Shrinking Snowpack

I was back on the hill today after a 4 day absence. The last 4 days have seen nasty spring winds and rain at Turoa. The snow base now stands at 219cm compared to last Thursdays 249cm. The season seems to be slipping away.

So many rocks now exposed

Coverage on the lower 1/3 of the mountain is sad. With Clarry’s track hanging there thanks to large volumes of snow being shifted and spread around. The Giant lift loading area has also benifited from snow being trucked in and spread around on the loading area.

How long before we have to upload I’m wondering

As I arrived at 9 this morning I was thinking the High Noon would be running but not so the Giant was also delayed for 30mins meaning my first run was off the Movenpick and all the way down to base. Clarry’s Track is my least favourite run on the Mountain especially in the spring when conditions are choppy/sloppy snow and beginners are everywhere. Much snow ploughing was required on this run today. Snow conditions on trail are machine packed powder with icy conditions in the morning off trail. Mid Mountain snow conditions soften during the day providing some nice patches. Care needs to be taken as rocks are now starting to appear all over the place.

C6 retail shed

Team C6 was out in force this morning. As I parked my car in the primo spot today another C6 aficonardo recommended I try the Mercury carving skis of which a pair was available to demo today. Why not I thought - But unfortunatley Mr C6 couldn’t open his retail outlet due to the large volume of wind blown snow that blocked his shed and buried his spade. Ah well tomorrows another day. Could Mr AJ cope with me getting another pair of skis.

Viz was great until around 11 when the cloud moved down the Mountain, the blue line came out and with the High Noon still closed with an electrical fault I decided to call it a day.