Just finished up a nice little skin up to Black Mountain Lodge. I was lucky to catch the late day sunshine on the Divide. Today was another beauty. It looks like we will have partly sunny weather Wednesday and Thursday. There is another big storm brewing out there to the west and we might see snow falling on Friday and through the weekend. It just keeps getting better.
The day was as good as I was hoping for. With the slow start to the Colorado ski season, I think there has been some pent up demand. Today, the skiing was tremendous. We had a few morning clouds and then it turned into a near perfect bluebird day. The place was crawling with happy people. Everywhere I went, from the parking lots to the restaurants to the lifts to the trails, I had nothing, but great encounters with smiling people. And tonight we are going to top it off with a Black Mountain Lodge Moonlight Dinner - The Foods of South America.
Geez, that was good. This afternoon I skied several runs in Black Bear, MGD and West Zuma. So much fun. By the sheer luck of good timing, I got into Jump pretty early on - which meant skiing some sweet powder. As fantastic as today was in stormy weather, tomorrow, with a high of 20 F and sunny skies, is going to be - oh my - the best.
We have had 70 inches of snow in January including 8 inches over the last four days. Tomorrow should deliver a few more inches and the weekend looks to be mostly sunny. With the snow surface being unbelievable and the forecasted Colorado bluebird skies, the weekend is shaping up to be those classic "A-Basin kind of days."
The Ski Patrollers and Cat Drivers have been covering lots of ground and doing everything they can to deliver more and more skiing and riding. This afternoon should see an opening of MGD in Montezuma Bowl. It keeps getting better
Montezuma Bowl opened about 11 AM today. We started with the central core, Upper Larkspur and Columbine, being open and added much of the 14'ers a little later. The cat work back there was exceptional. The lift crew and the patrollers also put a lot into the opening. In the coming days, we will be widening the terrain, conducting avalanche mitigation steps and working towards the steeper stuff.
Still dumping and we reported 8 inches of new snow this morning. It has snowed a few inches since report time. Let's call it a foot new......so far.
We have a ton of new snow in Montzema Bowl. The lift crew spent a bunch of time digging out the bottom terminal of the lift. We have two snowcats back there today. The Ski Patrol is busy trying to get The Beavers open "side to side". Once they are done there, they will head back to Zuma. A lot of their work cannot be done while the cats are winching and on the move. As the cats wind down their work, the patrollers will ramp up theirs.
When I say Zuma is buried, there is a huge smile on my face.
The Dog Woods are Deep. The four gladed trails, Digger, Alex, Jetta and Jaeger, were named after our first four avalanche dogs. We have reported new snow for 13 days in a row and 32 inches over the last 4 days. Needless to say, the skiing has been incredible.
The Beavers are open and going strong. The Dog Woods opened today with exceptional conditions. We have have more work to do, but in the coming days, we can look forward to opening the Thick and Thin / Face Shot / Bailey Brothers zone as well as Pioneer Willy / Glockenspiel and the glades west of Loafer. This is going to be THE WEEK. You don't want to miss these conditions.
......And, oh yeah, it is going to snow Wednesday and Thursday.
This has been a weekend to remember. The highways and the winds were tough, but the skiing has been over the top. At least one person I spoke with thought Sunday was his best day ever at The Basin. It was that good.
What can we expect next? Quite a bit of snow fell during the day today. Tuesday morning will be very cold and I think we will have a slow start, but temps should be ski-comfortable by the afternoon. The remainder of the week looks like good winter temperatures and maybe another 1/2 foot of snow Wednesday and Thursday. Great ski weather.
With all the snow, the Patrollers and Cat Drivers will be playing catch up all week. Expect a lot of terrain to open on the North Side and The Beavers. The Upper Mountain will lose a lot of closures with more wide open alpine skiing. The big nugget is Montezuma Bowl. The winch cat was back there all day today and that will be repeated throughout the week. The stormy weather and limited visibility prevented us from seeing much back there the last couple days, but I expect some major changes. Getting that zone open takes a lot a cat work and patrol work. If all goes well, we just might have Zuma Lift - and actually all of our lifts - open by the weekend.
The Pallavicini Trail is open for the season. I just took my first Spine lap of 2024. Oh, was it sweet. The snow was soft and blown in. The turns were everything you hope for. The forecast for snow and wind should favor this zone. It is willow-y at the bottom, but the skiing is PHENOMENAL.
Have I told you, of all the ski trails I have skied on four different continents, The Spine is my favorite?
This morning is the 8th day in a row that we have reported new snow. Heavy snow is forecast over the weekend. The place has changed. The sun popped out briefly yesterday afternoon. The skiing is great. The Beavers Lift is open. We will be skiing more and more of the North Side. If you have been waiting, I think your wait is over.
It is that time of year. Beginning Saturday, January 13, on weekends and holidays from 6 AM to Noon, the Early Riser Lot will be free for people carpooling with 3 or more people and cost $20 for those cars with less than 3 people per car. After 12 Noon, parking is free in Early Riser if space is available. High Noon and Last Chance Lots remain free this season.
I know some of you love this program and others don't. This is part of our effort on busier days to get everybody a parking space, manage to our comfortable carrying capacity, keep the highway moving and make sure Basin skiers and riders get to enjoy The Basin. The goal is to have fewer cars with more people, not make more money. I would be ecstatic if we had 100% carpoolers in Early Riser.
This year's team of new patrollers have just completed their initial training are now officially Ski Patrollers, red coat and all. Their training involved all kinds of stuff including emergency medical care, toboggan handling, risk management, trail maintenance, lift evacuation, avalanche management and lots more. Despite being a very challenging job in a tough physical environment, this is an exciting time for the crew. Now the real patrolling begins. Welcome aboard.
The new snow has been good. The Ski Patrol has been doing some directed skiing on Pali Main Street and Pali Face. It is a little thin, but there is some very good snow and soft turns. As we do this a bit at a time, mixing up the snow from each storm, the snow gets packed nicely prepping for a regular opening in the future. Most importantly, these continued impacts break up the snow slabs and reduce potential propagation pathways mitigating avalanche concerns.
And........it is really fun.
We have seen some light steady snowfall over the last couple of days. I just skied Loafer with Louis. It has been tilled top to bottom. This morning's 2" were on top of the corduroy. The one weak spot is the steep pitch just above timberline. With the forecast snow and wind, I think the snowcats will get that pitch in shape. I anticipate that all of us will be skiing Loafer, maybe Tuesday-ish. Stay tuned for more details.
We are in our final snowmaking effort of the season, making snow at the top of Norway and on Lenawee Face. Operating our snowmaking system involves roughly one gazillion rules. Of special note, we are only allowed to divert water through December 31 each season. So, at midnight on New Year's Eve, we plugged the diversion. While no longer diverting, there was a little bit of water still in the reservoir. Today and yesterday we are converting that final water into snow on Norway and Lenawee Face.
