Here in Vermont we have had a recent sour weather event that has put down several inches of "sugar sand" over some mighty hard and slick base. (Eastern blue ice)
I've had some very enjoyable runs through what could be treacherous if not unrewarding conditions.
A soft touch is needed when making turns to limit the loud grinding that emits when ski bases come hard on icy trail base. A heads up approach is required to optimize the selected path through the old bumps and new wind drift patterns. Most importantly, one needs to be "on top of your skis" to be sure that every turn is made with BOTH skis working together. Much like in powder snow.
All in all,the few details that make for pleasant skiing through and over these rather unique snow conditions can be boiled down to a simple phrase. PAY ATTENTION!
But then, isn't that where the rewards in any activity are obtained?
This reminds me a little about skiing and teaching back in Australia (Mt. Hotham in Victoria) during 2000 to 2009. We used to experience similar snow conditions on most warmer days (which could be anytime of the season, not just spring) when it would start off frozen and then by early afternoon it would turn into a field of granular quicksand and mush bumps that many people struggled to turn in. There was a lot of man-made snow in that gully and a very high traffic area and conditions could vary greatly during the day.
The worst run for this would be on a run called Slalom Gully, a blue run that had 17 other steeper blues and black runs feeding into it. It was one massive big human terrain trap and once you were in it, you had to ski the run to get to other chairs (Heavenly Valley chair which was an important connector or the Village chair to get back to the resort which funnily enough is towards the top of the mountain!).
For the ski school, this was officially designated as non-teaching terrain, that is your goal was to just try and get your group down it in one piece. Often that would involve sending the clients down first to a designated meeting spot halfway down at the side of the trail where you could re-group so you could ski down last and pick up the pieces. Here's a video (not mine, taken from YouTube) that gives you a little feel for the terrain (only shows some of the runs feeding into it, not all of them unfortunately):
It was a really nice run early in the morning when it was groomed and quiet and then by the afternoon, it was a whole different kettle of fish. We would run a 2 hour group lesson in the morning (10am - 12 noon) and then another 2 hour group lesson in the afternoon (1:30pm - 3:30pm). By the time the afternoon lessons started, some of the beginners who had been skiing up on the Summit in the morning lessons (our main green terrain) had the courage or at least the idea, that it was time to try an "easy blue." This involved taking the village loop all the way down from the top of the mountain down to the Village Trail and back up the Village Chair.
In order to do that, they had to ski down Slalom Gully and by the early afternoon, it was the quagmire I described previously. The afternoon rush would begin and there would be bodies everywhere when you got to Slalom Gully. Beginner skier and snowboarders would be crashing left right and center and intermediates would be having a hard time too. Making it through that safely was quite the achievement for most.
It was funny that few of the experienced instructors would want to take any of the intermediate groups in the afternoon. If they did that, then at some stage invariably they would end up having to take their group down Slalom Gully...... You either wanted a beginner group so you could stay safer and be up on the Summit green runs or an advanced group who could make it down Slalom and over to the Heavenly chair so you didn't have to go through that mush again! Back then there weren't so many fat skis (which would have made the mush easier to ski), but if your technique was sound (and no one took you out!), you could make it through just fine. Those were the days.....
- Matt
