Mad River Glen and environs 3/20/2013 POWDER DAY

Stayed at the Barn and started skinning up the 19th Hole at 6 a.m. as the overnight snowfall was tapering off. (Pardon the crappy Droid pix but, well, the light was low - it was before and right around dawn)



Went off the old logging road and climbed a side hill to get this untracked, 16" or so - before:



After:



Back to the Barn in time for breakfast, and to MRG in time for one of the earlier chairs on the double. As the line for the single appeared to be about 10 minutes we opted for the Sunnyside after I learned in the Barn bar the night before that the double had spun for only about an hour the day before, in between wind holds. Indeed the Sunnyside appeared to be pretty lightly tracked, all in all ...



and though I don't have any further pix to prove it (too busy skiing), Gazelle Glades had even more untracked deep fresh as we hit it for the first two awesome runs of the day.

It wound up snowing much of the day, including pretty heavily at times in early to mid-afternoon. Got another 3-4" during the day so there were decent refills by later in the afternoon. Long story short: Another great pow day at MRG.

Was the 19th worth skinning for? Always wondered if that trail was worth checking out. Based on the drive up to the base area, I assumed it was pretty mellow and not worth the hassle.

I'd say the double ran for longer than an hour the day before. I took two runs off the Single and two runs off the Double during the time I was there and it was still running when I left. I don't know when it shut down but it had to have run for at least two hours minimum I'd guess. Snow was WAY better off the Single on Tuesday, the Sunnyside was extremely wind blown higher up though the more sheltered lower pitches were very nice. I'm sure the extra snow overnight helped everything over there get back into primo shape.

I don't know that I'd make the 19th a destination. I've now taken it from the top twice from Lower Antelope and there are a couple decent pitches for fun turns in fresh - one at the top, one probably two-thirds of the way down - but also some pretty extended flat stretches. The other day these required a bit of poling; the first time, early in President's week, there wasn't much fresh snow and the trail had been packed out by snowshoers so it was easier to keep momentum going ... well, except for the water bars, which remained not infrequent on the top half of the trail this week.

I mainly wanted to get a little predawn skinning in before the lifts started spinning and logistically it was a little easier to simply go out the door of the Barn than drive the half-mile to MRG, where I figured (correctly) there would be dawn patrol competition. I got some exercise and turns in virgin powder so I consider it mission accomplished.