It was colder then a bear at daybreak so morning pictures are limited — every shot was a set back for fingertip warmth. Temps were below zero when I left the cabin, but it warmed up nicely later.
Gondi had brake trouble this morning, so I gave up first place in Gondi line and went over to the triple. First run on Showcase, ok but not great. Hit the natural north. Tawahas was decent skiers left, Sleeping Bear was probably better with snowmaking on it.
Took Wood Lot over to Lift 6 to access the summit. When the Gondi goes down it takes the masses a while to figure out they should get over to the High Peaks Chair. The result is if you push it to get there quick, you get first shot at a lot of stuff.
Hit Lower Steilhang, soft snow on top of quality manmade whales, with some hidden death chunks. It’s possible that Lies was better than yesterday. In the morning guns were still on. Leaps and bounds skiing over big soft bumps.
Around 10, I started lapping the Straightbrook Chair, hoping to run into Jeff, Adk Keith, or Powderqueen. I ran into PDQ’s gang first, all 13 of them. We actually crossed Adk Keith’s path but mobilizing a group that big is tough. We never connected.
PDQ introduced me to EdeO. Thanks PDQ – a great experience to ski with such a knowledgeable Gore teleskier. We did more Lies.
LiesFest ended, and we spent the rest of the day in the trees.
A great way to spend a Saturday. Cold, but conditions were pretty good. And the views were spectacular.
Open Pit was our pick of the day with nice carvable man-made. The edges of Sunway and Quicksilver were nice as well. And if the East chair wasn’t so comically cold, we would’ve lapped upper Sunway in front of those 2 fan guns. Softest manmade ever!
Since it was the wife’s first day this year, and her first with her new boots, we only put in a few laps on the Summit chair, and mostly stayed on the lower mountain. Nice, easy, and relaxing.
I’m worried how conditions are gonna hold up next weekend with the holiday crowd. Even with a relatively light crowd and improved snow conditions this weekend, you could already see that the trails were being stressed by 11am. The mountain REALLY needs some help from mother nature…
Great report, Harv!
I was lapping Straightbrook and Topridge some of the late morning and later aftern0on Saturday and most of the day Sunday, so I’d be surprised if we didn’t run into each other somewhere along there.
The rest of my group was busy taking care of family members on the trails, so I was solo and didn’t venture into the trees. I think I’d need to start with the Tahawus glades first. They looked a little crusty and thin to my eye, though. The Chat glades looked great, but probably over my head.
I’m in complete agreement with Matty’s comments about Open Pit. Wonderful run, and with a quick left back onto Cloud, it’s a nice return to the High Peak chair which is probably my favorite. (Running Open Pit over to Straightbrook is pretty good, too!) Lower Steilhang may be my favorite. When I saw your pics of that and Lies on Friday (and Sat AM), I was seriously envious that I didn’t get to them earlier. I didn’t get to Lies until around noon Sunday.
I saw that crowd waiting for the gondi on Saturday morning, but I made a beeline for the #1 chair at 8:30 sharp. I’ve never been a fan of gondis anyway. I couldn’t believe all those people would stand there for an hour or better waiting. I lapped Sunway twice with my buddy’s daughter who was snowboarding, and needed a green warmup, then we wandered over to the double chair for some Upper/Lower Cloud and Santanoni. (I forgot how much boarders hate those runouts like Wood In.) After he showed up to ski with her for awhile I slipped off by myself.
Thanks again for the interviews and letting me ramble.
Matty – Three days of skiing and I never hit Open Pit or Topridge and only hit Sunway to QuickSilver first thing before the summit was open.
Got to agree with the placement of those fan guns at the Saddle. It’s a step in the right direction. I still think they should run a snow fence parallel to traffic in the saddle, to catch some of that windblown snow.
Holiday looks like it is going to be tough. And it may be the best skiing for a while I fear. I’m holding on to 2007… nothing before mid-Feb and an epic year in the final analysis.
Tom – If ChatiTrees are over your head, it sounds like we could ski together. I’m regularly in there, but probably over matched under current conditions.
I lucked out at the Gondi. I was right up front and I heard the conversation about how long it was going to take. I headed over to the triple for a serving of frostnip.
Actually worked out pretty well for me. The summit was deserted for half the morning.
I see those signs … don’t go into the trees alone. I just can’t abide by them. I live for the trees, and unfortunately I ski alone a lot. Not sure how to work that one out in my head. I DO REMOVE POLE STRAPS, does that count?
Okay, removing the pole straps makes it okay. Helmet and goggles too, right?
Listen to me – I sound like an OSHA inspector!
Seriously, I need to get out and work on my tree and tele skills. I’ve skied alpine exclusively up until now this season. I think next week I’ll schedule a “me-only” daytime visit at my local hill for some practice.
Maybe sometime if the rest of the tele and tree gang schedules a trip to Gore I’ll try to make it up there. If you guys can stand another student tagging along, I’d love to soak up some tips from the masters!