Mt Snow 4/5/06 Powder!!

[cd]

What a treat. They said 5" and I'd heard about more in the area so got there first thing. Only had the Canyon and a N Face lift running but that was enuff! On the way up the front I'm looking at the woods with brown showing and thinking "No way 5 inches!" but the N Face said otherwise! Easily that and the abundant driftage (and it had obviously come down windy) was much deeper in many spots, along many entire lines for that matter!

Find of the day was Chute, normally a pretty obvious one. It has been bumped of late and they've generally been pretty bulletproof pounders. Today they were that underneath and at the wind scoured top couple of lift poles worth, which apparently kept people off it until I got there! There was one cat track that hugged skiers right and switched to skiers left about 2/3 way down but everything else was absolutely untouched even by patrol (unless the cat followed their tracks exactly). The powder was deep and nicely packed, boot deep or better between the bumps and plenty even on top of em, but definitely *powder* throughout as opposed to windslab! Got first tracks, kept looking back but nobody was following, got back to top...and got second tracks! Unreal. Back to the top and got *third* tracks until the last pitch when someone ventured over from Fallen Timbers and I just had to say "gee, about time!". We both whooped it up as only fresh-trackers do and then I went off for other adventures....of which there were many.

Can't expect it to last and I'm sure the Thanksgiving>Easter doctrine will be in full effect (I think I saw the fat lady's tour bus comin up Rt100) but whatta nice treat. April 5, one of the best days this year (and would be memorable in any year), go figure. I guess it should be no surprise in a season that started with a 30" Oct (temp) opening at Kmart....

 

[Lftgly]

Great report, CD! I wish I could have escaped work on Wednesday to join you!

Was there any base left in the trees under that 5" of fresh?

Up here at Cannon, it was almost an insult to get the first decent snowfall in a month falling on mostly bare trails, three days after the lifts stopped running - hardly worth hiking or skinning up, without any base.

One of the 2 guys I met last week in Oakes Gulf, Swanny, is from NoHo. You've probably run across him at Mt. Snow, too.

 

[cd]

Yeah there was/is still enough base in the trees on the N Face, but for once I stuck to the open slopes as they promote the driftage that can make such a nice deep powder day out of a 5-6" snowfall!

Of course, true to form I now read that they're cutting and running a week early with closing day tomorrow. The lord may giveth (with help from snowmaking in a season like this) but the beancounters taketh away. Front side cover is definitely thinner than past years (though there's plenty) but the N. Face will again close covered thickly top to bottom and side to side.

 

[cd]

I returned yesterday for my now traditional hike up the perfectly skiable but corporately shuttered Snow. I call it my 'Twilite Zone' trip as it always reminds me of the those TZ episodes where someone finds themselves the sole inhabitant of an otherwise normal looking city.

The front side has a lot of bare ground to be sure but the main routes are covered fully and thickly. The N Face is always the best however. Ripcord is never as good as it is right now- perfect soft bumps. For it's short length I still say it's one of the very steepest in the east. The cover will be there for quite awhile to say the least. Annual props to the snowmakers even if their hard fought handiwork is again being left to rot in the sun.