Tim and I drove up to 7 srings Friday night in torrential rain, making us nervous for what the weekend would hold. Saturday morning I woke up at 9am to a nice white lawn and snow coming down!!

We ice skated down the first slope (Sunset slope) from the North Lot. We then tried Little North Face which was also essentially a sheet of ice. We moved over towards Giant Steps and Gunnar, which were in surpisingly good condition considering the weather the previous few days and the quick cool down. Yodler was in the best shape of all. Later in the day we skied Tyrol and Avalanche trying to escape the high winds...not much luck. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the Gunnar lift, as that seemed to be the place with the best wind protection. Overall, it was a great day to practice my ice skiing skills.

Today (sunday) the conditions were MUCH better as they were able to make snow all night and get some new fresh snow. The conditions were much better. Unfortunately for those who like the moguls, they had to groom down the moguls on Goosebumps.

The best part of the weekend so far is the lack of crowds! I don't think we waited more than a few minutes in the lift lines, if we even had to wait in line at all!

Currently at 11 ski days for the season and will make it 12 if I get out tomorrow. I am working on a budding cold though, the result fo the brutal weather the past 2 days. Conditons have been below freezing since Saturday moring and have created a flash freeze of all the soggy wet snow. Winds have been constant 15-30 MPH all weekend. On Saturday afternoon the winds were gusting to 40+. Baiscly you could not ski down the top flat secitons of the mountain you had to skate in a crouch to lower wind resistance and provide thrust.

The snow conditiosn have been highly variable due to wind scouring and drifting. The effects of last weeks rain are sitll evident. They were actually setting up a slalom training course on goosbumps today. The trail was well moguled up last weekend and was a ton of fun, as some of you probably know first hand. I had never seen goosbumps groomed, it seems steeper groomed than when it is bumped up.

Just about every gun on the lower headwall of the north side slopes was on all day today. After lunch lower gunnar was the place to be where fresh manmade was well dispersed across the whole trail.

I am truly surprised by te low turn out of crowds at springs. Gunnar lift was the *LEAST* crowded lift all weekend. The front side was busier which is a turn arround from the typical weekend. My read is that those with prearrange plans showed up and hung out on the front side while locals, regualars, and others, went elsewhere, stayed home, or just didnt ski to avoid expected crowds and rough weather.

This weekend was a reality check from the epic conditons of December back to a more typical east coast January--bitter cold and lots of ice.

The lack of turn out must have been related to the Steelers effect. I was out yesterday at Hidden Valley and conditions were better than I had expected with all the rain and wind on the drive up. Main problem was lots of snowmaking going off and some occasional ice, especially on the back side. Also, quite a few trails were closed. The wind died down and it was sunny and good skiing in the afternoon, with practically no one on the slopes thanks in part to the Steelers.