Perspective

“I asked the boy beneath the pines.
He said: the Master’s gone alone
herb picking somewhere on the mount,
cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown.”
Chia Tao

The Silverlode chair opened today, providing convenient access for touring laps on Granite. With the snow-pack providing good support it seems most runs are being skied, but it was still easy too find a couple of fresh lines. It appears to be dumping outside.

Whitewater Opening

Whitewater opened for the season today, with 39cm of new snow from this past storm providing great coverage (even in the trees) and silky turns, all the regular inbounds terrain (not the new chair yet) open, and only a small crowd, making for a fun full day of lift serviced powder skiing.

A Very Limited Opening at Red

First Slide
Unfortunately the system we were expecting to dump over the past 24hrs didn’t really deliver, dropping just a few centimeters of new snow in the hill. Compared to last week (I’ve been out of town) warming temps have really consolidated the snow-pack, making for creamy turns and limited penetration. I did a quick lap on slides today, and despite the usual hazards of our steep, rocky, overgrown and uncleared terrain, in my judgement the hill is ready to go for experienced skiers (Open Main and Rino’s, with soft closures on the rest of the mountain). Sadly but not surprisingly, I was told while picking up my season’s pass that only Silverlode and the T-bar will be operating on opening day (Saturday). Great news for the kids, but it’s not even close to real skiing. At least Whitewater is opening most of their terrain tomorrow (Friday), which with lots of new snow should be worth checking out.

Filling in on Red

The Face of Red
Just enough time for a quick lap on Red this morning, skiing Red towers into the Face. This last snowfall has made a huge difference. Still trying to be light and smooth, but didn’t hit a thing.