Well, what a surprise - another botched snow amount forecast, and the big "winter storm" led itself to blue skies before noon over Lincoln Peak. Still we had 6" of pow pow to play in, which was very nice... but you had to share it with a LOT of other folk. Got to L/P at 9am, and already parking was across the road, with all paved lots full. Usual suspects today.... Gate House and Bravo lines were long, though the latter wasn't bad after 12. Valley House was o/o/s, saw a sign at the Bravo entrance which said it was a mechanical issue. Speaking of which, my first ride up Gate House took about 15 minutes, got worried when the snowmobiles went whizzing up Hot Shot, but we were moving again shortly after. Thank god I'm a single - bypassed much of the Gate House line, though Bravo's single line hovers around the Mushroom. Heaven's Gate line was very long so I kept on going by it until around 1. Finally hit up Moonshine and Twist for the first time this season... Moonshine was excellent, Twist had more bumps but was still interesting. Upper Organgrinder was slick in spots, soft in others. Some big bumps were forming on Deathspout. Jester was crowded at top, but I cruised by most of the folk. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. I sure did, and ended it with a couple brews and nachos at the C'Rock Pub, before hitting the road. The line at the Gate House was still long at 2:30-3:00 when I left - so much for a few more runs. I got my "lucky 13" in and split. I'll be Mellen it tomorrow, probably should be some good p/p and non-bitterly cold temps. 20s feel like a heat wave, all of a sudden! Thanks again.
Jay

Funny, I was commenting to the Admiral how empty it seemed for the conditions. I did get stuck in the single line on SuperBravo around 11:30, but otherwise never spent more than a minute in line. Even that line moved pretty fast. Got 16 runs and lunch in before 2:00. Try doing that at K-Mart, Flatton, etc. Actually, shhhh, forget I said anything...

FWIW ... I was at ME all day yesterday and *never* had to wait in a line of any kind.

Lines today at L/P (3/2) were VERY long in the beginning, with just Gate House, Village, and Castlerock open. ME completely on wind hold. Bravo opened before we made it anywhere near the G/H corral, so we booked over there. Did my first Castlerock experience today and my first time in Eden since skiing back in 98? Great conditions in the woods and on the 'Rock. Very windy, and the lines died down after Noon. Moonshine, Twist, and Domino were also great - lots of pow to be had, especially first thing. Last run of the day was Sleeper - also great but much more crowded than the Bravo side. Also great to be riding with my friends today - hootin' and hollerin' from the Bravo lift. We had a great time and were pumped up for the occasion. Another 'Rock run would have been nice but our legs were burnin' by later in the day. Vids and pics soon over at shadyjay.com, including myself ripping down Middle Earth. Woooohooooo!

shadyjay wrote:

Lines today at L/P (3/2) were VERY long in the beginning, with just Gate House, Village, and Castlerock open. ME completely on wind hold. Bravo opened before we made it anywhere near the G/H corral, so we booked over there. Did my first Castlerock experience today and my first time in Eden since skiing back in 98? Great conditions in the woods and on the 'Rock. Very windy, and the lines died down after Noon. Moonshine, Twist, and Domino were also great - lots of pow to be had, especially first thing. Last run of the day was Sleeper - also great but much more crowded than the Bravo side. Also great to be riding with my friends today - hootin' and hollerin' from the Bravo lift. We had a great time and were pumped up for the occasion. Another 'Rock run would have been nice but our legs were burnin' by later in the day. Vids and pics soon over at shadyjay.com, including myself ripping down Middle Earth. Woooohooooo!

Super Bravo was running from 8 'till about 8:40. I got 4 fantastic runs. The snow was perfect. I had to meet up with my daughter in the GH lodge around noon and caught the announcement that the NL was off wind hold. Needless to say we made a bee line for slidebrook, which was spectacular. My 7 year old loved her first run through slidebrook so much she was singing the whole way home. Great weekend.

The lines at Bravo today were pretty insane in the morning. It was good to see Adam and Win working the singles line and mingling with the crowd. The wind was whipping even on SB and I stayed away from HG even after it opened.

As for Valley House, I heard that a chair slipped back on the cable as it was running, although no one was on the chair at the time. It's supposedly done for the season. Which brings up the question, are they going to blow more snow on VH traverse since it looks like we're going to need that to be used until the end?

Yeah, it was a little slow getting started.

Those who waited for the wind to die enough found some good skiing, tho.

And there was nobody who was saying it wasn't windy!

There were a couple gusts of wind that made me wonder if my bindings were set properly.

Lostone wrote:

There were a couple gusts of wind that made me wonder if my bindings were set properly.

....right from under my helmet and storm hood. I need a lawyer to tell me who I should sue...

That was a great weekend! I think I didn't ski a trail the whole weekend as the "Go Deep" policy was in effect. I didn't really have aproblem with the lines. Saturday was fine and even with the wind hold the singles line moved on Sunday.

We ended up doing some hiking for back country skiing on Sunday. The snow was deep and the turns were great. The only problem was that the sun started to bake the snow down low and it made for a slow trudge out to the road. Just a little 411 for those who might want to know.

PS - On Friday we went to $teaux. The snow was very deep there but I also saw 007 and Powderpuff. Hmmmmmm.... very interesting....