tseeb
Well-known member
I parked below and hiked up to Timber Creek chair at ~855. Liftee said there would be a 15-20 minute grooming hold. WTF?! I dropped a few F--- Vails and luckily quickly caught a shuttle to main base where both Cornice and Solitude chairs were also on grooming hold. I loaded Reut chair and took a warmup run on empty, groomed and as fast as you wanted to go Wagon Trail. When going up chair I noticed dog running up after patroller who was riding The Wall chair.
E-facing Cornice was now loading so I did three laps on Zachary's.
Guy I shared chair with said groomers had left an ungroomed swatch between grooming passes and it was not noticed in time to open lifts as scheduled. OK, but what if you were only going to be there for an hour and they cost you 25-33% of your skiing. At least it's better than the firm snow hold I once encountered on low intermediate Timber Creek but WTF VAIL?!
Snow on E-facing groomed Zachary's got better as it was skied. It was a little thin where it rolled and turned a little more SE near top of Solitude chair, but no rocks or dirt. I moved to the Wall about 10 to ski E-facing Eagle Bowl to get to chair 2 to the Backside/Sunrise/chair 4. The Wall was firm but skiable and Eagle Bowl was very good corn snow if you moved to where there was enough sun. Looking up the Wall, then up and down Eagle Bowl. Chair 2 and Red Lake Peak in background to left.
Backside was excellent. I only skied Elevator Shaft once, hitting 46 mph, most likely the highest of my trip if not my season. Photo showing from the Wave to Elevator Shaft and biggest crowds I saw on groomer returning from near the Wave and coming down Elevator Shaft. Very light crowds compared to Snowbird,
I followed patroller towards Thunder Saddle finding some good corn in S-facing part of gully between Cold Shoulder and Larry's Lip. Thunder Saddle was firm, but skiable. I rode chair 2 and skied Whiskey Slide and Low Whiskey finding some thin snow on low-angle N-facing and good snow on low-angle W-facing. I did another lap on the Reut skiing Buckboard which was not groomed but OK. Creek ate into snow above Kirkwood base. There were also some rain-ruts visible on traverse from Sunrise to Thunder Saddle. The sky was really that incredible blue and even more intense with my goggles.
I finished my day with two laps on Cornice skiing top of Zachary's then cutting to right into more challenging, ungroomed Monte Wolfe. then finishing on Mokelumne. My last lap on Cornice was down Sentinel, a little early as it was still mostly too firm but smooth. Then I did a Timber Creek lap and got to my car a few minutes after noon. A small celebration including 60th anniversary beer from Castle Mountain for surviving the 23/24 days skiing.
Trip home was just under 3.5 hrs not counting stop at Lockeford Meats for sausage including their famous Smoked Dakotas that we split one of for dinner along with sauteed peppers and onions my wife cooked and local asparagus I bought at re-opened fruit stand before getting to freeway and BBQ'd. Sorry no photos of that.
My trip totaled 3,620 miles and car said I averaged 53.2 mph. On my way down CA-88 my car said it was 72F when I got to 2500' elevation where I had heavy snow early last April. At my house the high today was 81F and we are expecting it to be close to 90F next Mon/Tues.
E-facing Cornice was now loading so I did three laps on Zachary's.
Snow on E-facing groomed Zachary's got better as it was skied. It was a little thin where it rolled and turned a little more SE near top of Solitude chair, but no rocks or dirt. I moved to the Wall about 10 to ski E-facing Eagle Bowl to get to chair 2 to the Backside/Sunrise/chair 4. The Wall was firm but skiable and Eagle Bowl was very good corn snow if you moved to where there was enough sun. Looking up the Wall, then up and down Eagle Bowl. Chair 2 and Red Lake Peak in background to left.
Backside was excellent. I only skied Elevator Shaft once, hitting 46 mph, most likely the highest of my trip if not my season. Photo showing from the Wave to Elevator Shaft and biggest crowds I saw on groomer returning from near the Wave and coming down Elevator Shaft. Very light crowds compared to Snowbird,
I followed patroller towards Thunder Saddle finding some good corn in S-facing part of gully between Cold Shoulder and Larry's Lip. Thunder Saddle was firm, but skiable. I rode chair 2 and skied Whiskey Slide and Low Whiskey finding some thin snow on low-angle N-facing and good snow on low-angle W-facing. I did another lap on the Reut skiing Buckboard which was not groomed but OK. Creek ate into snow above Kirkwood base. There were also some rain-ruts visible on traverse from Sunrise to Thunder Saddle. The sky was really that incredible blue and even more intense with my goggles.
I finished my day with two laps on Cornice skiing top of Zachary's then cutting to right into more challenging, ungroomed Monte Wolfe. then finishing on Mokelumne. My last lap on Cornice was down Sentinel, a little early as it was still mostly too firm but smooth. Then I did a Timber Creek lap and got to my car a few minutes after noon. A small celebration including 60th anniversary beer from Castle Mountain for surviving the 23/24 days skiing.
Trip home was just under 3.5 hrs not counting stop at Lockeford Meats for sausage including their famous Smoked Dakotas that we split one of for dinner along with sauteed peppers and onions my wife cooked and local asparagus I bought at re-opened fruit stand before getting to freeway and BBQ'd. Sorry no photos of that.
My trip totaled 3,620 miles and car said I averaged 53.2 mph. On my way down CA-88 my car said it was 72F when I got to 2500' elevation where I had heavy snow early last April. At my house the high today was 81F and we are expecting it to be close to 90F next Mon/Tues.