Friday and Saturday at K were good days. I hesitate to say great,
because it wasn't a 3 foot powder dump kinda great, but I think we all
left feeling the combination of weather, company and turns made it a
memorable way to end the lift served season, and I think a stand-out.
Friday was very empty, arriving at 10:30, I was able to park just below
the lift. Even with the real warm temps, there was still good corn all
around, and only a couple of spots where you had to remove your skis (or
walk over non-snow areas), and they were limited to a small patch on
lower skylark and the bottom of skyhawke (as of Saturday both those runs
would close). Lap after lap of high speed turns, or fun spring bumps,
on a warm beach like day. I ran into Wes and Scott bringing up the tail
end of FSC. As the day ended I did a recon of the needles eye area in
anticipation of the plaid invasion the next day, since the snow cover in
the canyons was somewhat sparse. I found some nice snow and then two
teens setting up a kicker over the work road that bisects the trail. It
appears K plowed the work road clear, as standing on the road the
snowpack was up to mid-chest. These two teens were going to gap jump
the road, which was probably a 15' jump. I would have liked to stay and
watch, but they were a very long way from finishing the jump, so I
figured we could see any splat marks the next day. The only thing I did
wrong on Friday was neglecting (out of sheer laziness) to bring a reeb
for the de-booting party.

On Saturday, the I'd guess the temps never dropped much below 45 over
night, so I expected some real mush, but the snow remained fairly firm.
Up to the mountain by 8:30, and I was parking significantly farther away
from the lift than yesterday. It was fairly crowded, especially in
comparison to Friday, but no real wait on the lift. We slowly collected
the group, and then Dan, Eric, Gil and I decided to take the short walk
over to needles eye. We were able to ski 3/4 the way down the trail,
from just below the crest of the headwall on panic button to 3/4 of the
way down needles eye (with the mandatory walk across the service road).
There didn't appear to be any splats, or signs that the two teens
attempted the jump, but they did complete it. At the terminus of that
run we noticed that cruise control had a nice carpet of white as well,
so we walked over there, and were able to ski the lower 2/3 of that run.
We did need to scootch across a couple of thin sections, but we did have
it all to our selves. We then hiked back upto the snowline on panic
button for a couple more turns before we left. Not the most extreme
skiing ever, but nice corn and no crowds and a nice sunny sky. After a
break for lunch and some rest, we completed our day. I think it is safe
to say we all finished the last run, and out last turn with just enough
energy to make it back to our cars. The snow on Sat. took a beating.
There were rushing streams mid way down skylark, and the lower headwall
on bittersweet was starting to turn to dirt and rock as well. The exit
of the superstar lift was totally melted out and you needed to walk down
the first few feet of the headwall. I'm sure they moved some snow
around to cover that stuff for Sunday, but ski on/off, should be ending
very soon. A good day to be skiing, thanks for the company guys.



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