dlague
Active member
Conditions: Firm, PP
Wife on travel and son in school, so I skied solo. Got to A Basin around 9:30 to colder temps than expected. Also expected soft conditions which was not the case early on. I had to park in the shuttle lot but shuttles were not running which required walking but was not that far. The drive on the70 was great in both directions.
Started my day by heading right out to Montezuma Bowl. Once again, tested a run on Long Chute to see how conditions were and they were teeth chattering. As a result I took three more runs on groomed terrain which were all fast. I was not expecting that but temps did get below freezing overnight. I then ventured back to the front side and skied Dragon to the Lenawee lift. This run was firm but had a nice carveable layer of snow. I was surprised that this was a blue trail since it had several steep pitches. Next run was on West Wall which actually had a cornice which allowed me to drop in and everything below that was soft and skied well. Then skied to trees above Lenawee lift to test conditions there and they were still very crunchy but manageable since it was relatively low angle. My next run was down Norway Mountain Run to Ramrod. Things were starting to soften up so the top part skied great yet still fast. Ramrod was more of test to see how bumps were faring and they were still too hard for my liking. Before heading in for a quick bite I did one quick run from Black Mountain Express skied down High Moon and then over to North Fork – great conditions on that run.
After lunch, I targeted East Wall. Skied a short distance on East Wall Traverse and skied Land of the Giants which is a rock field with nice drops and if so inclined there were nice places to huck off from. I did not do anything crazy – smaller stuff, but you could go big. I then took another run and skied the traverse further down and discovered a nice gladed area, while still firm it was manageable. I would ski two more runs in that area which was very fun. I then decided to head up Pali lift and skied South Chute. Things were softening up nicely but I caught and edge and had a bit of a scary fall. While making a turn my downhill edge caught a bump and sent me flying head first sliding aways. Good thing – no trees, bad thing – could not stop. Saving grace, skis stayed on. Would have sucked to hike back up. While I had intended to do more runs off that lift, I only did one more returning to South Chute – pissed me off. I did notice that my legs were getting tired and thoughts were to end the day there before injury happens.
This day was a whole lot of fun skiing stuff that I generally do not ski with my wife but we will on our next trip. I explored and avoided runs that we typically have done for the most part. I really enjoyed East wall and look forward to bring my wife there. Around the time I left it was 44 degrees and cloudy which is good since it is not exactly blow torch. A Basin has a lot of snow. While the rocky peaks are showing signs of spring, the skiable terrain is not.
Wife on travel and son in school, so I skied solo. Got to A Basin around 9:30 to colder temps than expected. Also expected soft conditions which was not the case early on. I had to park in the shuttle lot but shuttles were not running which required walking but was not that far. The drive on the70 was great in both directions.
Started my day by heading right out to Montezuma Bowl. Once again, tested a run on Long Chute to see how conditions were and they were teeth chattering. As a result I took three more runs on groomed terrain which were all fast. I was not expecting that but temps did get below freezing overnight. I then ventured back to the front side and skied Dragon to the Lenawee lift. This run was firm but had a nice carveable layer of snow. I was surprised that this was a blue trail since it had several steep pitches. Next run was on West Wall which actually had a cornice which allowed me to drop in and everything below that was soft and skied well. Then skied to trees above Lenawee lift to test conditions there and they were still very crunchy but manageable since it was relatively low angle. My next run was down Norway Mountain Run to Ramrod. Things were starting to soften up so the top part skied great yet still fast. Ramrod was more of test to see how bumps were faring and they were still too hard for my liking. Before heading in for a quick bite I did one quick run from Black Mountain Express skied down High Moon and then over to North Fork – great conditions on that run.
After lunch, I targeted East Wall. Skied a short distance on East Wall Traverse and skied Land of the Giants which is a rock field with nice drops and if so inclined there were nice places to huck off from. I did not do anything crazy – smaller stuff, but you could go big. I then took another run and skied the traverse further down and discovered a nice gladed area, while still firm it was manageable. I would ski two more runs in that area which was very fun. I then decided to head up Pali lift and skied South Chute. Things were softening up nicely but I caught and edge and had a bit of a scary fall. While making a turn my downhill edge caught a bump and sent me flying head first sliding aways. Good thing – no trees, bad thing – could not stop. Saving grace, skis stayed on. Would have sucked to hike back up. While I had intended to do more runs off that lift, I only did one more returning to South Chute – pissed me off. I did notice that my legs were getting tired and thoughts were to end the day there before injury happens.
This day was a whole lot of fun skiing stuff that I generally do not ski with my wife but we will on our next trip. I explored and avoided runs that we typically have done for the most part. I really enjoyed East wall and look forward to bring my wife there. Around the time I left it was 44 degrees and cloudy which is good since it is not exactly blow torch. A Basin has a lot of snow. While the rocky peaks are showing signs of spring, the skiable terrain is not.
Last edited:
