No new snow, but Snowkite season is open

[windzup]

There was no new snow at Skyline, but thanks to melting, freezing temps, and cold winds the 6-10 inch base was solid and good for rides. It is definitely lawn mower riding, with a lot of bushes sticking thru. The rocks are still sticking out of the snow and easily avoidable, especially if one stays in a general flat open area.

The wind was only 8-12mph the whole day but pretty powered on 10-14 meter Snowkites. Despite threading the needle on a few occasions, I managed to work my way upwind from milepost 14 to the whale holes down the ridge. No damage to the skis and big smiles after a 3 hour tour around.

Jake Walker busted out his 16 meter glider and did some ground skimming from the top of Boscos, but the winds were too light for him to stay in the air, while 10 meter foils could easily cruise uphill (downwind). Speaking of which, we kited around the top of Boscos (lot of bush factor!) but the bottom of the hill was perfect for gaining speed and gliding out over the flats.

Next weeks storm (mon-Tues) should put a soft layer over this base that will open up most of the terrain. It will probably take a storm or two after to hide all the bushes. As long as it doesn't get warm we are in good shape...even tho it looked bad when I arrived, the riding was as good as ever.....
..First session of the season and she didn't let me down (I luv that place).

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

http://www.windzup.com

BTW - check out the wind talker at Skyline, it won't do much good for providing a forecast, but one can look retrospectively at the end of the day. at Milepost 14 it felt like 8-12 all day...and thats what the wind talker read, so not bad.