Hello Everyone,
I hope everyone who has been keeping track here has had an opportunity to get some turns in, because I'm starting to feel a bit guilty with all the pow I've had so far this season. I went out Saturday with Victor and by now with 12 of the last 14 days having snow, it was no surprise we'd be skiing powder. But the real treat wasn't just the new snow, but the fact that Big Sky was opening even more terrain.
It's sort of hard to describe what it's like when you get to lay a track on a run for the very first time a track's been made for the season. Over time, I've lost count of the big powder days through the season, but what makes the FIRST powder turns different is that it's completely pure underneath the snow you're skiing. For instance, we skied several laps on Africa, it's an all around top 20 run for me with its perfect pitch combined with nicely shaped moguls, however, for Victor and I, we could point it . . . no moguls, no tracks, nothing but the pure, guilty pleasure of hero skiing top to bottom.
OK, now I've got the smile on my face recalling the rest of our day. Here goes from the beginning. It was an absolutely mind-blowing scenic experience all day while exploring Andesite. We jumped on Ramcharger for our first lap and there was this dramatic bank of clouds to the northwest, they were this bluish, bright silver color and by the time we got to the top towers of the lift, they were sitting around the lower section of Lone Peak, giving the sun the spotlight to do it's magic on the snowy white peaks of Cedar and Lone Mountain. Have you seen our "behold" ad campaign, it was doing that as if on cue. 
We chose to warm up the legs on Big Horn, it is all natural snow and has been cat-packed and groomed so I was sort of anticipating a "take it easy" approach, but Victor would hear none of that and before I knew it he was flying down the run. What he missed in his haste to scream a groomer is that the left edge of the headwall had a foot of super light powder turns to snatch up, I slowed it up to savor the pow turns while I saw Vic rounding the corner below. Of course from there, I played catch up to get back down to Thunderwolf. Upon loading the chair, Victor smirked and wondered aloud if the snow he glimpsed through the corner of his goggles was good, I confirmed it for him.
On the lift ride, there were probably only 10 tracks underneath the lift line. We wanted to contribute our skier compaction part by going to Crazy Raven and skiing through the trees and over the soft snow rollers. It was soft snow, but it did deserve some restraint when I noticed my poles were occasionally going to the ground. Nevertheless, it was a blast getting out in the open and practicing the balance of skiing powder turns, but not getting so far forward that you'd sink in the deep snow.
From there, we checked out Africa, I already told that story, they would have been my favorite turns of the season so far had we quit after a few laps, but we still had another mountain to explore. We got to the base area and jumped on Swifty to the Triple Chair. At the top we grabbed the bootpack and went up to the Gullies off of Lone Peak. There were only a few tracks on the run and it was amazing to not only get the legs in shape with steep turns, but also get my brain out of it's slumber to handle very steep and really exposed terrain where mistakes are inexcusable. The first lap I followed 1st Gully through the constriction to grab 6 untouched powder turns between the billy goat section to the Turkey Traverse. It was so much fun we rolled up for lap two, where I skied it a little more relaxed and exited through 2nd Gully that offered even more pow turns to the bottom.
From there, we spun to Challenger for a lap down BRT Main, it was pretty fun, but I probably enjoyed the upper Moonlight section even better with it's really carvy, styrofoam style snow. It was a big morning so far, I figured we deserved a break so while in the neighborhood we said hi to Blaine and the crew at the Moonlight Lodge. We got to know some new/old friends, Kelly and Paul a bit better while recounting what an epic season we're having so far.
I just got off the phone with our mountain ops team and things are looking favorable to get even more terrain open in the next week, the terrain off of Lone Peak is being controlled daily from ski patrol and a few more lifts might be running for the weekend. It's only early December and we've seen over 10 feet of snow fall on the upper mountain, I'd say now's the time to make your plans for your own powder stories for Christmas Week at Big Sky.
We'll see you out there,
Dax
