Newpylong
Well-known member
Got up to the mountain for first chair today on the Summit Express at about 5 minutes to 9. Flurries and temps in the low 20's...
From the base it was evident they were blasting the hell out of Standard. Guns every 20 feet it seemed. A real manmade cloud over that whole area... They were spinning the Summit Triple and doing whatever it is they do prior to using it in service.
At the top I made quickly for the North Face and Chute. Entire trail was covered in guns but the snow suprisingly did not stick too much to my goggles. All I can say is the snow was SWEET. Corduroy with man made powder on top. I got to the bottom and was first up the Challenger lift as well. I made many more runs on Chute... Mountain ops was out and turning the guns off starting from top to bottom. By 11AM they were all off on Chute and as the traffic picked up the snow actually became better and more predictable. You never can tell what to expect when you edge into that stuff. They also had the Outpost (ex-Northface) Triple spinning and were cleaning the chairs off.
I did make some runs on Upper Canyon on the front which wasn't bad as well. Sadly Choke and Standard and thus top to bottom was not open by the time I left so we were forced to bang a left on River Run back to the North Face.
I had a chance to thank a member of the snowmaking crew in the summit lodge. The amount of snow (and quality snow) they have blown in just 48 hours has been tremendous, especially since they basically had to start from scratch. Chute has to be the best run in the east open thus far length and pitch wise. Looks like Freefall had guns ready to go on the N. Face as well as Exhibition on the main face.
I downloaded around noon and as I was walking to my truck I noticed they just dropped the rope to the bottom, DOH. Everyone who I downloaded with joked how we missed it by one run. Oh well, its early in the season.
In all I recommend anyone not willing to travel farther north try them out, I was impressed. I have a bronze pass but I think they are charging $39 mid week.....
That's all!
From the base it was evident they were blasting the hell out of Standard. Guns every 20 feet it seemed. A real manmade cloud over that whole area... They were spinning the Summit Triple and doing whatever it is they do prior to using it in service.
At the top I made quickly for the North Face and Chute. Entire trail was covered in guns but the snow suprisingly did not stick too much to my goggles. All I can say is the snow was SWEET. Corduroy with man made powder on top. I got to the bottom and was first up the Challenger lift as well. I made many more runs on Chute... Mountain ops was out and turning the guns off starting from top to bottom. By 11AM they were all off on Chute and as the traffic picked up the snow actually became better and more predictable. You never can tell what to expect when you edge into that stuff. They also had the Outpost (ex-Northface) Triple spinning and were cleaning the chairs off.
I did make some runs on Upper Canyon on the front which wasn't bad as well. Sadly Choke and Standard and thus top to bottom was not open by the time I left so we were forced to bang a left on River Run back to the North Face.
I had a chance to thank a member of the snowmaking crew in the summit lodge. The amount of snow (and quality snow) they have blown in just 48 hours has been tremendous, especially since they basically had to start from scratch. Chute has to be the best run in the east open thus far length and pitch wise. Looks like Freefall had guns ready to go on the N. Face as well as Exhibition on the main face.
I downloaded around noon and as I was walking to my truck I noticed they just dropped the rope to the bottom, DOH. Everyone who I downloaded with joked how we missed it by one run. Oh well, its early in the season.
In all I recommend anyone not willing to travel farther north try them out, I was impressed. I have a bronze pass but I think they are charging $39 mid week.....
That's all!
