I was up at Wintergreen for their last day today. Eagle's Swoop and Dobie were open, and of course they had Dobie set up as a large terrain park. First things first, some pics are at:

http://members.cox.net/craig.hunter/wtg040206/

There were a lot of good skiers and boarders riding in the park, and it was fun to watch. I think the average age there was about 16, and I was one of the few dorky older guys around (I did my best to represent for gen X). There were more regular, older skiers over on Eagle's Swoop.

While some parts of the trails looked thin, overall there was a ton of snow on the trails, especially lower Eagle's Swoop and Dobie. They had scraped Dobie down to make features, jumps, etc, out of the snow, and there was still a solid base. They really made a ton of snow on that trail this year -- you don't realize how much volume that base is until they start to move the snow around to make features.

I started the day on Eagle's Swoop, which was groomed very nicely. Good skiing over there, but it got slushed up by noon, so I headed over to Dobie. The snow on Dobie was better, probably because they had graded down into the manmade base (in contrast, the cover on Eagle's Swoop was the natural remnants of last week's snow, with some manmade scrambled in here and there).

Of course all the other trails were closed, but I think a hiker could have poached some turns (for sure on the Highlands -- upper cliffhanger looked very good). There was a nice strip of snow down the side of Big Acorn, and I thought about hiking it but was too tired by the end of the day. I'm sure that would have been a fun chute to ski...

Anyway, this turned out to be a great day. Weather was good, skiing was fun, and the action in the park was pretty good. If this had been mid-season, two trails with spring snow would have been a major dissappointment. For April 2, it was like a gift of a bonus ski day. Heck, the other alternative was staying home to mulch flower beds, so being able to ski was pretty awesome! Too bad they won't be running the lifts next weekend.... I know the snow will still be there!

Craig

nice trip, thanks. eagles swoop did look alright. two questions:

* did you rep gen x on the big kickers?

* how many people were there?

oh, i chose the mulching it was time to start putting things right at home after being in califonia for a full week.

I heard it was busier yesterday, but today there was never a lift line and the trails never felt real crowded, even with boarders and skiers waiting for jumps, etc. I was pretty much zipping around all day. It was real empty over on Eagles swoop. Never more than 5-10 people on the whole lift at any time (out of 72 chairs, that is not a lot). I'd say the Dobie lift was running at a steady 40-50% full the whole day.

I did a decrepit gen-X pose on the big jumps, and now my knees are feeling it! Had a couple knee-torturing back seat landings, so it's good I have 8 months to rest... Those twin tip skis are clearly meant for younger skiers with more energy. I can't play all day like that.

So, how about a Kirkwood trip report?? How was it?

Nice Subaru Outback