Zand
Well-known member
Got to Barker around 11:30 with temps in the 40s and cloudy skies. Rained a bit on my first ride up the quad but after that the sun came out for the rest of the day (well, until it went behind the mountain at 1:30 anyway). Parking lot was very full and had to get creative to park, but crowds were just right on the mountain (busy but not overly so, no liftlines).
Best run early on was Right Stuff when the sun was out, nice soft snow and a fun run to boot. After the sun went down at 1:30, it firmed up very fast and got quite slick. Coverage is very good, best of the trails off the quad. Should make it through the week fine.
Ecstasy and Jungle Road were thin in comparison, and might have some issues after a warm day tomorrow and rain Tuesday. Like Right Stuff, conditions were good until the sun went down. Upper Sunday Punch has better coverage but was pretty slick all afternoon, especially the part where it crosses under the lift.
T2 was in great shape for most of the afternoon. Very deep base, and nice packed powder conditions. Didn't have the softness of Right Stuff, but more like midwinter PP. Pleasantly surprised to see it like that. Heading downhill, both Lower Punch and Cascades were rather slick because they had a lot of traffic. Punch has great coverage and should be fine this week, but the bottom of Cascades was getting pretty brown this afternoon and will probably need a day or two under the guns later this week to get it back open.
Snow report says just Locke this week, which will limit things to T2 and Punch off the top down to just Punch. Shouldn't have a problem opening with even more next weekend, as Wed-Sat look good for guns at night. Great to have so many options open so quick after opening with 4 legit options open today. Glad I decided to wait a few days for them to get past the WROD stage. Fun start to the season, hope it goes much better than next year. Next time out will be Black Friday if Wachusett opens, if not then whenever Burke or Jay opens.
Best run early on was Right Stuff when the sun was out, nice soft snow and a fun run to boot. After the sun went down at 1:30, it firmed up very fast and got quite slick. Coverage is very good, best of the trails off the quad. Should make it through the week fine.
Ecstasy and Jungle Road were thin in comparison, and might have some issues after a warm day tomorrow and rain Tuesday. Like Right Stuff, conditions were good until the sun went down. Upper Sunday Punch has better coverage but was pretty slick all afternoon, especially the part where it crosses under the lift.
T2 was in great shape for most of the afternoon. Very deep base, and nice packed powder conditions. Didn't have the softness of Right Stuff, but more like midwinter PP. Pleasantly surprised to see it like that. Heading downhill, both Lower Punch and Cascades were rather slick because they had a lot of traffic. Punch has great coverage and should be fine this week, but the bottom of Cascades was getting pretty brown this afternoon and will probably need a day or two under the guns later this week to get it back open.
Snow report says just Locke this week, which will limit things to T2 and Punch off the top down to just Punch. Shouldn't have a problem opening with even more next weekend, as Wed-Sat look good for guns at night. Great to have so many options open so quick after opening with 4 legit options open today. Glad I decided to wait a few days for them to get past the WROD stage. Fun start to the season, hope it goes much better than next year. Next time out will be Black Friday if Wachusett opens, if not then whenever Burke or Jay opens.
