Prior to today, I had skied Gunstock exclusively during the midweek, so today was my first experience there with the mountain during high traffic. I was a bit apprehensive at first having to park at the satellite lot over at Alpine. I'd never been shut out of a main lot spot before.
The mountain was busy, but I was quite surprised how well the lift system handled the crowds. The wait at the Panorama was never more than 5 minutes, the Tiger was pretty much ski on. I didn't ride the Pistol today. Maybe the lack of lines was because it was cold and windy out. The lodge was certainly jammed.
Overall, the conditions were pretty darn good. Cannonball had about as good of packed powder as it gets and the sides of the trail still had some good cut up powder from last nights storm. There were several areas on the mountain to grab a few turns of fresh actually. Upper Gunsmoke and Upper Trigger were fairly skied off in the centers of the trails (which was noted to expect in the snow report - appreciate that), but the snow was good to the sides. It was a bit too crowded on those trails for my liking, but it wasn't surprising given the crowds and being the only trails open up top. Once you got down to the middle sections of the trails, the conditions were quite good. I was pleased to find the short Birch Glade open as well, so it was nice to ski a few trees even though it's rather short. Spent most of my day lapping Cannonball, which was truly superb.
Mountain was hammering Redhat and Middle/Lower Recoil, so they should roll out real soon. Overall a really solid day and a bit relieving to find out that even on a busy Holiday week Sunday with only about half the terrain open, the crowds were tolerable for me.
Looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.
The mountain was busy, but I was quite surprised how well the lift system handled the crowds. The wait at the Panorama was never more than 5 minutes, the Tiger was pretty much ski on. I didn't ride the Pistol today. Maybe the lack of lines was because it was cold and windy out. The lodge was certainly jammed.
Overall, the conditions were pretty darn good. Cannonball had about as good of packed powder as it gets and the sides of the trail still had some good cut up powder from last nights storm. There were several areas on the mountain to grab a few turns of fresh actually. Upper Gunsmoke and Upper Trigger were fairly skied off in the centers of the trails (which was noted to expect in the snow report - appreciate that), but the snow was good to the sides. It was a bit too crowded on those trails for my liking, but it wasn't surprising given the crowds and being the only trails open up top. Once you got down to the middle sections of the trails, the conditions were quite good. I was pleased to find the short Birch Glade open as well, so it was nice to ski a few trees even though it's rather short. Spent most of my day lapping Cannonball, which was truly superb.
Mountain was hammering Redhat and Middle/Lower Recoil, so they should roll out real soon. Overall a really solid day and a bit relieving to find out that even on a busy Holiday week Sunday with only about half the terrain open, the crowds were tolerable for me.
Looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.
