First Tracks..Powder days

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

First Tracks are great...here is a first tracks report...post yours..





Getting first in line for the singles line at the Gondola at Jackson Hole is a great place. I like to double step the concrete steps...serperate my fat twin tips..and ride up the first gondola in comfort...yes the instructors and camps are already shredding the fresh Poe..but I love looking at the mass of people in line who hit the snooze button one too many times. Then a mad dash through deep Pow to the Thunder Chair..first tracks down Laramie bowl..Up Sublette and up the East Ridge double...wow that was deep..another lap..wow that was deep..back down to Sublette via the Bivoac woods..then up Sublette..wow where did all these people come from...Traverse the highest line possible into 10-sleep bowl...some groovy untracked Poe turns...Wow there's a long line of people hiking to the Headwall from the Cirque...but copious amounts of untracked powder below. Lots of deep powder..especially to the left of the Big tree. After a few dozen turns..I can see lots and lots of people cruising Aphitheater..the people who arrived at the crack of 10:30AM skiing sloppy seconds..into the woods to the left of Aphitheater..down into Dicks Ditch..then some woods off of Gros Verte to the base..It's 11:00AM..I'm tired..I'm hungry..I hit up the Village Cafe...two slices of Pepperoni...water and Stella Artois..Back out on the snow..everybody going in for lunch. Up the Gondola..left into the trees..wow lots of fresh lines..everybody was concerned with hightailing it to Thunder that this area has been ignored...so much fresh powder that I need to do a repeat..Up the Gondola again..this time I stayed farther left in the woods ending at lower Casper Bowl..down into the intermediate Casper area..hugging fresh powder along the Nastar course..I think about taking two runs on the cordoroy course but the powder hounds slaps the speed demon in the face. Casper lodge is packed with people..right down Jackson Face..for some steep untracked powder turns..into the runout..

Long line for the Gondola with all the people coming back out after lunch..No line for Teewinot..Up Teewinot..up Apres Vous...Into Saratoga bowl..the main sections were tracked out but between the main sections and the boundary rope were lots of nice shots of untracked powder..Traverse out was fast and rolling with lots of people floundering around and blocking the way. Threading the needle to a whole new meaning as a flew by some noobs stopped on the traverse back with my shoulders in tight..No Way am I stopping before it gets flat. Back out to Apres Vous chair..up the lift with some Urologists at a conferance on K2 Fours..Back at the top..I hug the right side of Saratoga bowl for some more Fluff...then back to the base. Where did the time go..It's already 2:50PM and several people are calling it a day...

Snow is starting to lightly fall at the base. Back up the Gondola..3:00PM and it's snowing at a 1-2 inch per hour clip...big fat flakes that accumulate fast..Down to Thunder via the woods to the left of the Gondola then traversing over..Up Thunder...3:15PM at the top..Straight out under the Tram into the woods..not much fresh powder but some fun lines and nice chalky snow. I popped out at the bottom of Thunder Chair..then high tailed it straight down to the Gondola..3:36PM..Up the Gondola..down to the Casper chair..through the woods to the left of the gondola for the 4th time...

On the Casper chair at 3:53PM dumping snow..At the top about 4:01PM..lots of time for a slow long leisurely run due to a 4:30PM bus back to town..To the left into the Moran Woods..slow deliberate powder turns..with nobody around and tired muscles I don't want to get injured. Down to the Apres Vous chair which was no longer loading skiers..then a straight run down Teewinot..and I was able to ski right into the parking lot to the bus area....Then back to town for beer..snacks..Bubbas BBQ...Jacuzzi..more beer..and sleep..

That's the way Jackson Powder days are pretty steezy

 

[Phillycore]

First tracks are mandatory on a powder day even in the poconos...
There is no excuses...I have left my house at 3am on a workday just to get freshies
and called out from the car on the way to the mountain...

First tracks are mandatory on almost any day IMO

 

[powderman]

After, a good snowstorm, I'll probably leave my house at 6 AM to beat everybody to the fresh stuff at Berkshire East.

 

[riverc0il]

First tracks are the only way to run a powder day. Saturday powder days at Jay are really amusing. The powder hounds line up at Jay 15 minutes before the lift opens. 10 minutes after the first lift goes up but before the descending skiers return to the lift, there is no line. It usually takes an hour and a half before the mob scene happens and they put up the rope coral. Two hours after the place opens, everything is tracked up and people are just starting to arrive en masse.

If you haven't had first tracks and gotten in a few completely untracked runs before the crowds show up, you haven't truly experienced a powder day. By the time most people are just getting to the mountain, on piste is completely tracked up and knowledgeable skiers have left the on piste to the late comers while still getting more untracked off the grid. If you don't know where to go, you really need to be there first to have much of a chance at complete untracked. Nothing else like it that I have experience on skis and is a hard to obtain treat even for the truly obsessed among us that take great pains to make it happen when and where nature dictates..

 

[Philpug]

2007 was an Epic calendar year for first tracks...Had a ton of them.

 

[Moe Ghoul]

Jackson Hole my last 2 days we had 3ft+ fresh powder. Overwhelming. The whole morning was fresh tracks for the most part. GSS pretty much captured the stoke. WF during the Empire State Winter Games. Guns were blazing for 3 days from top to bottom. We had almost a foot of fresh from the summit to the bottom. I had one killer day at Blue midweek while they were filming a video about ski patrols. They put down about 4-5 inches of fresh snow on Challenge and it was prolly my best conditions day in the Pokes last season.

 

[snoseek]

I probably had 35-40 legit powder days this winter just chasing snow. I love powder days at areas that have a high acerage to person ratio. I don't like rushing those first runs just to get more immediately, although I will if I have to. I think just about everywhere in the U.S. had a great winter which is pretty rare.

 

[lloyd braun]

I have the same routine for anyday with fresh snow.

catch the 8:10 bus arriving in town at 8:13, go to office change clothes, grab gear, walk to gondy, there by 8:25-8:30.

we always have the same 10-15 people there infront of the line, always get first, second, or third Gondola. Then ski fast laps.

 

[hardline]

south of vermont its a early bird scenario. but when i am at stowe i get to the lifts at like 9:30 or 10. i don't rush unless its bluebird. i have never been one for open powder fields. i like obstacles between me and the fall line. even at 10 my favorite places are untracked. by 11 everyone has heeded back to work or to burlington so i have the mountain to myself. this only works if you know the mountain realy well and its midweek. at places i dont know, i get there a litle earlier.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

south of vermont its a early bird scenario. but when i am at stowe i get to the lifts at like 9:30 or 10. i don't rush unless its bluebird. i have never been one for open powder fields. i like obstacles between me and the fall line. even at 10 my favorite places are untracked. by 11 everyone has heeded back to work or to burlington so i have the mountain to myself. this only works if you know the mountain realy well and its midweek. at places i dont know, i get there a litle earlier.

First run on a powder day I like to go right under the lift and make huge wide turns and track out as much powder as possible along with the hoots and hollers of those above me...2nd run...off to a lesser travelled run...then I start hitting the no-name place...90 percent of the people on a powder day are skiing the chowder in the middle of the trails..it's surprising how narrow I can make my shoulders to squeeze through some of the slots in the woods and on the sides of the trails..wow I want to ski...

 

[Trekchick]

First tracks:
Get up at 2 AM.
Snow plow a few commercial plow accounts, rush home to slam a quick breakfast by 6 AM, shower change, throw Ski Gear in the Jeep, head to the hill and take a deep breath. Ahhhhhhhhhh
This is why its great to have a husband who works with me and skis with me.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh to be booted up when they turn the chair lift on!

 

[hardline]

wow I want to ski...

i am already there. my beer consumption has gone way up. i am going to take a few days off next week and sit at the lake and fish. hopefully that will help.

 

[roark]

Wow. In the running for best GSS post. Honestly I think 99% of your posts are crap, but now you go ahead and redeem yourself. Facker.

 

[filejw]

Revelstoke, not much infrastructure yet but some days the fresh track last all day.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Revelstoke, not much infrastructure yet but some days the fresh track last all day.

When did you visit Revelstoke? It's definitely on my list..

 

[filejw]

GSS, jan 13/18 2008....

 

[hardline]

i really need to put a crew of like 3 to 4 people to go out there this year. because the place is vast i feel its only safe with a min of 3 people. i have one guy but he thinks whistler is the tits. he went to oootah for the fist time and was surprised i wasn't makin stuff up. he doesn't really belive there is a new area that opened up. people are dense sometimes

 

[filejw]

Well its there and not going any place soon.LOL. The skiing is just unbelievable, deep deep powder and huge bowl and tree areas.We didn't even ski 25% of the stuff from the Cat because of avalanche danger.To be honest the inbounds stuff was wild enough for me but my 22/24 year old sons would have none of that. The bad things are, its a cold and mostly cloudy place from what i could tell, they are just starting on the hotels and condos, lodging is small hotels in the town, you need a car because its a hard 5 hr drive from Calgary or 2/3 from Kelona BC. Plus no local transport system from town. Skiing was great and I would go back but maybe not this year. The plan is a 2 lifts a year for 10 yers...JW :-D
PS When I say deep powder it means when you fall you have to swim in the stuff to get back up...LOL

 

[filejw]

Just found out that starting in DEC there will be air service from Calgery...JW:lol:

 

[powhunter]

valentines day 06....saw the storm approaching ..headed up to killington tues morning and waited...it arrived like an out of control freight train....we had the place to ourselves...we owned it and we liked it...next day virtually all lifts except the gondi were on wind hold...cut over to superstar and hit untracked chest high walls of pow on skiers right...best day I ever had!!! Think mondeo was up there too...

steve