Waking Up

Nothing like those first rays of sunshine hitting the Top O' Pali and the top of Little Lenawee Peak.

More Perfect Days

We have had a couple of really, really beautiful days. The skiing is superb. The forecast for Saturday, "mostly sunny with a high near 30." The forecast for Sunday, "the snow could be heavy at times." Again, everywhere I went today to snow was fantastic. Glockenspiel Glade, Columbine, The Spine - such a treat. This is a very good set up, sunny Saturday, snowy Sunday. I love it. What a great weekend for skiing and riding.

Willie's Wide Hiking

Hiking season has begun on the East Wall. The Willie's Wide staircase opened Wednesday. Hikers enjoyed a tour up to Borgy Rock. The hike is terrible, long, steep and painful. At the same time, many folks, including me, think hiking the Willie's Staircase, soaking in the view and skiing one of its chutes, is the best and most intense experience at The Basin.

Four Lanes Of Grooming In Zuma

The Cat Drivers (Operators) had a big, big night in Montezuma Bowl. The winch cat was going to town. They laid down four big, wide lanes of corduroy in Long Chute, Larkspur, Columbine and Northern Spy. There was a great view of the grooming riding up Zuma Lift. Even better, the grooming was a great ski heading down.

Summit View

I don't know what to say, today was another stellar day at The Basin. We reported 3" of new snow, most of which fell overnight. The sun was out. The snow was soft. I took several great runs. For a Tuesday, it was a fairly busy day and I was skiing un-tracked snow in Pioneer Willy in the middle of the afternoon. The East Wall was skiing well and I think the Willie's Wide and North Pole hiking isn't too far away.

Skiing Obscure Places

Today was another fine powder day with 6" new this morning and 2" yesterday. The skiing was superb. I spent the morning checking out some of the more obscure places in the ski area. There were runs in Peaceful Valley, The Bald Spot, Elephant's Trunk, Black Forest and The Crags. These are places found around the edges of the ski area. The vertical might not be quite as big and the window of prime skiing might be a little shorter.  But, when the time is right, these zones can be outstanding. This morning was one of those times. They are rarely visited and on a powder day, they are the last to be skied up. They were soft and deep and lightly tracked today.

Heading Down Elephant's Trunk

5th Steep Gully

It was another powder day Sunday. As expected, the crowds were light. We reported 2" of new snow in the morning and it snowed all day. There are a few inches of snow sitting on the Flaming A webcam image as I write. North Side, Steep Gullies, Beavers, Dorsey's Downhill, you name it, the skiing was awesome. The merriment in Marnie's at the end of the day, even better !!

Enjoying the  5th Steep Gully

More East Wall News

The same portion of the Wall that was open yesterday, was opened again today at about the same time. The Snow Safety Team spent most of the day aggressively managing the northern half of The Wall. An early morning avalauncher session brought down substantial slides in TJ's Cornice, Hershey's and Birthday Chutes. The storm that is rolling in right now could be pretty good. Having these big slide events in a closed and managed setting significantly reduces our avalanche concern. Opening status through this next storm will be day to day and hour and hour depending on what weather events actually happen. Generally speaking, the slides and another storm bode well for quality East Wall skiing.