Jay Silveira
New member
On Thursday, Lost Trail reported 10 inches of new snow at a temperature of 19 degrees, so I figured it wasn’t mush. I bet it would have been a fun day, but I had a bunch of work to do so I couldn’t go <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="
"> (for 20 inches I definitely would have been there). So, on Saturday, we headed up to get in some turns; at least the snow off Chair 4 would still be fresh for the taking. I laughed as we got to the hill, since I didn’t see a single skier coming down the slopes for about five minutes. Things usually slow down this time of year, but the people had to be SOMEHWERE! It turns out that they were having a hike & ski race over in the Chair 3 and 4 area, so I guess a large group was over there. <BR> <BR>E headed out first, and finally got to ski Hollywood Bowl. I was especially psyched that she got to head out first since it might give her a better chance of getting to the snow before the sun baked it too hard. She was amazed by the terrain, but said the sun had already begun its work and the powder was getting heavy/cruddy. <BR> <BR>In the afternoon, I met up with some folks from the lab and skied a couple runs on the main mountain. The groomed snow was nice in the sun, but the powder off to the sides was tricky. It had developed a bit of a crust (probably from some warming on Friday) and where it had been tracked by others, it was very uneven. I did find some nice untracked areas off Salmon, but it was a strange composition of snow layers that made my skis want to over-rotate. I’ve experienced this sensation before on certain days. Just the right combination of conditions, I guess somewhere between powder and groomed, seems to cause the tails to slide out. It’s strange, but pretty fun once you get used to it. <BR> <BR>The others were calling it a day in a few more runs, so I decided to head over to Chair 4 by myself. The shaded section of Side Street was fun, with fairly unbaked powder that had even more of the over-rotating character to it. Since I figured the Ripper would be pretty baked, I decided on a run through the Sacajewea trees. The powder was baked and difficult, but still enjoyable. As long as it was untracked it was generally easy enough to ski. Once I merged back onto the trail (Lewis and Clark) I fluctuated between the soft groomed and the untracked on the sides. It started to get wet as I approached the lower mountain, and I decided to go for something with northern exposure. <BR> <BR>Most of Saddle Mountain faces south and east, and my only real option for totally north-facing snow in the new area was to head for the north side of the Bear Claw Ridge. I worked my way around on Oreo, and although the ridge itself was roped off (I guess they are still worried about the small cornices) I was able to traverse below on the north side. At this point, I found snow that made me realize what Thursday must have been like. It was nice mid-weight powder, maybe 8% H2O, and it skied like midwinter snow. Suddenly, I was transformed from crud skier into super hero powder skier. At one point, I was cranking a turn and had leaned over with my right hand sliding through the powder, when I felt a strange sensation. For some reason, my arm suddenly got cold, and I realized that I was skiing in my spring gloves, not my gauntlets. The space at my wrist had let in a bunch of snow as I dragged it through the turn, and I laughed because it had been years since I’d had a gaping hole like that at my wrist. Once I’d discovered gauntlets for powder skiing, I never went back! I stayed in the shadow of the ridge for as long as I could until I returned to the reality of baked snow. The few minutes of light powder made my day though, and I thought that E should head out for one more run just to ski that stuff. However, when we talked over the radio, she said she was pretty beat. <BR> <BR>I took one more run to work my way back to the main base, heading out on the south side of the Bear Claw Ridge this time. I caught Lynx off the east end of the ridge, and although the snow wasn’t as good as the north facing stuff, it was only partially baked due to protection from the trees. From there I was able to shoot through the woods back to the Boomer lift and get to the lodge. <BR> <BR>Later, while chatting in the lodge, we learned that Bear Claw Ridge got its name from a large tree with huge claw marks in it. Someday, we’ll have to find the tree, since we got a general description of where it was. Although spring has come along much more quickly this year than last, Lost Trail is reporting a 109-inch base at the summit and a 101-inch base at the lodge. That’d deeper than I can recall at any time last year, even though last year was a great season. This year we had warmer temperatures during a number of storms, which probably brought in a lot of dense, base-building snow. Either way, the base is above average so it should mean good water supply for the coming months. I’m not sure what the deal was with this El Nino thing that was supposed to make the Northern Rockies dry, the snowpack is deeper than last year, and the upcoming week is looking wet. It’s too bad the sun is getting higher and making light powder harder to come by. <BR> <BR>J.Spin
"> (for 20 inches I definitely would have been there). So, on Saturday, we headed up to get in some turns; at least the snow off Chair 4 would still be fresh for the taking. I laughed as we got to the hill, since I didn’t see a single skier coming down the slopes for about five minutes. Things usually slow down this time of year, but the people had to be SOMEHWERE! It turns out that they were having a hike & ski race over in the Chair 3 and 4 area, so I guess a large group was over there. <BR> <BR>E headed out first, and finally got to ski Hollywood Bowl. I was especially psyched that she got to head out first since it might give her a better chance of getting to the snow before the sun baked it too hard. She was amazed by the terrain, but said the sun had already begun its work and the powder was getting heavy/cruddy. <BR> <BR>In the afternoon, I met up with some folks from the lab and skied a couple runs on the main mountain. The groomed snow was nice in the sun, but the powder off to the sides was tricky. It had developed a bit of a crust (probably from some warming on Friday) and where it had been tracked by others, it was very uneven. I did find some nice untracked areas off Salmon, but it was a strange composition of snow layers that made my skis want to over-rotate. I’ve experienced this sensation before on certain days. Just the right combination of conditions, I guess somewhere between powder and groomed, seems to cause the tails to slide out. It’s strange, but pretty fun once you get used to it. <BR> <BR>The others were calling it a day in a few more runs, so I decided to head over to Chair 4 by myself. The shaded section of Side Street was fun, with fairly unbaked powder that had even more of the over-rotating character to it. Since I figured the Ripper would be pretty baked, I decided on a run through the Sacajewea trees. The powder was baked and difficult, but still enjoyable. As long as it was untracked it was generally easy enough to ski. Once I merged back onto the trail (Lewis and Clark) I fluctuated between the soft groomed and the untracked on the sides. It started to get wet as I approached the lower mountain, and I decided to go for something with northern exposure. <BR> <BR>Most of Saddle Mountain faces south and east, and my only real option for totally north-facing snow in the new area was to head for the north side of the Bear Claw Ridge. I worked my way around on Oreo, and although the ridge itself was roped off (I guess they are still worried about the small cornices) I was able to traverse below on the north side. At this point, I found snow that made me realize what Thursday must have been like. It was nice mid-weight powder, maybe 8% H2O, and it skied like midwinter snow. Suddenly, I was transformed from crud skier into super hero powder skier. At one point, I was cranking a turn and had leaned over with my right hand sliding through the powder, when I felt a strange sensation. For some reason, my arm suddenly got cold, and I realized that I was skiing in my spring gloves, not my gauntlets. The space at my wrist had let in a bunch of snow as I dragged it through the turn, and I laughed because it had been years since I’d had a gaping hole like that at my wrist. Once I’d discovered gauntlets for powder skiing, I never went back! I stayed in the shadow of the ridge for as long as I could until I returned to the reality of baked snow. The few minutes of light powder made my day though, and I thought that E should head out for one more run just to ski that stuff. However, when we talked over the radio, she said she was pretty beat. <BR> <BR>I took one more run to work my way back to the main base, heading out on the south side of the Bear Claw Ridge this time. I caught Lynx off the east end of the ridge, and although the snow wasn’t as good as the north facing stuff, it was only partially baked due to protection from the trees. From there I was able to shoot through the woods back to the Boomer lift and get to the lodge. <BR> <BR>Later, while chatting in the lodge, we learned that Bear Claw Ridge got its name from a large tree with huge claw marks in it. Someday, we’ll have to find the tree, since we got a general description of where it was. Although spring has come along much more quickly this year than last, Lost Trail is reporting a 109-inch base at the summit and a 101-inch base at the lodge. That’d deeper than I can recall at any time last year, even though last year was a great season. This year we had warmer temperatures during a number of storms, which probably brought in a lot of dense, base-building snow. Either way, the base is above average so it should mean good water supply for the coming months. I’m not sure what the deal was with this El Nino thing that was supposed to make the Northern Rockies dry, the snowpack is deeper than last year, and the upcoming week is looking wet. It’s too bad the sun is getting higher and making light powder harder to come by. <BR> <BR>J.Spin