A Country Club Day

4-29-09 by dave

OK, Thinking that Wednesday was going to be yukie, I was pleased to look out the window of the trailer to see blue sky and a sunny morning, so I quickly mounted up and made first tram.  The wind was blowing briskly off the high ridge lines so, of course, I  dressed ” for how I wanted it to be”…. Will I learn any time soon?… doubtful!  The wind was cooking and the temps. were  cold, but the sun just pulled me into a daze.   The high North was smooth and filled in with transported and light overnight snow, but below the first 30 turns things got interesting and I bailed for the groomers, which had a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar on top, giving them an edgable texture.  I was tempted to venture into Mineral Basin, which promised more softness, but the front 3000′ was tugging at me and at least I got that right. As I approached MACH1 , I got an ice scream headache from hell…. ow!  That aught to teach me…. let’s hope.  The temps. remained quite cold, but moderating, and the freeze began to slowly break about 11:30 AM.  The high angle sun was doing the heavy lifting as the temps. moved sluggishly upward.  I was still toughing it out with the top down, and finally was rewarded with mild enough temps. to mitigate the head pain.  The consistency got better and better as the sun topped out at Noon, however, the temp. at the peak was 26 Degrees at that time, to give you an idea of the air mass.  The wind continued to blast up slope pummeling the face like a durmabrasion for free.  Despite the discomfort, it was great driving with the top down with great snow and a very sparse casual crowd.  It was very much like country club skiing.  Look for tomorrow to be the same, and the early Trams are not too early for fun.  Perhaps I will wear a hat and goggs in the AM…  Nah!

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