I was undecided about where to ski and in the end took the easy way out and went back to Alpine Meadows using the coupons from the previous day.
It was just below freezing with heavy cloud cover, so I feared that conditions might be worse than the previous day. Actually, they were a little better because the cloud overnight kept the temperatures around freezing rather than 10 degrees lower.
As usual, I took several runs off Roundhouse to warm up tired and aching legs. For a change, the first run was down Blue Trail to the right of the lift. Immediately I could tell that the snow was already softening up.
After three warm up runs, I headed for the Summit and Wolverine Bowl. Taking the groomed trail down the bowl, I ventured briefly into the ungroomed stuff to the side of the run. Not too bad, but needed a little longer to soften up. From the next trip to the Summit I turned in the opposite direction, crossed Alpine Bowl, tried the moguls to the side of Terry's Return and then cut down to Alpine Bowl lift.
The tops of the chutes to the South of the Alpine Bowl lift were not skiable - too many rocks. I cut into the soft moguls just beneath the lift and through the trees just off the edge of the groomed area of Alpine Bowl, and then traversed to about the mid point of Palisades. Snow conditions were pretty good by this time, so instead of the groomed runs to the bottom, I stayed on the ridge between Red-Green and Red trails and then Banana Chute down to the bottom.
Back to the Summit and I traversed about half way across Wolverine Bowl, with its nice soft, forgiving bumps.
After a last trip to the Summit, I took Sun Spot, which had nasty bare patches and the moduls down the centre of Yellow.
Yellow run was in pretty good shape so I decided to stay and do a few runs from that lift, taking advantage of the relatively short run and slow lift to keep the legs going a little longer. The first two runs took in the trees between Yellow Trail and Ladies Slalom. For the next one, I ventured into the trees on the other side of Yellow and then for my last run from Yellow, I took a new trail Hot Wheels Gully, a gradually narrowing mogul field.
Now came the error of judgement. With conditions pretty good, I thought that Sherwood Face would be better than the previous day. To get there, I had to take Scott and the traverse across Winter Road. This was a little softer than the previous day, so I headed for Lakeview lift. As I went up the lift, it was obvious that the runs were in pretty bad condition. The few people coming down were not making any impression on the snow or kicking up any powder at all and near the top, there were lots of rocks showing. Mountain View, graded as blue, was most rather more challenging, with frozen moguls and rocks. One run was enough.
The traverse to Sherwood was slightly softer than the previous day but not much. I was glad I had rented skis and damage insurance as I repeatedly grated across exposed rocks.
One run from Sherwood was enough. The top moguls section and the path through the trees was fine. Sherwood Face was still hard frozen, so it was time to get back to the base area and call it a day.
| Lift | Vertical | Easy Runs | Intermediate Runs | Advanced Runs |
| Roundhouse | 980 | Blue Trail | ||
| Roundhouse | 980 | Red-Green Trail | ||
| Roundhouse | 980 | Red Trail | ||
| Summit | 1555 | Kangaroo Ridge | Wolverine Bowl | |
| Summit | 1555 | Alpine Bowl, Terry's Return | ||
| Alpine Bowl | 960 | Alpine Bowl, Banana Chute | Lower Palisades | |
| Summit | 1555 | Green Trail | Wolverine Bowl, Sympathy Face | |
| Summit | 1555 | Sun Spot, Yellow | ||
| Yellow | 585 | Yellow | ||
| Yellow | 585 | Yellow | ||
| Yellow | 585 | Yellow | ||
| Yellow | 585 | Hot Wheels Gully | ||
| Scott | 1053 | Scott Meadow, Winter Road | ||
| Lakeview | 840 | Ray's Rut, Scott Meadow, Mountain View | ||
| Sherwood | 955 | Sherwood Face | ||
| Sherwood | 955 | Meadow | Weasel, Robin Hood, Return Road | |
| Total vertical | 16263 |
Last updated: 22/01/2001