What were your best runs of the season?

[RH29]

Wanted to post this as the season sadly winds down. What are some of the most memorable runs you had this season that you'll be thinking about through the off-season and beyond?

Some of mine included

-Barkeater Glades at Gore, with stashes left over from 16" of powder the day before. (March 5)
-Highline Race Trail at Killington. After being closed for morning racing, I was one of the first people down it in the early afternoon and it was so good, it earned a four-peat. Sun-softened cord and soft moguls later on. (Feb 13)
-Ruffled Feathers -> Piano Man -> Mean Jean at Waterville Valley. It's not the hardest run, but I had fresh tracks the whole way down, with 3" of new snow on top of groomed, followed by bumps on Mean Jean. An absolutely perfect snow surface. (March 26).
-Hawkeye at Gore, packed powder and soft moguls with fresh snow still on the sides. The views from that trail are great too. (March 5)

 

[deadheadskier]

For just myself:

Kinsman on a nice packed powder day in March with a group of six friends charging it. Only guys day all season

With 8 year old son:

Twilight Zone at Magic. His first double diamond. It was after a rain event, but warm. The regular trails that had sun were corn and fantastic after 1, but the trees never softened. Begged me all morning to ski a double diamond, I finally gave in knowing the trees weren't going to soften and decided on Twilight Zone as it's a tamer one there and not too long. It wasn't pretty. He scraped his way down it and fell a lot, but never complained and got a good lesson in snow conditions. Proud moment for him conquering it and more for me.

4 Year Old daughter:

1st Top to Bottom run for her off the Panorama Quad at Gunstock early March. She only started skiing independently in January. I got her out last year at 3 probably 15 times, 7 of those being ski school days too, but she couldn't get it going. Basically would only ski next to me on a pole. Third time out this year she got it and just gradually progressed up the higher lifts. So, when she finally reached the top and, the excitement to see from her was unforgettable. She carried it the whole way down. The next day after that one, we skied the whole mountain together as a family for the first time. That was the primary goal for my season.

 

[Zand]

I missed all of March so I guess my best runs were during the scraps of late January. I did have a couple great runs through Casablanca at Saddleback (during the rare times Kennebago wasn't on wind hold). Other than that, I honestly would say Ovation this past weekend with the steep and deep corn.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

nice prompt...

number one run of the season has to be my headwall hike out to far casper bowl at jackson on a 10" sunshine powder day. making the only track down some of the best terrain at jackson in gorgeous fresh snow is pretty unbelievable. i had so many fresh track runs in my 13 days out west (with 11 of those powder days), but if i had to choose one, that jackson one is it.

best eastern run was probably first tracks thru taiga glade at tremblant over xmas week. they were in the midst of a 5 foot storm cycle and the run felt endless and bottomless

best eastern run in america, hard to say, but probably hiking from bonnie to access andres/beaver for first tracks on a wicked mint jay powdah day

honorable mention to this weekend at killington crushing OL top to bottom without stopping and with great rhythm. I've said it many times this season but i am so happy with my new gym-going self and my increased physical fitness. bashing spring bumps top to bottom was simply not something i could do before i began working out. doing it repeatedly from 8-4 with 40k vert was unheard of. i love it.

 

[Kingslug20]

I guess any powder day was best..even the 22 inches of cement K got in December.
Jan in PC I got 6 out of 10 powder days so they are probably the best.
Overall while this was a weird and difficult winter...it still had a lot of powder days to look back on..

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I guess any powder day was best..even the 22 inches of cement K got in December.
Jan in PC I got 6 out of 10 powder days so they are probably the best.
Overall while this was a weird and difficult winter...it still had a lot of powder days to look back on..

I skied more days, vertical feet, and % of powder days this season than any before. It just took more work. Specifically driving to Tremblant for Xmas and MLK when New England got ice storms. Then big luck hitting the huge December storm, a late season Sunday river 6” day, an 8-10” sugarbush powder Friday in January, and a fresh powder jay day in Jan or Feb. then my west trip was 11 out of 13 days with >5” overnight

 

[LuckyStrike]

Probably riding under the lift at Tenney after a storm. So sweet to have all that powder to myself.

 

[4aprice]

#1 March 22, 2023 Powerline Glades on the Big Burn at Snowmass, Colorado. 15 + over and over and over again.




Honorable Mention: March 4, 2023 at Loon Mountain NH.


Woke up to this


Enjoyed while it lasted.

 

[ThatGuy]

Best run was when I snuck into Sunbrook at Mount Snow on the 4’ powder day. Fresh tracks the whole way down then got first chair back up and did it again.
Honorable mention Stowe midweek powder day when I got first tracks through all my favorite glades and Liftline.
Had a few great runs in Idaho as well. Overall great season even with the crappy snowfall for the first 3/4s of it.
Few more days of Superstar and thats probably it for me…

 

[crank]

Best run was the trees to skier's left off Thunder chair at Jackson Hole. Mountain reported 2" but I was skiing knee deep and getting face shots every turn. We caught first tram up that morning and didn't even get on line until 8:30AM. Rendezvous was good but that back of Thunder stuff was amazingly good. We did a few Rock Springs, OB runs that were also super nice.

Skied A-Gully off Summit Chair at Lake Louise which is the steepest run I've skied in 3 years and though it was low tide the snow was great and I really enjoyed the adrenaline rush once I settled in.

 

[oldfartrider]

My best runs were the week I went to Japan. Snowed every day it was incredible

 

[ss20]

Let's see.... 879" later....

Tons of nominations this year of course. Yes we had record snow but much of it was dense. Best run has to be one of the many nooks and crannies at Alta named Hamburger Hill on December 15. For anyone familiar with the mountain it is a blue pitch accessible via a 3 minute sidestep up a small knoll under the Wildcat chair. It's maybe 300 vertical feet. Pretty lame but it holds powder and doesn't get tracked and is very easy to get to. But for those 300 vertical feet it was so deep and light I was choking on powder for the first time ever. Of course I've had faceshots here before but never actually choking. For all these years I thought people bringing snorkels on powder days was a joke. From that day on I learned you had to time your turns and your breaths here on the A+ days.

Other nomination would be lapping a ski-on Supreme chair on an 18" powder day in February. I was in-uniform on standby. Lap after lap of untracked. Anyone who says LCC/BCC is tracked out by 10:30am on a powder day just isn't looking hard enough. Anyway, I was skiing some trees (below elephant's butt if you know the mountain) and it's totally fresh. 400 feet ahead of me I see another veteran instructor with a couple clients. I say "veteran" but he's really top 5 on staff. Best of the best. I'm skiing down towards them and they're just standing there as I'm coming at them. I approach them wondering what's up (looking for a partner, lost ski in the snow, etc). I stop near them and this instructor says to me "Why'd you stop?? Those were some amazing turns I was using you as a demo for my clients for great powder skiing!". That's one of the best compliments I've ever had in this industry. Very proud of myself given I didn't learn how to ski powder til I came here. In the locker room later he went on and on about about how good I was skiing. So cool to get that only having 2 seasons under my belt here.

I'm a changed man

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Let's see.... 879" later....

Tons of nominations this year of course. Yes we had record snow but much of it was dense. Best run has to be one of the many nooks and crannies at Alta named Hamburger Hill on December 15. For anyone familiar with the mountain it is a blue pitch accessible via a 3 minute sidestep up a small knoll under the Wildcat chair. It's maybe 300 vertical feet. Pretty lame but it holds powder and doesn't get tracked and is very easy to get to. But for those 300 vertical feet it was so deep and light I was choking on powder for the first time ever. Of course I've had faceshots here before but never actually choking. For all these years I thought people bringing snorkels on powder days was a joke. From that day on I learned you had to time your turns and your breaths here on the A+ days.

Other nomination would be lapping a ski-on Supreme chair on an 18" powder day in February. I was in-uniform on standby. Lap after lap of untracked. Anyone who says LCC/BCC is tracked out by 10:30am on a powder day just isn't looking hard enough. Anyway, I was skiing some trees (below elephant's butt if you know the mountain) and it's totally fresh. 400 feet ahead of me I see another veteran instructor with a couple clients. I say "veteran" but he's really top 5 on staff. Best of the best. I'm skiing down towards them and they're just standing there as I'm coming at them. I approach them wondering what's up (looking for a partner, lost ski in the snow, etc). I stop near them and this instructor says to me "Why'd you stop?? Those were some amazing turns I was using you as a demo for my clients for great powder skiing!". That's one of the best compliments I've ever had in this industry. Very proud of myself given I didn't learn how to ski powder til I came here. In the locker room later he went on and on about about how good I was skiing. So cool to get that only having 2 seasons under my belt here.

I'm a changed man

i think i know this hill you speak of. almost every run i have ever taken off of wildcat, i get off the chair and go to the right and then back out in the direction of the road, hitting the traverse and going however far before dropping. this year, i took notice of the stuff to looker's left of the chair, where the kidz tend to waste their days building jumps and stuff. got off wildcat, made the typical right, but dropped well before the gate to the traverse, crossed under the chair, picked up speed, and made it to the top of the hill i think you describe. proceeded to have a totally epic run hugging skier's right of the wildcat lift line

 

[ceo]

Casablanca Glades at Saddleback, with several inches of freshies (albeit chopped-up by the time we got there). That is a fantastic bit of terrain.

 

[crank]

Let's see.... 879" later....

Tons of nominations this year of course. Yes we had record snow but much of it was dense. Best run has to be one of the many nooks and crannies at Alta named Hamburger Hill on December 15. For anyone familiar with the mountain it is a blue pitch accessible via a 3 minute sidestep up a small knoll under the Wildcat chair. It's maybe 300 vertical feet. Pretty lame but it holds powder and doesn't get tracked and is very easy to get to. But for those 300 vertical feet it was so deep and light I was choking on powder for the first time ever. Of course I've had faceshots here before but never actually choking. For all these years I thought people bringing snorkels on powder days was a joke. From that day on I learned you had to time your turns and your breaths here on the A+ days.

Other nomination would be lapping a ski-on Supreme chair on an 18" powder day in February. I was in-uniform on standby. Lap after lap of untracked. Anyone who says LCC/BCC is tracked out by 10:30am on a powder day just isn't looking hard enough. Anyway, I was skiing some trees (below elephant's butt if you know the mountain) and it's totally fresh. 400 feet ahead of me I see another veteran instructor with a couple clients. I say "veteran" but he's really top 5 on staff. Best of the best. I'm skiing down towards them and they're just standing there as I'm coming at them. I approach them wondering what's up (looking for a partner, lost ski in the snow, etc). I stop near them and this instructor says to me "Why'd you stop?? Those were some amazing turns I was using you as a demo for my clients for great powder skiing!". That's one of the best compliments I've ever had in this industry. Very proud of myself given I didn't learn how to ski powder til I came here. In the locker room later he went on and on about about how good I was skiing. So cool to get that only having 2 seasons under my belt here.

I'm a changed man

I was skiing alone there one day about 7 years ago and hiked up there. Some soot from a patrollers bomb and 1 set of tracks...had the place to myself!

 

[ss20]

i think i know this hill you speak of. almost every run i have ever taken off of wildcat, i get off the chair and go to the right and then back out in the direction of the road, hitting the traverse and going however far before dropping. this year, i took notice of the stuff to looker's left of the chair, where the kidz tend to waste their days building jumps and stuff. got off wildcat, made the typical right, but dropped well before the gate to the traverse, crossed under the chair, picked up speed, and made it to the top of the hill i think you describe. proceeded to have a totally epic run hugging skier's right of the wildcat lift line

Yep! Same hill! Hamburger Hill leads you to the Angle Station at Collins. But all kinds of great, but short lines through there. That side of the mountain typically gets more snow. Storms come up LCC and that's the first major ridgeline that the precipitation crosses and it usually dumps there. Hence that's why/where they have the official Alta/NOAA snowstake. See we have marketing/inflation BS too! 2,500' advertised vertical... but only on 5 days a year when Mt. Baldy is open! The other 130 days a year it's a not-as-fun-actually-pretty-lame 1,900'!!! Whopping 2,000' if you hike for an hour+ to the top of Devil's Castle. Screw Alta give me Okemo for the vertical drop win!

 

[KustyTheKlown]

catherines is a pitiful 1200. might as well just lap ursa at stratton instead.

 

[Kingslug20]

Anyone ever ski comma chute...permanently closed now..

 

[slatham]

Magic glade not to be named. Extra steep, really requires 18”+ to control speed with tight trees. 3’ of pow in March did the trick. I helped clear it maybe 10 years ago and have skied it very few times. This was the best. The first drop into bottomless was simply surreal and forever etched in my memory banks.

 

[jaytrem]

The one run that immediately comes to mind is Final Exam at Antelope Butte. It's a pretty good hike to start. Some local kids were kind enough to let me tag along. We just happen to be there the first day it was open this year. Perfect powder run that seems to be pretty far from the rest of the area, you have to sign out and back in when you do it.

The Mt. Ashland chutes were also a blast. Short but steep. That was my kids favorite on the Oregon trip and probably the whole year.

Best in Utah was just skiing the powder at Powder. Yeah, not the steepest place around, but it was nice to have a much more peaceful day that the previous at Snowbasin. Apparently Snowbasin was more crowded that day than normal due to BCC and LCC being closed.