There was light snow on the trailer this Wednesday morning, signaling the arrival of the long awaited installments.   I got an early start to get a jump on the crowd, which did not materialize with the low volume snow report.  The wind was howling and snow was blowing in near white out curtains.  The Tram was having issues related to the major dust storm from yesterday, and was not going to run until they found out the problem.  The entire hill had been covered with the talcum fine dust from the South desert, giving it a grayish brown tint.  The 3 or 4” of fresh snow filled in all the hollows, making the wide open slopes look like an eerie moon scape.  With very low attendance it felt like you were totally alone on the hill.  The Little Cloud chair was being hammered by the wind, which was blowing from the Southwest, filling in the North facing aspects slowly.  Regulator also looked wild with a sharp white-gray contrast as we hunkered down for the long pounding trip up.  I looked at Great Scott, but thought better of the entrance, which still was a forbidden zone, and worked my way out to the Middle Cirque.  The Traverse was wild and woolly, with wind scoured ledges and deep piles of slab to negotiate.  Nothing like a good  challenge .  I felt like I was on an expedition or something.  The middle Cirque still had not accumulated sufficient snow to buffer the very crusty base, though the new snow was dense and supple as I made my way down, following the white areas and avoiding the gray crust.  Good visibility, despite the blowing and snow, was welcome in dealing with route selection.  Continued snow is forecast through Thursday, so look for improving conditions as we move through this cycle.  The North facing will be favored with this pattern, though if the wind switches around be prepared to use your inner senses to navigate.  I suspect good things to come, and an exciting morning to show up for.  The Easter weekend will be well attended, so think about the various chair options to access your favorite sections, as the Tram may still have issues, but in any event it will be very backed up if it runs.  Our collective visualizations seem to have kicked in nicely, don’t you think?   Nice work folks.  But don’t stop now.  Bigger, deeper, all month long….. Yeah, that’s the ticket.  Ciao!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 12:14 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.