Snowfall was a bit low compared to averages this year, but by Jan 10th, a couple of storms started filling the holes and rocks, so it was time for me to do a quick trip as warmup before a trip to Japan/Niseko the following week.
Snow line was down, my M3 driving range also has now lost close to 10% since I bought it, so driving to KW in one shot with cold, snow, and headlights on, was going to be pushing things a bit, but with the supercharger in jackson, it's really just a 10mn stop now, just enough time to go to the bathroom :) (and this got me back from 43% to 76% in just over 10mn:
snow line was low, but that's good for the snow quality (cold)
got to KW in just over 3h40 with chain control speed restrictions, not bad (arrived with 31%)
glad to be back :)
Day 1 was cold and windy, became whiteout conditions before long:
coverage in Chamoix was still a bit rough at the bottom, but easy to go back on my butt
still a bit low in coverage on some ridges, but ok elsewhere
bottom of the drain still had holes to the river underneath, but they were being covered slowly
the wall still needed a bit more snow in places
it was still easy to get cliffed out i places
fair mount of snow falling the 2nd half the of day
KW crew did a great job keeping 6 and 10 open 'till end of day.
Thanks to Jeremy for getting me lodging for one night
Day #2 was the bluebird. We didn't get the 1.5ft in the forecast, only 7", but it was just the right kind that it felt bottomless and enjoyable while helping improve the base.
crews hard at work, and it sounded like this guy was actually electric, not diesel. Is that possible?
6 opened right on schedule, no delays
lovely snow
Couldn't see the base or anything the previous day. Much nicer on day #2:
I feel like I jumped this because I was too lazy to hike back up and the snow was soft enough, but it looks high. Still, I took a picture afterwards and have no other such picture, so it may actually be this one:
The Wall opened around 11:00 after snow safety was done, and the backside at 11:45 exactly as scheduled (big thumbs up on the twitter updates):
lovely to see the backside coverage, not bad
I didn't stay in line for 30mn to get first chair on 4
but I went to the wave, one of the first people down
looked like a good place to check out
got all this snow to myself, woot!
not every day I get a shot like this :)
I finished the day, getting good snow and lines all day, and left after 2 full days, very content. Great job to the KW crews for keeping things running in the middle of the week, even if few people were there:
