Anybody who had ever been there and didn't like it should have been there
today.  Everything open including the "SLIDES" and there was only one word
to describe it----WOW!!!  Everything was soft surface and easy, silent
turning.  I got a chance to ski with Dick Carlson who was there on day three
of a mini-vacation and we had a good time.  The weather started to sock in
early from the top down and made visibility difficult.  The climb into the
slides was a much shorter version than I did two weeks ago.  At the
makeshift sled shelter and rescue equipment stash there was a pole in the
snow with a tape measure attached and it showed 7 ft. 4 in. flush with the
snow.  We got in one run before lunch but when we got to the top again the
fog was dropping and getting much worse so they were closing them.  We did
Cloudspin instead and the conditions were excellent but get ten feet away
from each other and you're lost.  I could not believe the easy effortless
carving and soft bumps on Niagara headwall.  That thing is usually a slide
for life.  We went back over to Little Whiteface and I got my all time best
ideal run on this mountain.  We headed down Approach and found Northway
closed.  It hasn't been opened since the big dump.  (????)  I thought this
was the only (legitimate) way into the glades but around the corner and down
a ways we found EMPIRE open.  About 50 to 75 ft down we found Cloudsplitter
Glades open from an official second rear entrance.  I thought I was back at
MRG again.  The first time this year I did these upper glades they gave me a
hard time.   They consist of narrow, steep chutes that had relatively little
cover and you had to stay right in the center of them even though they were
scraped bare or you would kill yourself.  Not today.  The new snow made them
wide open entirely.  Ski anywhere you want, you didn't hit anything or get
tangled up.  I bombed through both sets of glades faster than I usually do
the easier lower ones alone.  Cutting over "On Ramp" we dropped into the
High Mt. Glades and found excellent cover.  I'm telling you folks, if you
ever thought of trying this mountain, now is the time.  I have it from a
reliable source that the slides should be open tomorrow and Sunday.  After
doing this today my knees and back are killing me and tomorrow I'm going to
Hickory and feast on the untouched powder and Sunday I intend to be back at
Whiteface again. Three shots at the slides in one season is too much to pass
up. This run is going to have to be sheer adrenalin and I'm probably going
to have a hard time crawling back to work on Monday.  I would like to get a
plaid slide party going Sunday.  I may have a nibble from Mapadu.  Any
others??  Gotta try to get some sleep.  Six thirty is going to come early,
oh my aching back.  Jimski

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