Gunstock - 1/5

Whole family got a much earlier start than our first trip last week so my son and I were able to grab the first round of chairs on the summit quad. Beautiful day--mostly sunny and windy up top with some base gusts but I knew they would gradually subside through the day. It got the chair rocking a bit on the Pistol lift but overall not bad--no wind holds. We never rode the Tiger Triple but heard it was running a little slow--maybe due to winds??

We bounced around from summit quad, to Pistol lift, to the Ramrod Quad and just mixed it up the whole day. Upper Trigger got scrapped down pretty good by midday and I just couldn't hold an edge--just slid most of the way. Cannonball and Middle Trigger were fun but a bit marbly in the shade--I'll take that over icy patches anytime. Tiger was closed for racing. One of my favs is to head straight over to Pistol and just enjoy the side-to-side roaming room and undulations--just a great trail and always skiis great. If someone on the lift didn't tell me, I would've missed Out Of Sight, just off to the right of Pistol...it's almost a blind entrance and I never skied it before--it's like a narrow version of Pistol...very nice. The snowcat started prepping Blundersmoke Park and they're blowing snow on Recoil. Shotgun was scraped down pretty good. I should've at least tried Birch Glades but never had it mind whenever we were up that way--not that I can ski trees anyways.

Crowds were solid but not overwhelming--probably less than our first trip during vacation week. With an early start, we offset our lunch early too avoid the crowd--then hit the Panorama Quad afterwards for shorter lines. I tried the ski App Alpine Replay again but can never get the recorded data to upload...what the?

Youngest son had his first ski/lesson and my wife continued her bunny slope "training".

Apres ski at the upstairs pub--Pigs Ear draft and live tunes by the Crunchy Western Boys--great day!

Looks like a good fam trip. Get at it.

Ok, Winn. I'll let you get some time with your family. But just this one time. And you better not let it interfere with your forecasts.

I was at Gunstock with a couple friends today using my Warren Miller 2fer before it expired end of Jan.
I was on the lift by 8:40 or so so must have been sharing the first few runs with you this AM. Agreed abt Trigger...by abt 11am that trail was a complete skating rink...
Pistol was a good run today....fewer ppl over there and could lay down some nice turns. Run of the day though for us was Redhat....nice LSGR you could get an edge into. Cannonball was generally a frozen cord track the couple times we did it.
You didn't miss anything in not going into Birch glades. I went in there later in the day and it was a joke. All ice and grass...no loose snow to be found.
Gunstock is an ok place to spend a day....I don't particularly care for the trail layout especially off the Panarama (too many intersections) but I do find myself getting there once/yr on the Warren Miller 2fer. But half price skiing with some buddies, blue bird day and ski on (2-3 min wait Panarama) made for a fun day.