Craig's Report - April 30, 2007

Two Weeks After

I don't really have anything to report, but I was up on the mountain with the camera today and thought I would post a few pictures of what the mountain looks like a couple of weeks after closing. Warm temperatures, rain and lack of tending by the cats means most of the snow is now gone from the lower half of the mountain. It really is startling how fast this happens after closing. You can now walk to the Bear's Den without having to cross any snow except a patch at the cat track crossing Dipsy.

Above that though, snow still rules, with 2.5 meters still showing on the Bear snow plot measuring pole today. I was far too lazy to bother lugging my skis and boots up, but I am pretty sure the firm base with a few centimeters of soft on top would have made for some pretty nice turns. Even with just boots, sliding down Bear was kind of fun.

Riding up to all but the lowest mountain bike trails would be a problem at the ski hill, but I hear the Ridgemont trails are in pretty good shape and a motorcycle trip to the South Country yesterday found it surprisingly dry with the normal spring mud holes merely damp.

At 17:00 the thermometer on our sun drenched front porch is claiming 20 C.