The 5 inches of new snow that we received today was nice and dense. It allowed us to open Freefall from the top and the Headwall of Madonna Liftline. My first run of the day was on Smugglers’ Alley. It was groomed early last night, which allowed the snowfall to build up on top of the groomed snow overnight. It was a nice and flat with 4 inches of fresh on top this morning. It was so much fun to float on top of the heavier snow. I had the pleasure of riding the Sterling Lift with a long time Smuggs family member “George of the Jungle.” Thanks George for the great conversation and laughs. This afternoon I ran into my good friend Pat. We had a great time on Thomke’s, Black Snake, Practice Slope, and Snake Bite. We were able to find some great loose powder on the side of the trail to play in. Pat decided to catch some pretty big air on the “neck” of the Practice Slope. His photo is seen above.
Tomorrow we plan to have top to bottom skiing and riding on all 3 mountains with 6 lifts operating, including the Madonna I Lift. We have 77 out of 78 trails open with terrain for all ability levels. Surface conditions are packed powder and powder with average base depths of 16 to 54 inches. We plan to groom 30 trails tonight, including Ruthie’s, Wanderer, and Thomke’s for a grand total of 125 acres of freshly groomed terrain. We received 5 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours and 36 inches in the past 5 days. Currently, it is snowing and 28 degrees at the summit of Sterling. Tomorrow’s forecast is calling for cloudy skies, flurries and a snow shower with a high of 35 degrees.
