Sunday’s forecast looked to be promising earlier in the week, but that changed on Saturday, and neither Dan or I had real high expectations of a great day. Since we’d already made plans to head to the Pass, we figured it was worth the short drive up highway 58 to see how the day would develop. The snow phone was reporting 5 inches overnight, which was better than the snotels, so the morning was filled with cautious optimism. It was snowing hard when we arrived at the area, and continued to snow all morning long.
We ended up catching the first chair with Jensen and a couple other locals, as well as Joe who we met up with in the patrol room. The turns were pretty sweet, with about 8-10 inches of fresh on both the upper and lower mountain. We continued to pound out runs on both the front and backsides of the hill until about 11:30, then headed down for a quick lunch and to grab the skins for a little sidecountry action.
Joe had to leave a little earlier that we did, so he stayed at the Pass, and Dan and I headed out on skins to check out one of our favorite local spots. Switching over to skins is always a good feeling after riding the lifts for a few hours, and the snow was light and deep underfoot — around 16-18 inches deep. A short time later, we were in position to drop in. After making a couple of ski cuts, it was time to open in up for some untracked powder turns…
The powder was some of the best in recent memory, and we both were stoked at the bottom of the run. It didn’t take long to change over to skins and head back up to do it all again…
Skinning outside the area during a snowstorm is always so quiet and serene. Less than a mile away hundreds of skiers are ripping it up and the lifts are noisily spinning, while outside the area the pace is calm, steady and quiet. We reached the top in short order, and enjoyed a quick break to drink a beer and transition before dropping in for more turns.
Our second line was as good as the first, and faceshots were had all the way down. We ended up making a third lap before it was time to head back to the car, and it continued puking on us all afternoon. By the time we worked our way back to the area, there was 20 inches of fresh snow on the ground.
We had enough time left to make a couple more runs in the area before the lifts shut down for good, and both of our legs were pretty burned by the end of the day. Sitting in the car in the parking lot, munching on chips and salsa, it continued to snow heavily. Neither of us could believe how good the day turned out to be, and it just goes to show, you never know what it’ll be like unless you go!
