Left my house at 6am, temps in the mid to low 40's. Drive time to the base of the Superstar lift was 3hrs 15min. The temp had dropped to 34 degrees by the time I was in the parking lot. Brilliant sunshine, and soon there was not a cloud in the sky.
Hit the lift by 9:30am. Good thing I had brought a hat and my windstopper fleece...it was @#$%!* cold! Superstar was unskiable at this time...frozen solid. So I hit Skyelark which was groomed and firm.
After a few warm-ups there I still hadn't seen anyone on Superstar. Figured it was still too solid, so I took a few runs down Bittersweet. This was fun; a few spots were thin, but it was skiable top to bottom and had small bumps which got my feet moving nicely.
By now it is 11am, so I figure I'll be the crash test dummy who tries Superstar. I had taken off the hat by now, but it was still pretty cold and quite windy, and a cold wind at that. The top of the upper headwall on SS requires about 10 steps of walking to get on the run, no big deal. The upper headwall all the way down to tower 5 was pretty frozen up, but the bumps were nicely formed so it was doable, but at slow speed. After tower 5 the snow loosened up, so the lower headwall was firm but nice.
Back on the lift, I now see others on SS...all it took was someone to break the ice, literally. Took another run down SS and this time I realized just how icy it really was. So I decide to take an early lunch break and come out later when it's softer.
Back out at noon, my next run down SS is disappointing. Hasn't softened up much at all and the cold wind is definitely sucking warmth out of the snow. I was beginning to despair that my last lift served day wasn't going to offer up spring bumps. Did another run on Bittersweet, but that was getting played. Should I just start the drive home?
Quit early? Sacriledge!! Got my butt back on the lift, determined to ski SS into submission. Got to the top at about 12:30, and just like that, the snow had gone from firm to an inch or 2 of nice corn on top of hardpack. The upper headwall was still firm (stayed that way until I left), but the softer snow opened up all of those sweet bump lines and my feet suddenly went into cruise control.
Spent the next 2 hours celebrating a great finish to the 04-05 season. Tore up SS until I was beaten into submission. Left middle on the upper headwall had nice smooth lines. The flat middle section actually had several lines with genuine rhythm, so speed increased with each run. The lower headwall had several sweet lines between the lift towers and the middle of the run, top to bottom. Big, smooth, rhythmic zippers. And the snow got better with each run.
I wanted to start home by 2:30, but made my last run down at 2:55 and rushed to start driving by 3pm. Final total was 22,800 vertical, a nice tan, and a bump skiing rush that will last for days. When I got to Rutland, temps were still in the 40's. Very glad I decided to make the trip when I did.
Today will be a tough one up there...the lows last night were expected to be in the low 20's. Good thing if they hope to open this weekend though. Coverage looks good, but the snow pack is very thin in spots. All it is going to take is one good warm or rain event to shut it down completely. This weekend is it folks, there's no way they are going to open up weekends after this.
So it's close to over. I did reach a seasonal milestone yesterday, my 50th day of the season. And now it's down to the last planned trip to Tucks next weekend. Even if it rains and I can't go, day 50 was a winner!
Hit the lift by 9:30am. Good thing I had brought a hat and my windstopper fleece...it was @#$%!* cold! Superstar was unskiable at this time...frozen solid. So I hit Skyelark which was groomed and firm.
After a few warm-ups there I still hadn't seen anyone on Superstar. Figured it was still too solid, so I took a few runs down Bittersweet. This was fun; a few spots were thin, but it was skiable top to bottom and had small bumps which got my feet moving nicely.
By now it is 11am, so I figure I'll be the crash test dummy who tries Superstar. I had taken off the hat by now, but it was still pretty cold and quite windy, and a cold wind at that. The top of the upper headwall on SS requires about 10 steps of walking to get on the run, no big deal. The upper headwall all the way down to tower 5 was pretty frozen up, but the bumps were nicely formed so it was doable, but at slow speed. After tower 5 the snow loosened up, so the lower headwall was firm but nice.
Back on the lift, I now see others on SS...all it took was someone to break the ice, literally. Took another run down SS and this time I realized just how icy it really was. So I decide to take an early lunch break and come out later when it's softer.
Back out at noon, my next run down SS is disappointing. Hasn't softened up much at all and the cold wind is definitely sucking warmth out of the snow. I was beginning to despair that my last lift served day wasn't going to offer up spring bumps. Did another run on Bittersweet, but that was getting played. Should I just start the drive home?
Quit early? Sacriledge!! Got my butt back on the lift, determined to ski SS into submission. Got to the top at about 12:30, and just like that, the snow had gone from firm to an inch or 2 of nice corn on top of hardpack. The upper headwall was still firm (stayed that way until I left), but the softer snow opened up all of those sweet bump lines and my feet suddenly went into cruise control.
Spent the next 2 hours celebrating a great finish to the 04-05 season. Tore up SS until I was beaten into submission. Left middle on the upper headwall had nice smooth lines. The flat middle section actually had several lines with genuine rhythm, so speed increased with each run. The lower headwall had several sweet lines between the lift towers and the middle of the run, top to bottom. Big, smooth, rhythmic zippers. And the snow got better with each run.
I wanted to start home by 2:30, but made my last run down at 2:55 and rushed to start driving by 3pm. Final total was 22,800 vertical, a nice tan, and a bump skiing rush that will last for days. When I got to Rutland, temps were still in the 40's. Very glad I decided to make the trip when I did.
Today will be a tough one up there...the lows last night were expected to be in the low 20's. Good thing if they hope to open this weekend though. Coverage looks good, but the snow pack is very thin in spots. All it is going to take is one good warm or rain event to shut it down completely. This weekend is it folks, there's no way they are going to open up weekends after this.
So it's close to over. I did reach a seasonal milestone yesterday, my 50th day of the season. And now it's down to the last planned trip to Tucks next weekend. Even if it rains and I can't go, day 50 was a winner!
