Date(s) Skied: South (Saturday, 12/10/05) and North (Sunday, 12/11/05)
Conditions: Hard packed on man-made trails; powder/pp with thin cover on natural trails
Trip Report:
Sorry that I don't have any pictures. I've actually never skied with a camera. Hope some brief comments are of some use to you.
South (12/10)
Opening Day! Was up on the mountain by around 9:30 I figure. Skied Downspout to Heaven's Gate to start. At that point it was surprisingly not icy, and what a ski resort would certainly call "packed powder" without getting TOO much of an argument
In all honesty, as nice as Downspout can be when not after a big storm, I guess. Downspout got harder/closer to ice as the day progressed. Though still edgeable throughout the day, it was becoming more like Deathspout toward midafternoon. Jester was better (didn't get quite as hard), but similar in style. One part of Jester just before the cutoff back toward Heaven's gate had natural snow only -- the difference was amazing. Thin cover there, of course, but not to the Spillsville extent (see below). Organgrinder had some akward bumps forming, probably a bit nicer snow surface than Jester.
Spillsville was my favorite run of the day, but cover was thin. Even coming up the chair the first time, plenty of grass sticking through. Suprisingly, my first run I maybe only hit a rock once. Snow was very nice and soft, but lots of things to avoid. As the day progressed, it was getting skied off, and I was probably hitting more rocks, but nothing terrible. It's amazing how much nicer natural snow is, and how bad a trail can look and you'll still go on it
It certainly deserved to be open, and I'm happy it was. I was somewhat surprised to find out that it was still open Sunday according to the trail report (when I was at North). There were some bumps forming, but not a regular mogul field the way it gets during the season. Not enough snow at this point I'd say.
Lower Ripcord also had some nice, loose snow (natural too), but for whatever reason wasn't as nice as Spillsville--though it was better covered. Perhaps it's partially my bias against Ripcord (see Favorite/Least favorite trails thread), but I just found Spillsville nicer (when I hit the snow!).
I skied Domino mid-afternoon. Snow was nice and soft like Spillsville, probably more bumped up and a little more rocky though.
When going up the Super Bravo Chair in the AM it seemed like Murphy's might be nice, but I never made it over there. Spent both the AM and PM skiing Heaven's Gate, so my only runs from the top of Super Bravo were on Downspout and Domino.
North (12/11)
Panoramo and Rim Run were similar to Jester, perhaps a bit softer. FIS was suprisingly nice for man-made snow. Had some some-what large bumps in a pretty regular fashion, though not a perfectly arranged mogul field. Surface was somewhat hard, but very edgible. Only did it once, though, because the Summit Quad lines weren't worth the wait when I knew that the North Ridge Express would be empty, and that Exterminator was waiting with real snow.
Upper Exterminator was the run of the day here. Nice, soft snow. Lots of grass showing through, and some rocks in various places as well. Didn't get as skied off as Spillsville did on Saturday as the day progressed, probably because it was wider. (I also stopped skiing at 1pm). Exterminator was probably a little more bumped up than Spillsville was. The very top stretch of Bravo was also open, and in similar condition -- also fun, also soft snow, also thin cover. Encore looked really nice, but for whatever reason it was closed. As I posted in Alpine Zone, I've never poached a trail, but if I was ever tempted, it was today. A half a dozen people went down it while I was on the lift and I figured it must have opened up (poaching in plain sight?), but unfortunately not. It had plenty of tracks even in the morning, so maybe it was open Saturday (or maybe a lot of people had poached earlier on). All of Bravo had tracks too, but the headwall below the cutoff to Exterminator was probably rightfully closed. A lot of rock showing through. The way edges looked decent, but perhaps looks were deceiving. Lower Exterminator also looked tempting, but was also closed. The trails going down from Exterminator back to the North Ridge Express were similar to Jester, Rim Run, and the other groomed trails.
All in all, a fun first two days for me. Hope to be back soon when more is open. Though off topic for this particular forum, while I was hoping they would have opened, I can see why MRG didn't open up this week. Skiing the natural stuff at SB was lots of fun, but if all the runs down from the top were natural snow, I'd figure that while the first couple days would be great, it wouldn't last long. If they can pick up another foot of snow throughout the week, things should be nice for MRG's hopeful opening this weekend, and at SB as well.
[Edited around 12/11 at 10PM to add some more content]
Gallery
) that went down those trails... Lots of others agree with us. 
