dlague
Active member
Conditions: Powder/PP
What a night and day difference between Friday and Sunday! After our last experience at Keystone (not that good) and hearing that A Basin was skiing great, we headed that way. With the recent upslope storm, places along the Continental Divide fared the best so we were looking forward to skiing some freshies. While A Basin as a whole got 2-3 inches, the East Wall and Montezuma Bowl got 6-8 on Saturday into Sunday. They proved to be the places to ski. Once again like last week, the vibe was really cool. Lots of people hiking to the top of North Pole and Upper East Wall and to the far reaches of Zuma Cornice. That is something I hope to get in better shape for next season. Also on our way there and on our way out there were so many skiers and boarders making runs from Loveland Pass and then hitchhiking back up – another milestone that we want to tag. Rather have two cars for that and not deal with hitchhiking.
We arrived and warmed up with a Bacon Bloody Mary – they are well known for these and at 9 am that was pretty much the scene. Once on our way we lapped Lenawee Lift on runs like Half Moon and West Gully and based on the snow we were more than excited. Both runs skied great. That led us to East Wall for a couple runs beyond Land of Giants where the powder was very surfy. A bit denser than last weekend but skied really well. Based on those conditions we went over to Montezuma Bowl to see what conditions were like and opted to take Mountain Goat Traverse and skied down Tieze’s Claim which is a gladed area with very short trees. This area was mostly untracked and was a first for us which was a blast. Unfortunately, my wife tweaked her knee a bit so we headed back to the other side and skied Lanawee Face to Dercums Gulch to High Noon. My wife went inside to get Advil and my son and I skied Pali lift for a couple runs. First Run was on Pali Face which was another first for us. The pitch is pretty steep with only moderate bumps. The 2-3 inches of fresh seemed to have covered the trail pretty good but was crunchy in spots. Up Pali lift again (no choice since Pali Way leads you there) and this time we skied Wildcat which was untracked but had fresh covering some frozen chop which made it interesting. After that we went in for an early lunch and drinks.
Now with my wife with 3 Advil on board and beverages, East Wall became the focus. It seemed to have the best conditions so we lapped runs in that area - 1 run where we traversed the entire wall and headed into some glades on Lower East Wall and 2 runs through the Land of Giants which is a great natural playground. My son was hucking all over while I opted for chutes and smaller features. My wife just enjoyed skiing some of the steeper sections as well. We then ended our day with 3 top to bottom runs skiing various combinations and as usual I included Ramrod and Exhibition on a couple runs. Exhibition was pretty scrapped off but had some soft pockets. Ramrod was softening up nicely and had nice spring bumps by mid-afternoon.
It had been cloudy much of the day which kept the trails in great shape but by 2:30-3 the sun came out so we headed for the deck and soaked in the sights and rays with a nice Elevation IPA before heading out the action on Loveland Pass. Loveland Pass was really something to see. Even picked up a hitchhiker on the way and brought him close to the top.
What a night and day difference between Friday and Sunday! After our last experience at Keystone (not that good) and hearing that A Basin was skiing great, we headed that way. With the recent upslope storm, places along the Continental Divide fared the best so we were looking forward to skiing some freshies. While A Basin as a whole got 2-3 inches, the East Wall and Montezuma Bowl got 6-8 on Saturday into Sunday. They proved to be the places to ski. Once again like last week, the vibe was really cool. Lots of people hiking to the top of North Pole and Upper East Wall and to the far reaches of Zuma Cornice. That is something I hope to get in better shape for next season. Also on our way there and on our way out there were so many skiers and boarders making runs from Loveland Pass and then hitchhiking back up – another milestone that we want to tag. Rather have two cars for that and not deal with hitchhiking.
We arrived and warmed up with a Bacon Bloody Mary – they are well known for these and at 9 am that was pretty much the scene. Once on our way we lapped Lenawee Lift on runs like Half Moon and West Gully and based on the snow we were more than excited. Both runs skied great. That led us to East Wall for a couple runs beyond Land of Giants where the powder was very surfy. A bit denser than last weekend but skied really well. Based on those conditions we went over to Montezuma Bowl to see what conditions were like and opted to take Mountain Goat Traverse and skied down Tieze’s Claim which is a gladed area with very short trees. This area was mostly untracked and was a first for us which was a blast. Unfortunately, my wife tweaked her knee a bit so we headed back to the other side and skied Lanawee Face to Dercums Gulch to High Noon. My wife went inside to get Advil and my son and I skied Pali lift for a couple runs. First Run was on Pali Face which was another first for us. The pitch is pretty steep with only moderate bumps. The 2-3 inches of fresh seemed to have covered the trail pretty good but was crunchy in spots. Up Pali lift again (no choice since Pali Way leads you there) and this time we skied Wildcat which was untracked but had fresh covering some frozen chop which made it interesting. After that we went in for an early lunch and drinks.
Now with my wife with 3 Advil on board and beverages, East Wall became the focus. It seemed to have the best conditions so we lapped runs in that area - 1 run where we traversed the entire wall and headed into some glades on Lower East Wall and 2 runs through the Land of Giants which is a great natural playground. My son was hucking all over while I opted for chutes and smaller features. My wife just enjoyed skiing some of the steeper sections as well. We then ended our day with 3 top to bottom runs skiing various combinations and as usual I included Ramrod and Exhibition on a couple runs. Exhibition was pretty scrapped off but had some soft pockets. Ramrod was softening up nicely and had nice spring bumps by mid-afternoon.
It had been cloudy much of the day which kept the trails in great shape but by 2:30-3 the sun came out so we headed for the deck and soaked in the sights and rays with a nice Elevation IPA before heading out the action on Loveland Pass. Loveland Pass was really something to see. Even picked up a hitchhiker on the way and brought him close to the top.
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