Clouds were covering the Sun, but a short period of sunshine persuaded me to go with sunglasses instead of goggles. Well, that was wrong, as there was snow falling on the peak and a light rain falling on the lower elevations. That sunshine window was a total psych out. Here is a shot of that sunshine window as it move off down the range. The clouds were doing some amazing things as a system is moving in and it is raining hard here at The Trailer as I write this. There was no freeze overnight, so the prepared lines were fantastic with real corn goodness top to bottom. In places, the corn was a few inches deep and had an easy release out of each turn. Later, the ambient warmth caused the pack to become quite sticky and it was wise to stay up high. By 11:00AM., the off trail was softening up enough to make any line you chose good to go. It was fun checking out some of the lines I have been avoiding. The interference patterns have moderated with the slow melt and lack of traffic, making it much easier to choose smooth lines. The temps. are falling up on the hill, so I expect to see some accumulation with this impulse as it settles in through tomorrow. We will have to wait and see how it shakes out for the morning session. I will be looking for the lines that I have dialed in for smoothness. If we get much in the way of a freeze, the underlying pack will be a bit interesting, but with enough density in the new snow, it will cushion the variations. Speed Safely!!
NO FREEZE
4-18-17 by dave