1/13/13 Trip Report

[Schif]

So I had nothing better to do tonight, and the weather was perfect so I hopped in the car and headed up to Sno Mountain at Montage, or whatever they happen to be calling it today. The weather was in the very high 50s around 4:30 when I pulled into the lot which was about halfway full. I put on a fleece over a t-shirt and then zipped on my shell and headed down to the window to pick up my ticket. Since I hadn't been up the Shuttle lift at all this year I decided to ride it up since I was right there and I went over to the terrain park from there. Park Crew was out doing their thing, raking and fixing lips, and they were doing a nice job on what they had closed, but it was obvious they were fighting an uphill battle. Soft Slushy snow and a ton of weekend warriors were doing a number on the park. I actually saw a girl pole her way up the ramp of one of the jumps, and then stop right on the lip and balance there for almost 30 seconds while she was waiting for someone behind her. Worst bit of smart style I have ever seen. There were some decent sized brown patches in the park and between the weather and the weekend traffic, it could use a rebuild.

 

I was pretty much over the park after I took a spill on one of the boxes at the end and I finished the trail and made the right hand turn onto Lower Runaway, which was the most recent opening on the lower half of the mountain. The intersection of the trail was terrible, huge brown spots and very thin base, most of the rest of the trail was alright, but there were some small patches of dirt poking through every now and then. The little cutover to get back to Phoebe Snow lift was very bad, and I had to be very careful and ride on the very edge of the path to stay in the snow. I was downright hot when I got to the top of the lift, so I ran over to my car (about 20 yards away) and dropped the fleece and shell for a lightweight zip up hoodie. Definitely a good choice, I was very comfortable after that.

 

The rest of the northface where I stayed after that was actually still really good. When you get on Phoebe Snow and you go over the creek it was roaring! The sound of the rushing water was actually louder than the music in my headphones. Usually it's a trickle this time of year I then cruised over to the top of Boomer which was really great hero snow. Half of it was fantastic bumps and the other half was smooth and super fast. I went through all the trails on the NorthFace one by one and none of them showed any major signs other than the soft snow or a major melt. No thin spots or rocks anywhere. The spillway before cannonball coming off of Phoebe Snow lift was a little brown, but nothing too terrible. The worst areas of melting I saw was a spot in the base area where the pavers were fully exposed, and the big gaping spots on the Park and lower runaway.

 

Everything else seemed to be pretty well covered, at least I didn't notice any major damage to my board at the end of the night. As the night went on the crowd thinned out a lot, by 530 I didn't have to wait more than one or two chairs. Run of the Night was probably Boomer again because it was just super smooth and awesomely fast, Cannonball was seeing a lot of traffic and even though the snow was great, it was a little rutted up from people pushing it all around on the headwalls and you had to be really on your toes to stay upright and not catch any unintended air when you bombed the headwalls. White Lightning had a few spots on it that were much firmer than I expected them to be, and I slid a little on these spots but it wasn't too bad, that's the only reason it wasn't run of the night, but a very close second.

 

All in all I cruised around for about 2 hours and headed home a little after 7. A fun session at the best mountain overlooking a Longhorn Steakhouse in the world. I've got some pics from friday, but I still never uploaded them so maybe I'll do that tomorrow. Hope whoever read this enjoyed it because it doesn't seem like we have very many Sno folks here anymore.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Thanks for taking the time to post it up... Sounds like they are doing just fine... Hopefully the thaw will be over soon!!!

[KCSKI]

Thanks for the report..I know, I'm a week late here..but regardless the more interaction we get from all of you the better. Was actually getting that sinking feeling on these few days that we were headed toward another disasterous Non Winter like last year....so glad that this has been replaced by the sight of snow and cold temps..with more snow on the way.