A crust day turns to powder thanks to heavy snow squalls at good old Current.
I gathered the crew at the Woolly Mammoth lot by the Conoco, and took off up the mountain with Cheryl, Kashia, Bob, Diane, and Renu. After a stop at Downieville, we continued through Empire where it was raining. Hope remained that the higher elevations of Berthoud Pass would turn the rain to snow, and we were not disappointed. Before long we arrived at the TH where we were the only ones in the parking lot. We skinned up and headed up the trail.
Our hopes for powder in the trees were quickly shattered as the 40° plus temperatures during the week had baked everything to a lovely crust. We passed the cabin on the way to the aqueduct, then followed the aqueduct to the climber's right to the glades. The wind helped to drop some recycled powder, but the first run through the glades was breakable crust that was grabbing out downhill edges with less than desirable results. After regrouping at the aqueduct, the sun faded and the clouds opened up to dump an inch or two per hour.
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| Not bad for a day that started with wall-to-wall crust. |
The second run in the bowl on climber's left was actually decent, and the smiles returned to the group. At the meadow we dropped skier's left through the trees and back to the aqueduct to grab another installment of lunch.
On the third climb up, it actually got colder as the air temperature dropped noticeably. The third run was again though the left hand bowl, and this time it was really good. Back at the aqueduct, we had enough powder to ski down the south-facing slopes for the first time in many a week. Back at the trailhead we could not believe our good fortune. Funny how fresh powder can really change the day. B-)
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| At the trailhead we bid farewell to a great powder day. |
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