Attitash Mountain Resort on Sunday, March 13, 2016

		Attitash Mountain Resort Sunday, March 13, 2016
		Submitted on March 13, 2016 by rocket21 (1390)
	Session	Full Day
	Ticket Type	Discount from Ski Area
	Lift Lines	0 minutes
	Trail Conditions	75% open; Spring Snow, Ice
	Glades	Toast; patchy up high, but not enough to ski.
	Moguls	None
	Terrain Park(s)	On either side of the Abenaki Quad.
	Run of the Day	Trillium
	Food and Beverage	About $14 for chicken tenders, fries, and a small fountain beverage at Bear Peak.
	Comments	It appears they started grooming immediately after closing yesterday with wet snow, which in part due to the winds, set up with a coat of ice on top. Coupled with the changing of the clocks (so lifts started only 1.5 hours after sunrise), the first two hours of skiing were a disaster. The ice required a racer's edge, and even those didn't seem to suffice. Quite surprised they didn't put a lot of trails/lifts on hold, as they were keeping the ski patrol quite busy. Fortunately the mid day sun and temperatures softened things up into spring snow for the afternoon. Initially, terrain off the Abenaki Quad was the only stuff remotely skiable, mainly the steeps getting the eastern sunlight. The flats down low went from corduroy ice to slush. Eventually, the upper mountain on Attitash softened up as well, though the steeps below the HSQ were still frozen solid for some time. After lunch time, the steeps on Bear Peak finally softened up, but unfortunately they closed Illusion for race practice (not mentioned in the snow report), and did so at the Wandering Skis cross over, so the groomed access to Avenger was also closed. Noted some unhappy people having to hike back up to Morning Star. Interestingly, Spillway was closed below Upper Highway, even though the snow report said it would only be closed for racing below Alley Way. Even after the race was over and the course was pulled, it remained closed (looked really good, and some people were ducking ropes to poach it). In terms of terrain open, there was one way from the top of the triple to the top of the double, then three routes (Saco, Tightrope, and Northwest Passage. All skied decently after things softened up, though there were some random blue ice bulges, as well as random baseball sized rocks. The steeps off the Flying Yankee HSQ are pretty beat up, as is Upper Highway (Ptarmigan is closed and is being scavenged for snow). Once below the steeps, base depths increase. From the HSQ, one could ski Cathedral, Grandstand (going quickly), Moat, White Horse (top is just about toast), and Upper Highway (rocks poking through in the chute). Off the double-double, Thad's Choice is good, except for just below the mid station, where it briefly gets only a few feet wide. Most of the lower trails west of there are open too, though the connector is getting beaten up before the bridge. On the Bear Peak side, the lower real estate trails, as well as the end of Bearback just before the main base area are just about toast. Morning Star was getting beaten up on the steeps in part because it was generally the only skiable way off the HSQ for most of the day. Snowdancer and Upper Myth Maker were both pretty good off the Abenaki Quad. Kachina Falls leading into Upper Myth Maker was virtually unskiable until it started to soften up late in the day. Trillium off the triple was closed for racing in the morning, but was quite good in the afternoon (you can only get there from taking the slow quad mid station or the slow triple, so very few people had skied it). Upper Avenger was not groomed (minimal base and lots of blue ice), but technically open. Only saw one person ski it. It was groomed below that top chute from Illusion, and was quite nice for the brief time it was skiable and accessible in the afternoon. Illusion was also quite nice for the brief time it was skiable and open. The very top of Wandering Skis (the cross over from Morning Star) is toast. The upper steeps were solid ice in part from not getting sunlight. The "Easier Way Down" sign was misleading and resulted in at least one patrol sled. The lower portion was softening up later in the day. Lifts were ski on all day; on average probably a person on every 10th chair. If they can keep the choke points in one piece with the cats, they should make it into next weekend. All in all a good day, but tough conditions due to the temperature fluctuation and the time of the year. Managed to ski I believe every open trail. Phone recorded about 31K vertical.
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