Montezuma Bowl Tour

I took a spin in Montezuma Bowl this afternoon skiing Columbine top to bottom. Sorry, I forgot my camera. The snowcats have track packed portions of Upper Larkspur as well as Columbine and Shining Light all the way down to the top of Columbine Step. Columbine Step is that short, steeper pitch a few hundred yards above the bottom terminal of Zuma Lift. The Ski Patrol has deployed numerous snowfences and the avalanche team is still doing extensive work in MGD and West Zuma. Track packing is a term used to describe the snowcats driving and packing down the snow without using the tiller. Simply put, the cats leave a very rough surface instead of one with corduroy. The rough, uneven surfaces are great for catching wind blown snow.



So, we are getting closer. The base is 34". History tells us, we can open Zuma with a 40-ish" inch base. Let's closely watch each weather event. There is a disturbance heading our way for the weekend and some of the longer range forecasts look promising for early January. As Joel Gratz said this morning,"Do your snow dance!"