This past January was a horrible month for me personally, sub-par skiing was not the worst aspect. But with only four days of skiing including one terrible day, it was a mostly forgettable month of skiing as well. After two exhaustive weeks at work including a 13 day work week and a significant number of 12-15 hour days, I was ready for some fun.

I was expecting a decent amount of fresh powder with limited terrain. What I got was a decent amount of terrain with limited fresh powder. The official report came in at four inches but it was unevenly distributed with very little at the base and perhaps a little more at the summit. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to open up Freefall (for an hour), Liftline (excepting the steepest pitch), and many upper mountain off map trees. It was not what I expected but I was not disappointed.

Initial caution was not necessary and exuberance took over after our first run. Liftline was open down to the steepest pitch and it was phenomenal. The new snow was a dense and supportive cream cheese that mostly covered up the rocks. Due to low base depth, drops and airs were decidedly larger than they normally are for February. Thin coverage made for some spicy skiing, especially when combined with jumps and drops. We returned for several Liftline runs on progressively deteriorating conditions.

Freefall was open and I knew it was important to hit that right away. Freefall is less able to take abuse than Liftline despite being the lesser of the two trails. By the time we got there, snow was already giving way to prolonged rock slab. The skiing was fun and exciting but the trail was soon roped and with good reason.

We found Doc Dempsey’s in great condition as well as some upper mountain off map trees. But mid-mountain off map didn’t offer enough coverage and the snow was more grabby due to temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. Lower mountain trees, both on and off map, were out of the question.

The small queue at Sterling disappeared after lunch. I guess some sorta sporting event was scheduled for this evening? We had our priorities in order and kept skiing almost until the last chair. Sterling had some great tree skiing on and off the map. Coverage could be generously described as “thin”. Fun was a given, but so was base damage. But at least we were skiing powder in the trees, the way mid-winter should be, unlike what the past four weeks offered.