Bristol Conditions

[Johnny V.]

Spent the late morning and early afternoon running slalom gates at Hunt Hollow. Primarily skied Glade as Main Street is not open top to bottom and the gates were on Glade. HH doesn't have the snowmaking capability that Bristol has so they don't have as much of their terrain open. Their Masters training series is great though-$50.00 for a lift ticket and 3 hours of gates.

Came back to the Italy Hill cabin then headed for Bristol with my wife to see my granddaughter HS race. Ran into a later day skier we know who said it was icy. I had arranged in advance to forerun the race, so I geared up and skied down Comet to the ladies tee start (just above the headwall on Comet). Inspected the course then came back around and hung out until it was time to go. Course was firm and fast-I was slow, but didn't embarrass myself..........The only thing I skied was the top part of Comet and that was fine, although I had sharp race skis. My granddaughter did very well, especially for the longest and steepest course she's raced on so far-very proud of her!

Bristol was a zoo as might be expected for a Friday night which is a good thing for the mountain. Nice to see them busy. Lines were long and the usual chair loading cluster happened constantly where groups of four ditch two of the group and go up in pairs. I thought about making a run or two after I got done watching my granddaughter, but looked at the lines and said "naaa".

Skipping today, but will be there tomorrow with our daughter and grandkids.

 

[Johnny V.]

Two day report. Yesterday was nice-sun and reasonable temps. Got out around 8:45, did a couple of runs (Comet was great that early, then looked for my daughter and the younger kids. Kept missing them-she got them to their lesson groups, then was in the office replacing a lost pass. Finally met up with her and we did some easy runs-the Loop then the backside which softened up nicely in the sun. Crowded, but nice enough to make it worthwhile, especially spending time with my daughter. Had a party to go to, so I left around 1:00 or so. Today-overcast with occasional brighter spots. Guns on Upper Meteor, Lower Northstar and Skyway. They should be open soon. Conditions were decent with the usual slick spots in the usual area. Crowds weren't too bad-I think the cold and wind kept people inside. Left around 11:30-busy enough with flat light and OK at best conditions made me decide it was enough for today. B netting was being taken down on Comet, so that will probably get resurfacing tomorrow. Conditions will be perfect for snowmaking the next week or so and there's water in the pond.

 

[Johnny V.]

Best snow of the year! Pretty much hero conditions-It's such a great feeling when you can trust your edges and the sun is out. It was COLD though-I think about 7or 8 degrees when I pulled in the parking lot. Most trails were great-did a run down Lower Northstar knowing I would hike at the end-not worth a second trip as it was hard corduroy. Guns on Comet which was closed, Upper Meteor and Sunset which were open and Sunbelt. Skied from 9-11:30 or so when I took a break. Went back out and did a couple more, sun was going away, flat light and increasing wind. Did a trip up the Crawler which finished me for the day-I'd had enough of the cold. They are doing what they should with the cold temps!

 

[Andy_ROC]

Thanks for the update. Does it annoy you when they don't run the Galaxy chair? Are there weekdays that they will run it?

Probably gonna ski this weekend. Need to get at least one day on skis before I do 5 at Big Sky.

 

[Johnny V.]

Does it annoy you when they don't run the Galaxy chair?

If they fill in the area above the chair you can make it over to the base with a little effort. Nice to ski Lower and get early tracks. Big thing is you can't ski it top to bottom. They ran it during the week some last year, but who knows this year.

 

[Spencer]

I believe they run it athur-Fri but that is based off past seasons from what I recall. I actually prefer when it is not running sometimes, preserves the hill.

Comet closed…for snowmaking. I will never understand that.

 

[Johnny V.]

I believe they run it athur-Fri but that is based off past seasons from what I recall. I actually prefer when it is not running sometimes, preserves the hill.

Comet closed…for snowmaking. I will never understand that.

They are pounding snow on it. Big whales. Most weekday Bristol skiers wouldn't ski it anyway. Tuesday is a good day to do it with plenty of other terrain especially Upper Meteor open. You could cut over to Outer Orbit (which was nice) from Rocket.

 

[Johnny V.]

Overcast today............snow not nearly as good as yesterday with several scraped off spots. Galaxy chair was running which opened up laps on the north side-as usual Rick the liftie has his bad puns on the whiteboard! Huge whales on Comet-not open, but should be lots wider when they groom it out. Guns on Sunset with big whales there also. Second day on Upper Meteor wasn't bad and improved as it got skied. Temps rose during the day, but wind still made it feel cold.