Sunday, January 17, 2016

One Of Those Zuma Days

To some 6" of new snow might not sound like a lot. It is a different story at The Basin. This morning we reported 6", the wind direction was from a near perfect 300 degrees, and it snowed all day. It was my typical Sunday off so Kay and I loaded Pali Lift just after opening at 8:30. We spent a bit of time skiing Pali especially The Spine, The Face and The Alleys. Skiing deep snow in those places is way fun.

After a quick break at Black Mountain Lodge, we headed to Montezuma Bowl. I am not sure what superlatives to use, but it was over the top. After we had a quick ski in Grays, the Ski Patrol opened the MGD zone. We had fantastic runs in Long Chute and Max. And then it got better. Dr. Zarter opened the West Zuma gate and we lapped Jump three times rarely crossing a track. We might have reported 6", but I can tell you skiing Jump was more than double that amount. Today that run was absolutely perfectly aligned with the wind and was just plain "phat." Of course, the wind was cold and strong and the visibility was extremely limited, but getting that many face shots it didn't really matter.

Catching MGD and West Zuma in those conditions is as good as it gets.