polski
New member
The boys and I hit a cold and fairly windy Cannon under brilliant clear skies yesterday as part of a family trip north of the notches for a variety of winter activities. As they'd reported 6" Thurs/Fri, another inch Sat and no thaw throughout that timeframe, I expected somewhat softer conditions than we found - a lot of hardpack amid wind-blown snow.
Hit Mittersill for the first time, hiking across the saddle with the boys for our first run. On some wider spots there was decent soft (though thoroughly tracked out) snow but there was a lot of hardpack and some sheer ice to contend with, though the base was ample with only the rare thin spot. Did get some low-angle turns in shallow untracked powder at the bottom. One and done at Mittersill for my boys in these conditions but I went back to for two more exploratory runs in the afternoon and came away impressed by the challenge of the terrain - a lot of narrow chutes (which unquestionably would be more fun on a pow day) and some real nice looking woods (which unfortunately I saw only from near the bottom).
Otherwise it mainly was a matter of cruising groomers - my old carvers would have been better skis for this day but the Gotamas did well enough. On the Front Five, Paulie's Folly was ungroomed but there was a lot of scrape to contend with between the bumps; skier's right on Avalanche was better, though still with plenty of slick spots. Found some nice patches of soft wind-blown accumulated along skier's left of Vista Way at the end of the day.
Great day for stunning views, I'll say that.
I realized I've spoiled myself with my focus on powder and corn - I was not skiing at my best at a number of points yesterday - but I also reaffirmed that those are the conditions I should shoot for when I'm investing the time and money in a trip north.
Hit Mittersill for the first time, hiking across the saddle with the boys for our first run. On some wider spots there was decent soft (though thoroughly tracked out) snow but there was a lot of hardpack and some sheer ice to contend with, though the base was ample with only the rare thin spot. Did get some low-angle turns in shallow untracked powder at the bottom. One and done at Mittersill for my boys in these conditions but I went back to for two more exploratory runs in the afternoon and came away impressed by the challenge of the terrain - a lot of narrow chutes (which unquestionably would be more fun on a pow day) and some real nice looking woods (which unfortunately I saw only from near the bottom).
Otherwise it mainly was a matter of cruising groomers - my old carvers would have been better skis for this day but the Gotamas did well enough. On the Front Five, Paulie's Folly was ungroomed but there was a lot of scrape to contend with between the bumps; skier's right on Avalanche was better, though still with plenty of slick spots. Found some nice patches of soft wind-blown accumulated along skier's left of Vista Way at the end of the day.
Great day for stunning views, I'll say that.
I realized I've spoiled myself with my focus on powder and corn - I was not skiing at my best at a number of points yesterday - but I also reaffirmed that those are the conditions I should shoot for when I'm investing the time and money in a trip north.
