As we approached Banner Summit Saturday morning we were greeted with an intense snow squall that seemed to drop a couple of inches of snow in a 15 minute span. But as we parked in a surprising empty turn out the snow had stopped, allowing us to prepare at our leisure.
We progressed uphill in 3" of fresh powder, anticipating first tracks on the south face. The weather alternated between snow and sunshine - a typical Idaho spring day!
The views from up high were great and the sun stayed hidden behind the clouds long enough to maintain the snow quality.
The turns were excellent and we did indeed get first tracks.
The sun finally showed itself for good during lunch.
With the sun, came the crowds. As we started up for our second lap we were joined by 8, yes 8, other people! But despite the crowds we did get in that second lap which was almost as good as the first.
After a bit of bushwacking on the way down, we were on our way to Sun Valley.
We had a great meal at Il Naso, in Ketchum, with some celebratory wine, followed by a great night's sleep in the lodge. We both complained a bit about our legs being sore Sunday morning, but there was no need to put on skins and hike uphill as the gondola awaited us at River Run.
The weather Sunday was sunny with a stiff breeze blowing, but the skiing up high provided excellent spring conditions. The skiing down low offered an assortment of mashed root vegetables - make your own choice.
Considering the bare hills on the south facing slopes the coverage was surprisingly good, as were the turns.
We spent the better part of the day trying to ski all the runs at Baldy and put in a pretty good effort. But by 3PM we called it quits and headed in to Hailey for a late lunch before heading home.
A great way to spend the weekend with the love of your life and I sure hope the next 24 years will be as good as the first 24!
No comments:
Post a Comment