A year ago I was at Red Mt. in the rain. This year Saturday was the predicted peak of the Arctic freeze. It was colder early but about 0F the whole time I was out from 11AM to 2:30PM. It was sunny so actually a bit more pleasant than the previous cloudy day at Castle. Like Castle, there were winds up high, so the entire Timber half of the mountain was closed for wind chill of -40C. I sometimes saw plumes off the top of Polar Peak, but Cedar and Lizard Bowls were leeward of the wind.
I alternated runs in Cedar Bowl and near the Bear and Boomerang chairs. In Cedar I skied Snake Main and North Ridge, along with the wide open aptly named Cruiser. Like the day before long groomers were a good way to lose body heat to wind chill. At 12:30 I stopped at bear's den to apply sticky toe heaters to my socks. I skied Deep Space, Linda's Run and heavily mogulled Kangaroo around the Boomerang lift. Linda's Run had the softest snow on Wednesday skiing with Craig Morris, but now had some snow chunks and pine debris that must have blown off the trees. Snow was not melt/frozen but seemed stiffer than on Wednesday.
I skied 15,500 vertical, then had a 4+ hour drive to Missoula. This was another day when I was not taking off a mitten to use the camera.
I alternated runs in Cedar Bowl and near the Bear and Boomerang chairs. In Cedar I skied Snake Main and North Ridge, along with the wide open aptly named Cruiser. Like the day before long groomers were a good way to lose body heat to wind chill. At 12:30 I stopped at bear's den to apply sticky toe heaters to my socks. I skied Deep Space, Linda's Run and heavily mogulled Kangaroo around the Boomerang lift. Linda's Run had the softest snow on Wednesday skiing with Craig Morris, but now had some snow chunks and pine debris that must have blown off the trees. Snow was not melt/frozen but seemed stiffer than on Wednesday.
I skied 15,500 vertical, then had a 4+ hour drive to Missoula. This was another day when I was not taking off a mitten to use the camera.