boxing day 2016

As I mentioned, the storm moved out late on Christmas Day, leaving behind blue skies and cold temperatures.  Boxing Day was even colder than Christmas, starting at 0 at the summit/3F at the base and warming to 5F summit/18F base by the afternoon.  The cold didn't seem to deter many people, however, as it was standing room only on the ski bus for both the inbound and outbound trips.  There were clearly more folks out on the trails but we did the singles lines mostly and never had to wait all that long.

H in action (PC/copyright: Peak Photo)

The biggest news of the day was that ski patrol got more terrain open, specifically the Ballroom and the Backside.  My legs were shot from the prior two days so I was back on my comfort skis, the skinny Salomons, and didn't attempt anything deep.  H went into the Ballroom and found it heavier than expected, but when he got into Yellow Trail and East Greeley, the snow was amazing.  While he did Backside laps, I skied Extrovert and Chartreuse off of the Sugarloaf lift; although it was completely tracked out, it was still soft.

Looking soft in East Greeley

We met up for an early lunch, in part to thaw our frozen toes, then headed back out, starting with a Cabin Run (amazingly not too trampled, plus H managed to stay out of the creek this time), then over to Supreme.  By then, the Supreme Bowl was pretty well pounded past its prime but Rock N' Roll was open and hadn't been groomed.  It was nice and soft (and not too busy) and we did it a couple of times. 

Bottom of No. Nine Express

At one point, I hit a compression and launched myself out of my left ski and down the hill a ways; I didn't hurt myself this time (although I would be stiff and sore for the next several days) and a nice skier brought me my ski so I didn't have to climb back up for it.  A couple runs after that, we called it a day, with enough time before our down-canyon bus to stop at Goldminer's Daughter for a couple of beers while our toes thawed.  There's not much storm action in the close-range forecasts so we'll have to be patient.  But this past holiday weekend has been a treat for sure.