Sitting in my room less than a few hundred yards from the Stagecoach lift Wednesday night, I grimaced as a steady rain pelted the roof and parking lot.
This did not look good.
But maybe there was some good ski karma gained in skiing laps at Mount Rose for three hours Wednesday ... because Thursday's conditions at Heavenly tremendously exceeded expectations. Taking tseeb's advice, I stuck with Heavenly and hit first chair. The conditions were immediately better than expected - variable, with some groomed, some dust-on-crust, and some nice wind-blown stashes. The wind (mostly) held off. The rain totally held off, and they opened pretty much the entire mountain except the galaxy lift area.
I skied from 9:02 a.m. until I hit the Sky Express for the last time at 3:55 (big bonus for Heavenly, btw, running every lift until 4 p.m. I'm much more accustomed to Breck and Vail, where they being to phase out the challenging terrain and 3 and 3:30). I did not stop for lunch. I did not stop to pee. It was Day 2 of my ski season and I was making the most of it.
On the whole, it was an outstanding day. The conditions actually gradually improved as the day went on, because the rising temps softened up what had been crust or ice early. There was wind-blown powder everywhere, and tons of fresh in the trees. The trees were particularly nice around meteor and off Ellie's. The top of the mountain stayed socked in all day, with high winds and a steady diet of windblown snow, but the sun eventually broke through on the Stagecoach Express area and the lower part of Dipper Express/Comet Express. I never did hit Mott Canyon - my legs just weren't up for it this early - but I rotated through the rest of the terrain several times to get a feel for the place.
All in all a very good day, particularly for December. Tomorrow should be better, and I hope to ski until 11:30 before lighting out for RNO.
My deepest appreciation to all who shared their thoughts here.
This did not look good.
But maybe there was some good ski karma gained in skiing laps at Mount Rose for three hours Wednesday ... because Thursday's conditions at Heavenly tremendously exceeded expectations. Taking tseeb's advice, I stuck with Heavenly and hit first chair. The conditions were immediately better than expected - variable, with some groomed, some dust-on-crust, and some nice wind-blown stashes. The wind (mostly) held off. The rain totally held off, and they opened pretty much the entire mountain except the galaxy lift area.
I skied from 9:02 a.m. until I hit the Sky Express for the last time at 3:55 (big bonus for Heavenly, btw, running every lift until 4 p.m. I'm much more accustomed to Breck and Vail, where they being to phase out the challenging terrain and 3 and 3:30). I did not stop for lunch. I did not stop to pee. It was Day 2 of my ski season and I was making the most of it.
On the whole, it was an outstanding day. The conditions actually gradually improved as the day went on, because the rising temps softened up what had been crust or ice early. There was wind-blown powder everywhere, and tons of fresh in the trees. The trees were particularly nice around meteor and off Ellie's. The top of the mountain stayed socked in all day, with high winds and a steady diet of windblown snow, but the sun eventually broke through on the Stagecoach Express area and the lower part of Dipper Express/Comet Express. I never did hit Mott Canyon - my legs just weren't up for it this early - but I rotated through the rest of the terrain several times to get a feel for the place.
All in all a very good day, particularly for December. Tomorrow should be better, and I hope to ski until 11:30 before lighting out for RNO.
My deepest appreciation to all who shared their thoughts here.
