Day started with a minor bummer… trudged through slush to walk over to the Snowflake lift only to discover that it was closed for the season. Dangit! So had to drive over to the gondola and pay $17 for parking… that’s a little greedy for a weekday in late April.
High today was about 50. Overcast and minimal wind. Seven inches of snowfall in the past week but none in the past few days.
Minimal wind today and when I see that I prefer to head up to the top of the mountain. Had to take of a bit of a circuitous route to get there due to lift closures… Colorado to T-bar… ski across the top of Horseshoe bowl to Imperial lift.
Did one run down Imperial Bowl. It skied okay… nothing too great. The wind and sun have stripped it of a lot of the best snow and the remaining snow was very compact but not super icy or difficult to cut into.
Next stop was Whale’s Tail… my favorite run on planet earth. I have had great success finding great snow there even late in the season when it’s warm/ hasn’t snowed much recently as it’s just so high on the mountain and so sheltered from the sun and wind.
View from the top of Whale’s Tail. I typically like to ski it right down the middle as that’s the most sheltered snow:
I would give the snow in Whale’s Tail a B- today. Plenty skiable but for an average skier like me it was difficult to cut into and really tear up with a lot of confidence. Kind of a bumpy ride with the hard, compact snow… not soft and forgiving like a pillow like I often find it even in suboptimal conditions. Far from dried out and crusty though so can’t complain.
The few blues I hit in the afternoon were fine as long as I stayed on my edges and stuck to steeper runs. I haven’t gotten my skis waxed in a while and if I skied with my skis flat on the surface it was like slamming on the brakes. A good wax is really key for these conditions.
I realize that a lot of skiers in other states would kill for B- snow in late April but for this spoiled brat it’s time to mostly start chasing fish instead of snow now until the next big storm moves in.
