I skied Whitetail this afternoon (New Year's Day) and I was amazed at how good the conditions were, despite the 60 degree temperatures. The soft stuff on top wasn't too deep, so the surface skied a lot closer to corn snow than to mashed potatoes. The conditions were probably aided tremendously by the lack of skier traffic; I started skiing at 1 PM and the place was empty most of the day.
It was definitely a good karma day. I made some smooth and mellow turns without having to worry much about other skiers. Plus you have to love pulling into a ski area parking lot on January 1, seeing tons of snow on the hill, windows rolled down and the sun roof open, with Muddy Waters blasting on the sound system.
Coverage summary:
- Exhibition - outstanding. They've been blasting some serious snow on it this year. Only two or three grass spots in some mogul troughs. Some nicely formed bumps on it.
- Bold Decision - some great, great snow on it. However, right at the top of the headwall the trail is down to half the width of the trail for a few turns or two. Unfortunately, the poorly covered section is skiers left, which has some of the best terrain features when there is snow. There were a few loose rocks on the surface which were easy to avoid. A couple of brown spots were appearing by the end of the day. They will probably be groomed over tonight.
- Limelight - a very sketchy section at the very top (as normal), but once you got to the trail itself, the coverage was great and the snow was sweet. One or two marked open spots near the bottom.
- Angel Drop - Like Limelight, a very sketchy section at the top, but it was pretty good after that. A few more brown spots due to heavier skier traffic.
- Home Run - a very sketchy section in the middle, but fine before and after that.
- Terrain Park - A couple of jumps with very soft landings. One advantage of soft snow. A very nice spine.
A lot of the sketchy areas will probably be fine tomorrow AM, but will likely degrade during the day as more sliders go over them. Fortunately, the poor coverage sections are only a small section of each trail; the skiing is great once you get past them.
Edit to correct trail name. Thanks Rod.