Winter or Spring... Part 1. Winter!

This past weekend was definitely one of the best since Jules and I returned from Lake Tahoe, but it had some surprises in store for all of us. After arriving at Sunday River fairly late Friday night, we awake early to some gently falling snow - just a little coating really, but enough to make everything look magical. I was a little surprised to see 18 degrees on the thermometer on the deck and then when the wind kicked in I though we had been transported back to mid-January. Nevertheless, we're from Maine and we're skiers and a little cold and windy weather doesn't hold us back... Until the wind puts lifts on hold, that is. This only happened to one lift on Saturday, but we had just ridden the Jordan Quad and had a super-sweet run down Rogue Angel with a nice firm center and wind-blown powder drifts on the sides of the trail. So we migrated over to Oz, and got first tracks on the upper part of Tin Woodsman and Lost Princess. It was amazing how the reported snowfall of 4 inches over the two days before had settled (with the wind's help) to provide us with some 8-10 inch-deep turns all the way down to Kansas. Then as Jules, our friend Mark, and myself found a patroller dropping the rope to the main sections of Tin Woodsman and Lost Princess - from Kansas down - which hadn't been open for weeks. The view from the cat tracks was intense - powder everywhere. The first few turns were deep, light, and dry - again, the 4 inches had blown right where we wanted it, then it got "special" as I hit some breakable crust-covered moguls and then a knee to waist-deep powder pocket and then another bulletproof bump. About halfway down I asked Jules how much she hated me, but she didn't. She knew it would be interesting, but neither Mark nor I thought it would be this weird. The lower third of the trail was nice and light, but it would only be one run on there for us. The rest of Saturday was great. The other side of Oz was fabulous as was Aurora and White Cap. The conditions on most of the mountain were very consistent, still firm, but not icy. The lack of crowds made it a treat. As we skied back to the Condo, I looked back towards Jordan Mountain and knew that the wind was just getting it ready for even better conditions.