Spring Skiing - Corn Snow and Soft Bumps,
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By Mike Doyle,
Office 2010 Home And Student, About.com Guide March 13, 2011
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I mentioned recently that I had one more ski vacation left for this season's budget and for that I arrived at Vail Resort in Colorado late this afternoon. It really wasn't a bad trip out except that trekking through Denver airport I noticed there were a lot of people in shorts and flip flops.
I'm lugging ski boots and ski gear for a day, so even if they lose my checked bags and skis I'll have my own boots, and people are bare legged, daring summer to come early.
Shorts in ski country airports should be banned until at least after the last pond skimming. However, even though it was 50 degrees in Denver it was in the 30's with 6" of new snow at Vail. But, daytime temps are creeping up and pulling in to Lionshead, I saw moguls growing on the trails just above the village and you know that's where the fun is when it starts to warm up.
Corn snow and soft bumps - that's what spring skiing in the ideal is all about, but the uncertainty of weather make this ideal scenario fleeting, at best. However, if we were to wish for a mountain where all the best conditions of spring skiing were present every day what would that mountain be like?
I would wish for sunny all day, cold in the morning to hold the corn snow crystals that have set up over night. By mid-morning the sun would soften the fronts of the moguls that had also set up during the cold night. Late morning to high noon would just soften the snow to a couple of inches for nice and fast cruising and carving. Could these ideal spring conditions that we've stretched into a morning without mentioning the word "slushy" ever be found to hold for the whole of a spring day and, if so, where?
Well, Mark Elling,
Office Pro Plus 2007, author of The All-Mountain Skier: The Way to Expert Skiing and a professional bootfitter plying his trade in southern Oregon, thinks the perfect spring mountain would have a 360 degree snow peak where,
Office Standard 2010 Key, as the sun "dials" around the mountain during the day it's possible to follow the snow conditions around the mountain. Mark says this scenario actually does exist.
Read about Mark Elling perfect spring skiing mountain and,
Office 2010 Pro Plus, in his exclusive essay for About.com Skiing readers - Making the Most of Late Season Skiing, find out how to enjoy these spring conditions.
More: All You Need to Know For Spring Skiing Fun
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Photograph of Mark Elling at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon Copyright Kirk DeVoll