Definitely the best opening day in memory. I'm sure Kmart would've rather not opened but was sorta shamed into it by the fact everyone knew they had 30"+ of snow and Wildcat beat them to opening. Still, I give them credit for getting virtually the entire K basin open (not that it was tough given the cover). It's pathetic however that they don't have the commitment to keep it going as there's plenty of skiers and snow (a slight thaw is coming but nights are forecasted to be in the freeze zone again midweek). By choosing a lift (ex. Superstar) and adding snowmaking to the huge cover it'd be dead easy but we know how that goes. Barring another unambiguous dump, I bet they'll stick with the previously announced opening of 11/11 (first time they've ever predetermined an open date so far in advance).
Okay, the skiing. Got there at 8am anticipating big crowds and it was reasonable at that point tho I was told they actually started sending people up at 7:30 if not earlier. As stated, virtually the entire basin was open or would be within a coupla hours. The main trails were excellent packed powder with some powder albeit thicker/wetter by the minute with sun and moderate temps sweeping in. Many sweet bump lines had formed. A gorgeous day. Off piste was possible everywhere with the 2 storms worth of snow providing adequate cushion even in the rockiest areas. It was however very wet and heavy and I can't remember having such a "hop 'n turn" workout at an opening so the muscles are a bit sore to say the least! Also the warmer temps were melting the snow clinging to the branches to the point that it was basically raining in the woods! Got wet. Kinda funny to see that the last of the leaves had actually fallen on *top* of the snow.
They were running the K1 gondy, Snowden Poma, North Ridge (nee Glades) triple and that Snowden chair down at the end of the parking lot. Acess to the Superstar area by crossover. Only problem was the Glades triple. It was down at the start of the day apparently due to a fallen tree close by. It started up mid morning and I did some runs off it after a couple of top to bottoms from K peak. When I went to catch a third ride up the Glades however it was stopped, remained so for 5-10 minutes, then we were told it was down (they did run it enough to get the people off it). We had to disperse and some people started to jump the ropes on the adjacent trails to get down. The loss of the Glades chair of course only increased the crowd at the gondy though I've seen worse. Don't know if/when they got it going again. Switched to K1 and tried some of the stuff in/around Ovation and Superstar. Great stuff there but by then it was noonish and I was whipped after almost 4 hours of hopping around so I bailed.
The parking lot was absolutely jammed. Applying a typical ratio of early weekend-to-midweek skiers would have yielded a respectable # of the latter so any arguments about lack of same don't hold. As we know, people are chompin at the bit early season (and I've always laid blame on the customers for not being as eager for generally better snow come spring). I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have people showing up in the coming days just assuming that they're open. Their loss. Anyway, nice to get back out there.
Okay, the skiing. Got there at 8am anticipating big crowds and it was reasonable at that point tho I was told they actually started sending people up at 7:30 if not earlier. As stated, virtually the entire basin was open or would be within a coupla hours. The main trails were excellent packed powder with some powder albeit thicker/wetter by the minute with sun and moderate temps sweeping in. Many sweet bump lines had formed. A gorgeous day. Off piste was possible everywhere with the 2 storms worth of snow providing adequate cushion even in the rockiest areas. It was however very wet and heavy and I can't remember having such a "hop 'n turn" workout at an opening so the muscles are a bit sore to say the least! Also the warmer temps were melting the snow clinging to the branches to the point that it was basically raining in the woods! Got wet. Kinda funny to see that the last of the leaves had actually fallen on *top* of the snow.
They were running the K1 gondy, Snowden Poma, North Ridge (nee Glades) triple and that Snowden chair down at the end of the parking lot. Acess to the Superstar area by crossover. Only problem was the Glades triple. It was down at the start of the day apparently due to a fallen tree close by. It started up mid morning and I did some runs off it after a couple of top to bottoms from K peak. When I went to catch a third ride up the Glades however it was stopped, remained so for 5-10 minutes, then we were told it was down (they did run it enough to get the people off it). We had to disperse and some people started to jump the ropes on the adjacent trails to get down. The loss of the Glades chair of course only increased the crowd at the gondy though I've seen worse. Don't know if/when they got it going again. Switched to K1 and tried some of the stuff in/around Ovation and Superstar. Great stuff there but by then it was noonish and I was whipped after almost 4 hours of hopping around so I bailed.
The parking lot was absolutely jammed. Applying a typical ratio of early weekend-to-midweek skiers would have yielded a respectable # of the latter so any arguments about lack of same don't hold. As we know, people are chompin at the bit early season (and I've always laid blame on the customers for not being as eager for generally better snow come spring). I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have people showing up in the coming days just assuming that they're open. Their loss. Anyway, nice to get back out there.
