There was a cold North West wind this morning to greet the morning crew.  The stout wind scoured Regulator down to the firm layer, making lines to each side the place to find the natural snow, and filled in lines.  The wind was transporting the goods to long lines of natural grooming, which kept you close to the line, working the transitions as the slope sculpture required.  Tomorrow, look for more of the wind deposited lines as you go up the hill.  The Groomers will also be good for the warm up period, but the mountain is finally offering some more of the naturalaly smoothed sections that are such a rare treat.  Keep a close eye out.  The rocks at the edge of the Upper Cirque have been exposed, making a cautious approach to the edge advisable.  I will have a more detailed assessment of the access point in tomorrow’s post.  One cautionary note, is that despite the new snow cover, appealing lines, the overall appearance of a big base, all mask the  many reefs and spines that are really still in play all about the mountain.  While the  danger of a bodily encounter with a rock reef is becoming less of an issue, they do indeed still exist in many spots, and can be treacherous.  Just check out the North Facing aspects in Mineral Basin, where the wind has stripped large sections clean.  Just scope that out on the ride up Baldy Express for an up close look.  We still do not have that total Devil May Care base that we had last year, so stay safe and don’t get sucked over the falls and drilled into the reef.  I am just sayin’.  See you there in the AM. for the morning JAM!!!   Ciao!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Snow Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.