Recent content by takeahike46er

Nice report! I know all about that crusty layer. I visited Fernie a couple weeks ago. Was planning to hit Castle as well, but the drive wouldn't have been worth it for similar conditions. Conditions at Kicking Horse were great, however. Fernie: http://forum.nyskiblog.com/Fernie-B-C-2 ...

Skiing Monday at Alta was definetly underwhelming. That said, yesterday was actually pretty decent all things considering. The snow Tuesday evening was low water content, and combined with Monday's elephant snot, it skied surprising deep for such a modest snowfall. Yes, the icy bumps were still...

Thanks for the tip! Was missing the www.

Can't speak for Wolf Creek, but I have considered it as a way to hedge my bet if I ever gamble with a trip to Taos again. Grand Targhee is a blast with a fresh snowfall. It's one giant powder glade. The fog can pose some visibility challenges for the top couple hundred feet off the Dreamcatcher...

I skied Sunday at Alta as well. Conditions were decent considering the limited base and no big recent snowfall. Spent my day poking around the East Greely area, Catherine's, and Baldy Shoulder. Desperate for some untracked snow (or in this case...lightly tracked snow) I dabbled in some low angle...

Only the lower section is officially open-- from the Deer Valley entrance. The uppermost entrance is at Hickock Hill, but that has yet to be signed. The middle entrance is at Lookout. They did not finish work on the upper portion this summer.

Perhaps I have been over simplifying. One of the obstacles preventing the glade from opening this season is accessibility. The forest immediately alongside The Wilmington Trail is more dense. I described it as "brush and deadfall". Bad word choices on my part. It is a mixture of...

Snow depth is not the limiting issue in these glades. It is an abundance of brush and deadfall... none of which has been cleared. The glades only exist on the map at this point. Once cleared, they will open with similar regularity as the other glades on the hill. Having spent many years...

Lookout Mountain is far from complete, despite what is shown on the trail map. They barely got the Wilmington Trail open in time for the season. 1) Hoyt's High was cut but was never finished. There are still tree cuttings from two summers ago on that trail, and some large boulders. They...

Whiteface is reporting 14'' overnight, although it has been snowing all day and total accumulations are likely more at this point. Nice report here: http://forums.alpinezone.com/40063-whit ... -08-a.html

In general, the forests on Whiteface are VERY dense. The forests only get more dense with elevation and eventually become impenetrable as red spruce becomes the predominant species. There are some exceptions, however. As illustrated in the above photo, there are veins of hardwoods that...

I was wrong in my recollection. Principally, I was rebutting the "most years they don't even open". As Sandy put it-- "some years, they have not opened". There's a difference between the two statements. :wink:

I can't think of a year where they didn't open at all. Of course, there was a year or two when they only opened for a few days out of the season, while another season they were open something like 14 days. I'm guessing the average is about 7 days per season. The best chance of skiing the...

They also cut a long intermediate run that can be seen from the base. There are two more trails that have yet to be cut (beside the glades). Here's a good pic that shows the pod (intermediate run on the far right side of the ridge):

The SE slide is one of my favorites! Sounds like it is skiing well this season. Check out this trip report from 3/29 posted on viewsfromthetop: http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/forums/s ... hp?t=21635