Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Snorkelnose

Yesterday was alright. About 1 PM I hopped on Lenawee with a woman from Longmont. The first words out of her mouth were, "What an incredible day." Shortly after that, I started hiking up the Willie's Wide staircase with the goal of skiing Snorkelnose. The staircase is steep and heads directly to Arizona Rock. After a breather at the Rock, the staircase continues diagonally upwards to the "Snorkel Door". That location has to be my favorite spot in the ski area. It is along haul up there and I only make it once or twice per season, but the view is simply fantastic. There are not many places in ski areas that provide that experience. With Patio and Judd, we dropped into Snorkelnose, the chute immediately north of Willie's Wide. The snow at the top was pretty good, maybe a little stiff. As we were worked our way day, it got better and better. The lower half was perfect powder. It was a very special "in area ski tour."