud. "You gonna jump the road?" one of them asked. "Not if I can help it- takes a pretty big kicker, and I don't want to build one. But if y'all had shovels and built one _for_ me I might give it a go!" <BR> <BR>Snap-snap/click-click and the boots were secure. Showtime folks! Making a few hop telemarks between the puckerbrush to get onto the wider expanse, soon the happy familar song of edge on firn was ringing in my ears. A dozen snappy turns down to the road, traversing to the thinner end of the cut I quickly took off the skis, made 5 good strides to the far side and got back on without missing a beat. A big sweeper to the left and another half-rack of turns brought the run to an abrupt end at the asphalt. _Damn_ that was short! <BR> <BR>A fleeting thought of taking another run flashed through my mind, but looking at the sky and the sweat dripping off my spectacles I reconsidered- sometimes it's just not worth it. <BR> <BR>It'll be skiable for some time to come. With a few shovels and more moderate temperatures (or a stick of dynamite, properly placed) it wouldn't take long to make a skiable road crossing, linking a continuous 250-300'. Maybe next week. Or maybe not. <BR> <BR>7:50PM: Wiping the grit & grass off the skis before dropping them in the car, it dawned on me that it might be time to drag out the rock skis. While it may not be quite over, for sure the _good_ skiing at WaWa is toast.