The snow started sometime between 5am and when I woke up at 8am. How do I know this? The grooming report, which is printed at 5am, reported that there was zero inches of new snow, and when I woke up at 8am, it was because the parking area outside my balcony was being very loudly plowed (Good morning, Tamara). Plowing = snow. Snow = powder. Powder = fun!
When we got on the mountain at 11, the snow was coming down lightly at the base. We headed up Payday, then Bonanza, and skied through a beautiful tree glade to McConkey's, where the snow was coming down much harder now. I couldn't resist commenting on the beauty of the snowflakes every time they landed on me while we were going up the lift. "Look at how perfectly shaped this one is!" "This one is so big!" etc. etc. etc. I love snowflakes, and I always have. But, I only like snow if I can ski in it, that is a fact.
Gliding through powder is such a thrill. The first time I did it today, my toes started to tingle from excitement. However, there are a few tricks for skiers to know when skiing powder. Powder can be deceiving. It can hide bumps, so if you don't like skiing bumps, make sure the trail you're heading down was groomed before the snow fell. After the trail has been skied a few times, you will notice that the snow will collect in drifts. The easiest place to turn on the trail is in the drift, because you will float right through the snow for an easy turn and you won't have to edge as hard as if you had turned not in the drift. If you're heading down a catwalk, make sure that you stay on the packed powder and not in the loose powder, especially if the catwalk is completely flat and has no downhill incline. You will get stuck in the powder, and then you'll have to work harder to get across the catwalk. In my opinion, powder is the easiest terrain to ski because of the turning ease, and because it's just plain fun.
Tomorrow Mom and I taking a ski day off after 4 days of straight skiing, and today's 18,822 vertical feet. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow all day, and even more on Saturday, so by the time we hit the slopes on Saturday we should have beautiful powder and packed powder. I can't wait.
Until then...
When I went to Jackson Hole in December 2003, we got SUPER lucky. We landed on a Friday night, just as a big snowstorm was starting, and by the time we got to the slopes Saturday morning, the sun was shining and there was something like 8 inches of fresh powder. THEN...it snowed Saturday night too, so fresh powder for Sunday as well! Such great skiing.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience in Jackson. The plane I was on was the only one to land in Jackson that day becuase all the other ones had been cancelled due to weather. Then, we had powder nearly every day we were there. It was GLORIOUS. And we got super lucky that when we went up the Tram it was a sunny day so we could see everything. Love skiing Jackson.
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