dlague
Active member
Conditions: PP, Powder Chop and Powder
After it had been snowing constantly in the mountains for weeks it seems with A Basin receiving over 80 inches in 9 days, we decided to get a jump on the holiday weekend and ski Friday. The weather cooperated with mostly sunny skies. While the base parking lot was full and they were parking people in shuttled parking, we opted for their limited pay for parking in the drop off lot. Our expectations were that there were going to be lift lines, yet there never were any. Where were all the people? Montezuma Bowl – must be! When we got there we still found no lines. The longest line was at the Pali lift and that was not even a few minutes.
We started the day around 9:30 by taking lifts to the summit and one thing we noticed was the sound of explosives as they tried to neutralize the avalanche threat all around Loveland Pass. And for now, East Wall was still closed due to such dangers. In any case, we skied a couple runs under the Lenawee lift Falcon and Dragon both had soft bumps with drifted powder. Beyond those trails, trees there were pretty tracked out but skied really nice. We then opted for some nonstop top to bottom runs that were real leg burning cruisers. The first run was Lenawee Face to West Gully to TB Glades over to North Fork (which is generally a narrow bump run that was no longer) and the next run was Powerline to Dercum’s Gulch to High Noon.
Before we headed in we skied over to Pali Lift (no safety bar) to get a visual on the bump runs over there. While I have yet to ski anything there and there are some that I probably never will, it did look impressive. However, there are other runs on the Pallavicini bowl that looked interesting that I will try with my sons. My wife wanted no part of it. Instead we skied South Chute to skier’s right on West Wall. The runs on West Wall are shorter bump runs that are fun and do not leave you feeling exhausted. I then skied Exhibition while my wife skied High Noon. Exhibition had low angle bumps to start and then has great pitch and the bumps get tighter and larger. Pali Lift is a bump skiers dream, no matter which direction you go there is something to be had. After that run we headed in for lunch and a beer.
After lunch we, decided to head over to Montezuma Bowl and the first impression was amazing. The views were beautiful. We decided to ski Larkspur which for the most part was powder bumps on the initial drop where pitch is a little steeper and where the trail split to the right there was powder chop. From there to the lift it was groomed until we reached Eureka Glades which has varying pitch changes with trees that are not too tight. We then skied a few more runs working our way across the bowl skiing Columbine, Northern Spy and Black Bear. One thing I found interesting, was the powder chop. Most of it was windblown so anything fluffy was gone. And what was left firmed up a bit – not frozen, not wet cement, yet still like dry powder but compacted. Not even sure how to effectively describe it. Still skied really nice but felt like a work out. There is still so much to explore here as well.
My wife was feeling pretty beat up at this point, so we headed back for a few more runs on the front side off Black Mountain Express and Lenawee. Skiing some of the same runs as earlier. After she called it a day, I did a couple runs on Exhibition and Ramrod. Exhibition just about destroyed my legs with my quads in fire. For my second run I skied Ramrod to take it easy, however, it too was bumped up and by the time I was at the bottom my legs were toast.
Overall, it was one of our best days of skiing. Sunny, conditions were near perfect, no lift lines and we felt we could ski anywhere yet we left like there was lots to explore still. The chop was often deep and a little hard to maneuver in so larger turns were more effective. We stopped on one rum and I stuck my ski pole in the snow up to the grip and could have gone deeper. While we found some powder stashes, it was hard to find since much had been tracked out. We were ok with that. Skiing a surface that is super quiet, soft and looked like it had been through snowmageddon was great.
Day #13 on 1/13th with a full moon. Only thing that lived up to that was the traffic.
After it had been snowing constantly in the mountains for weeks it seems with A Basin receiving over 80 inches in 9 days, we decided to get a jump on the holiday weekend and ski Friday. The weather cooperated with mostly sunny skies. While the base parking lot was full and they were parking people in shuttled parking, we opted for their limited pay for parking in the drop off lot. Our expectations were that there were going to be lift lines, yet there never were any. Where were all the people? Montezuma Bowl – must be! When we got there we still found no lines. The longest line was at the Pali lift and that was not even a few minutes.
We started the day around 9:30 by taking lifts to the summit and one thing we noticed was the sound of explosives as they tried to neutralize the avalanche threat all around Loveland Pass. And for now, East Wall was still closed due to such dangers. In any case, we skied a couple runs under the Lenawee lift Falcon and Dragon both had soft bumps with drifted powder. Beyond those trails, trees there were pretty tracked out but skied really nice. We then opted for some nonstop top to bottom runs that were real leg burning cruisers. The first run was Lenawee Face to West Gully to TB Glades over to North Fork (which is generally a narrow bump run that was no longer) and the next run was Powerline to Dercum’s Gulch to High Noon.
Before we headed in we skied over to Pali Lift (no safety bar) to get a visual on the bump runs over there. While I have yet to ski anything there and there are some that I probably never will, it did look impressive. However, there are other runs on the Pallavicini bowl that looked interesting that I will try with my sons. My wife wanted no part of it. Instead we skied South Chute to skier’s right on West Wall. The runs on West Wall are shorter bump runs that are fun and do not leave you feeling exhausted. I then skied Exhibition while my wife skied High Noon. Exhibition had low angle bumps to start and then has great pitch and the bumps get tighter and larger. Pali Lift is a bump skiers dream, no matter which direction you go there is something to be had. After that run we headed in for lunch and a beer.
After lunch we, decided to head over to Montezuma Bowl and the first impression was amazing. The views were beautiful. We decided to ski Larkspur which for the most part was powder bumps on the initial drop where pitch is a little steeper and where the trail split to the right there was powder chop. From there to the lift it was groomed until we reached Eureka Glades which has varying pitch changes with trees that are not too tight. We then skied a few more runs working our way across the bowl skiing Columbine, Northern Spy and Black Bear. One thing I found interesting, was the powder chop. Most of it was windblown so anything fluffy was gone. And what was left firmed up a bit – not frozen, not wet cement, yet still like dry powder but compacted. Not even sure how to effectively describe it. Still skied really nice but felt like a work out. There is still so much to explore here as well.
My wife was feeling pretty beat up at this point, so we headed back for a few more runs on the front side off Black Mountain Express and Lenawee. Skiing some of the same runs as earlier. After she called it a day, I did a couple runs on Exhibition and Ramrod. Exhibition just about destroyed my legs with my quads in fire. For my second run I skied Ramrod to take it easy, however, it too was bumped up and by the time I was at the bottom my legs were toast.
Overall, it was one of our best days of skiing. Sunny, conditions were near perfect, no lift lines and we felt we could ski anywhere yet we left like there was lots to explore still. The chop was often deep and a little hard to maneuver in so larger turns were more effective. We stopped on one rum and I stuck my ski pole in the snow up to the grip and could have gone deeper. While we found some powder stashes, it was hard to find since much had been tracked out. We were ok with that. Skiing a surface that is super quiet, soft and looked like it had been through snowmageddon was great.
Day #13 on 1/13th with a full moon. Only thing that lived up to that was the traffic.
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