Jay Silveira
New member
Since Andy and Janie were taking their snowboards up to Lost Trail, E and I decided it would be a snowboard day for us as well. It was my first day on the board for the season, so I was excited. Four inches of new snow meant that powder turns weren’t out of the question either! Due to the potential for powder, we started out a bit earlier than the previous day. I got to head out first again, so I joined up with Laura and we did Meadow Run – Meadow Trail – Drifter all the way down to Chair 2. There was definite powder to be had off the sides of the trail, and my snowboard legs quickly came back when they realized there was untracked snow around. It was almost like the old days of powder boarding in and out of the trees at Stowe with Dolph, even if the powder was a bit heavier than we usually had a Stowe. <BR> <BR>Failing to find anyone else in the group on our first run, we decided to wait at the top (the intersection of Chairs 1 and 2) since we knew that everyone would have to pass through there eventually. Soon we found Karin and Andy, and patroller Parnell joined us all in a bit of a snowball fight. The next run took us down to Southern Comfort, where plenty of untracked powder remained on the sides. I tempted Andy to try it out, but since it was only his second day even riding the chairlifts with his board, he said the groomed surface was challenging enough. For my final run of the morning, we headed over to North Bowl. There was still a lot of untracked powder off to the sides of the trail, but I had a tough time when the base below was uneven and full of tracks from previous days. It threw me around on my board a lot so I’ll have to work on improving there. <BR> <BR>E headed out with the group for the middle of the day, and they headed over to Chair 4 for some runs. It started to get nice and sunny, and E reported great conditions via radio. I couldn’t wait to get back out as I looked up at the sunny open slopes of chair 4 and heard how much fun everyone was having. <BR> <BR>In the afternoon, Laura and I were the only ones to head back to Chair 4, but it was definitely worth it. We started out in the trees between “Sacajewea” and “Lewis and Clark”. Laura really wanted to work on her tree skiing (no doubt the SkiVTers are having an effect on her) and these trees with a few inches of powder were great terrain. I really had fun on my board too, grabbing hold of a few burnt out Ponderosas if I needed to get through a tight spot or hold myself up during a break. We eventually cut south through “Odyssey” and I found the entire left side of the trail untracked. There were even some places to work my way in, out, and around the trees off the trail. We finished off the day with a trip down Oreo, which I was surprised required no pushing on my board! I guess there are sometimes advantages to smaller powder days, although I’ll still take all the big ones Mother Nature can dish out. The base is still deep at Lost Trail, so skiing should be great right through the end of the season. Everyone is thinking spring in the Bitterroot, but I’m sure winter will show up again before too long; it’s Montana after all.