In K1 lodge, covered in rime,
10:15 AM March 17, 2007

In K1 lodge, covered in rime,
10:15 AM March 17, 2007

Sort of!

The alarm went off at 6:30AM. A very short night considering the last guest at the inn arrive at 2:30 AM and I hit the pillow about 3! But today was supposed to be a powder day. Over 6 inches of snow had fallen. I had to catch first chair!

I blasted out of the inn parking lot around 7:00 AM. Our plow guy, knowing "the owners" cars, had left a little deposit in front of my Subaru. That's to be expected, because our guests need to get to the mountain. The night before, I had planted the Subaru on bare pavement, expecting a snow bank to be in front of it in the morning. It performed brilliantly, getting me out of the parking lot with no hesitation.

When I got the the mountain, I got a prime parking spot, 6 cars into Bay 2, a short walk to the K1 base lodge. Boots on and out of the lodge by 7:20, the guys I was skiing with, Larry, Barry, Kenny, and his son, headed to the K1. Tragedy struck... It was sleeting out. Ice buildup on the line would cause the K1 t be delayed until 9:00. Never fear, the slowdon, er Snowdon, quad would be running as first chair for 7:30. Then things got interesting...

Our first run was down Upper Royal Flush to Highline. Wind had blown Upper Royal flush to a nice consistency varying from bare rock to waist deep. 3 quick turns down skiers right, and we all headed to the snow drift down skiers left. We got about 50 feet and the lights went out. The wind coming upslope had blown sleet on us, completely covering our goggles. After scraping them off, we entered Highline. Sweet and deep. Skiers right down the headwall was pristine. A beautiful ride except for the sleet.

With the K1 not running, we went over to Superstar and headed towards Needles Eye. This was probably the best run of the day, as again it was deep and not cut up yet. I took skiers right down Panic Button and held towards the middle of Needles Eye. Pretty much untouched, knee deep, heavy powder all the way down. A quick trip up the box, why the Skyeship was running and the K1 was not is anyone's guess, and we headed towards Bear Mountain.

Skyeburst was pretty nice. Again, the wind had blown knee to waist deep powder along skiers right. I got first dips down Skyeburst. While stopping to clean my goggles of the rime ice, Larry past me and went first down Viper Pit. Really deep snow on skiers right. After successfully going down Viper Pit, I had my fat ski's on, I was cruising down lower Bear Claw when a snow snake grabbed my left ski. I augured in with a nice full face plant. It was a nice splash of powder, with out a ski ejection. The fat ski's just float on top of the surface. What I think happen is I went over a bump, became airborne, and caught a tip on the next bump. No damage, no foul, I picked myself up and went to the bottom.

We did a few more runs at Bear and Needles and headed to the K1 lodge around 10. The ice was really coating us heavy, as todays picture from the K1 lodge will attest. I called it a day at this point. I had a heavy date with a snow blower back at the inn, and then a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. A nice day on the hill. Let it snow!