Mt Ellen, 12/30/08 -- Quick recovery led to great turns!

**BushMogulMaster** · 12-30-2008, 05:39 PM

Got to the mountain around lunch time expecting it to look about the same as it looked when I left at midnight. And it seemed like it would be awful. GMX + NRX were on windhold. Summit was running, but you had to hike from top of the I over to it.

I decided to grab some lunch with the old man. Good decision. After lunch, GMX was spinning again.

Took a warm-up run down Cruiser to make sure the grooming job turned out okay (have to check up on my handywork, you know!). It actually skied very nicely. Firm underneath about 3" of fluff. But the cord was very edgeable, with only a few icy spots.

Headed up to Summit. Skied Rim down to Lookin' Good, which was definitely the run of the day. About 4" of untracked on top of a flat, firm base (it was groomed a couple nights ago to clean up after the meltdown). Truly great skiing. That trail should have good bumps very soon!

Went back up Summit and hit Exterm. It was sketchy at the top, but the middle section was great! There were two distinct bump lines that skied very nicely. Firm, and a little icy underneath, but a solid 6-8" had blown in and filled in the troughs just enough to soften it up a little. Went across Wayback, up Summit, down to Upper Bravo. Sketchy. Cut across for another run on Exterm, and followed it down Lower Exterm, which was bony. Skied North Star... it was fine. Nice cord... it was groomed second shift, so the fresh snow was mixed with the old hardpack, which left a nice, softer surface.

I headed down to warm up, helped carry all the trash from the trash room to the dumpster, then went up for two more runs with Dad. We skied North Star, and Elbow-Exterm to Cruiser. All were still very nice.

It is absolutely incredible how well that mountain recovered. You could definitely tell that we had a major meltdown, but the skiing was truly great!

I'll take the camera out tomorrow. Good stuff.

**mattlucas** · 12-30-2008, 05:59 PM

great news, thanks for the report.

**klop** · 12-30-2008, 09:29 PM

I'll back MM up. We waited out the windhold and were one of the first 6-8 chairs to the top. Made first tracks on Elbow in nice ankle deep powder over a great base. Everything skied great but I don't envy the maddogs on FIS - I don't think I would have skied it just to say I had.

**mattlucas** · 12-30-2008, 09:35 PM

how much base is left in the upper mountain woods? Is it all brown, or do a couple storms get us back into shape?

**klop** · 12-31-2008, 08:09 AM

The snow has settled a lot but everything looks covered. I saw people in the woods between elbow and bravo and at least from the lift it looked like they had plenty of base.

**ski_resort_observer** · 12-31-2008, 09:33 AM

Personally, I wouldn't venture in the woods until there is at least another foot of new snow. With all the wind yesterday and new snow yesterday and today there are spots which are okay but many other places which are not.

**HowieT2** · 12-31-2008, 02:43 PM

Just got back from mellon. It's brutal out there now that the wind kicked up.
Exterminator is very thin up top. Not recommended. Elbow, rim run, looking good were great.

**BushMogulMaster** · 12-31-2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by HowieT2

Just got back from mellon. It's brutal out there now that the wind kicked up.
Exterminator is very thin up top. Not recommended. Elbow, rim run, looking good were great.

Yeah... it was cold up there today!

But I thought the middle part of Exterm was great! Look:

**HowieT2** · 12-31-2008, 04:28 PM

yes there are good sections on exterminator but it would be misleading to go by that picture. Most of it is bare.

**BushMogulMaster** · 12-31-2008, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by HowieT2

yes there are good sections on exterminator but it would be misleading to go by that picture. Most of it is bare.

Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

**freeheel_skier** · 12-31-2008, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by BushMogulMaster

Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

**HowieT2** · 12-31-2008, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by freeheel_skier

Originally Posted by BushMogulMaster

Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

just trying to be fair and balanced

**Strat** · 12-31-2008, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by HowieT2

Originally Posted by freeheel_skier

Originally Posted by BushMogulMaster

Not really. Lower Exterm is bare, yes. The headwall is sketcy, but not bare. The section from the Bravo cutover down to Wayback is prime, and is like the picture.

+1

just trying to be fair and balanced

Is that you, Billo?

**Snowman** · 12-31-2008, 09:19 PM

just trying to be fair and balanced

And I, for one am glad you were.

Were I to go onto Exterminator and find big trouble getting to that pictured part, I would consider it a lie. I think it is wrong for someone to say everythig is fine, and show a picture, saying that, leaving out any mention that to get there you might have to jump rocks, is dishonest.

Legally I know you're right. Morally, you should know you are wrong.

Seems to be a lot of that here.