Pajarito-Bred
New member
Heading up-valley Friday night to Snowmass under thickening clouds, we were looking for a bit of fresh powder each day. The first few flurries brightened in the headlights as we turned to the base village.
Sat. morning dawned with thick gray clouds moving fast, no new snow, but 1-3" at least in the forecast.
The wind was coming down the Big Burn liftline stiffly all day so we stayed off the Cirque poma-plus no new snow in 8 days. My dad, girlfriend and I spent the morning searching for scraps of windbuff in the trees near the top, and cruising the groomers down low.
The bumps on Timberline were ragged and uninviting. This year, with the snazzy new Sheer Bliss HSQ, there's a lot more traffic on the same-named run below, but the mtn. has been leaving the moguls to grow a bit here. (looks like it had been groomed a couple days prior, though) With the new lift, this run seems to get a lot more skier traffic, adding a few bumps to this part of the mountain is a great move. Also, the lift is shifted over a bit -now there's a good view down into the narrow canyon run of Garrett Gulch, exposing one of the great secret runs at Snowmass. I'm not too enthusiastic about this bit of "progress".
The stormclouds promised all day, but delivered only wind. Oh well, snow is still in the forecast.....
And was in the forecast on Sunday morning too, but not even a single fresh flake on the ground. I'd hoped to try out my new w-i-d-e telemark skis in at least a few inches of fresh, but took them out anyway to try on the hard-pack. After nine days of dry weather, it ain't "packed powder" anymore. Hard to tell how much of the ski's smoothness was from the ski, and how much from the new, stiffer bindings -certainly no contribution from the operator. We spent the day on the freshest grooming we could find, plus the top part of Showcase under the HIgh Alpine lift-- Tele'ing the steep toothy old bumps at the bottom did not look appealing.
The mountain was quite uncrowded, no lift lines, lots of empty chairs. The brunt of the storm finally hit Sunday night, on the way home, dumping sheets of rain along the Colorado river. Arrrr, maybe next week we'll have better weather luck.
Sat. morning dawned with thick gray clouds moving fast, no new snow, but 1-3" at least in the forecast.
The wind was coming down the Big Burn liftline stiffly all day so we stayed off the Cirque poma-plus no new snow in 8 days. My dad, girlfriend and I spent the morning searching for scraps of windbuff in the trees near the top, and cruising the groomers down low.
The bumps on Timberline were ragged and uninviting. This year, with the snazzy new Sheer Bliss HSQ, there's a lot more traffic on the same-named run below, but the mtn. has been leaving the moguls to grow a bit here. (looks like it had been groomed a couple days prior, though) With the new lift, this run seems to get a lot more skier traffic, adding a few bumps to this part of the mountain is a great move. Also, the lift is shifted over a bit -now there's a good view down into the narrow canyon run of Garrett Gulch, exposing one of the great secret runs at Snowmass. I'm not too enthusiastic about this bit of "progress".
The stormclouds promised all day, but delivered only wind. Oh well, snow is still in the forecast.....
And was in the forecast on Sunday morning too, but not even a single fresh flake on the ground. I'd hoped to try out my new w-i-d-e telemark skis in at least a few inches of fresh, but took them out anyway to try on the hard-pack. After nine days of dry weather, it ain't "packed powder" anymore. Hard to tell how much of the ski's smoothness was from the ski, and how much from the new, stiffer bindings -certainly no contribution from the operator. We spent the day on the freshest grooming we could find, plus the top part of Showcase under the HIgh Alpine lift-- Tele'ing the steep toothy old bumps at the bottom did not look appealing.
The mountain was quite uncrowded, no lift lines, lots of empty chairs. The brunt of the storm finally hit Sunday night, on the way home, dumping sheets of rain along the Colorado river. Arrrr, maybe next week we'll have better weather luck.