I took a couple of fine skiing laps on Slalom Slope this morning. The Ski Patrol has done some limited openings here. Managing snow in terrain like this can be a delicate situation. When snow gets packed or disrupted, it gets firmer. When it gets firmer, it holds up better to skier traffic. As we start getting snow on trails like Slalom Slope, the Ski Patrol starts ski cutting and boot packing. As the snow gets deeper, we start doing limited openings, basically getting a few people on the trail for limited periods of time. If we put too much pressure on the snow too quickly, it simply gets skied to the ground. It is a delicate blending of putting the right pressure on the snow, not over-doing the pressure and giving our guests great skiing (and they really want great skiing).
Right now with a little bit of traffic, Slalom Slope is skiing very nicely. We should see some snow tomorrow. We will continue to put traffic on the trail, packing it nicely, integrating the new snow with the old snow. We want to avoid simply tearing it up. It also it looks like more snow starting Thursday. If these storms come through, we will be in a really good place.
Somewhere in the middle of all this activity, we will likely get Pali Lift open for the season.
