Red Carpet day! (More on that below).
I have two more days in the books, with most of my time spent teaching. The mountain, especially the ski school, was very busy both days. Even so, the only lines were at the snack bar with both chairs running to the top. I was fortunate that three of my six lessons were students able to ski the main mountain so I got to take advantage of some of the nice conditions even when teaching.
Friday was a lot like Thursday: sun and packed powder. Challenge was thoroughly groomed and was skiing great like everything else. More snow was made in various spots on most trails Thursday night.
When I arrived today, it looked bleak. A thin coating of freezing rain after the grooming was completed meant ice-crusted corduroy. Everything was disturbingly shiny... It made my morning lesson pretty challenging until we got the surface tracked up. As things warmed just above freezing, it rained a bit more. I was pretty much ready to call it a day. Then it all changed by around 10:30. The rain stopped and did not return. The temperatures leveled out around 35. The snow the rest of the day was a pleasant, not too heavy, and easily edgeable surface. Even the woods were in play. All cut trails were open except Doc's Drop, and that includes, for the first time ever, the new Upper Red Carpet trail! The snow that had been made over the last week was pushed around to give some decent cover over the rocks and stumps and a fairly narrow groomed track was created right down the middle. I only got to make one run on it, and it was a lot of fun. Its debut was the talk of the mountain, of course, and a common theme was "that was steeper than I expected". Some had been down it in its previous life as a glade but for many it was the first experience with just how steep that area is. The trail really lives up to its name as you are totally on display between the two chairs and all eyes are on you. I am not sure that the cover on it is enough to withstand the next few days. I have no doubt more snow will be made on it to get it back in shape if needed, once it gets cold again. No such worries on the other trails, with as deep as base as I've ever seen in December.
