Skiing as it should be

Dateline: Copper Mountain Ski Area, 29 March 2011.

12″ of snow in the last 24 hours, 24″ in the last 48.  12F in Silverthorne this morning, meaning the snow should be reasonably light.  (Warmer spring temperatures generally mean spring snows will have a higher water content and thus be heavier in weight and require more effort to push around when skiing.)

“Reasonably” light, and definitely soft, it is when I get on the mountain today.  My personal term, until the higher sun makes it melt and get even heavier, is “shaving cream” snow.  A friend calls it “peanut butter” snow but in my mind it does not have that consistency.  I equate that consistency more to “Sierra Cement”, a common term for snowfall in the California Sierra Nevada mountains that has a high moisture content right off the Pacific Ocean.  Mid-winter snowfall in Colorado is lighter as it has had more opportunity to drop moisture over several mountain ranges on the way here.  Or so I think.

Regardless, the snow today is pleasantly soft, though requiring a little more effort from my legs.  Wide turns, in and out of powder patches (shin hi (not a Chinese or Japanese term)), choppy snow, smooth soft pack.

My skiing experience has been incredible from late November to late March this year.  Awwwesome.  Very soon it will be ice and slush, ice and slush.  My best days this season are happily behind me.  26 days until closing April 24.  It’s all gravy, and downhill 🙂 , from here.