This past Saturday was amazing at the mountain. A few friends and I arrived around 9AM and both the main and annex parking lots were full and we were forced to park in the HRM (Hood River Meadows) lot. It actually worked out really well for my friends and I since we all had season passes and could avoid the incredibly long line to buy lift tickets.
The conditions could not have been better. It had been snowing for the past few days at the rate of two inches per hour and the ground was covered with the lightest powder I've ever experienced. On my first run down HRM, Geoff, one of guys I was with, decided to venture off the groomed path. About 10 feet off the path I got a bit too far forward on my board and fell face first into the snow. Normally this isn't a problem except when hard ground is two feet down. After a short hike back to the groomed I was on my way again. It was going to be a great day.
The fun part about the whole day was that the people I was boarding with had all been boarding for many years more than me, so it was a lot of fun trying to keep up with them over some terrain I have never been over before.
The worst part of the whole day was trying to board back to our car. To get back to the HRM lot you have to build up enough speed to make it past a long flat section of trail. Unfortunately we were on our way in that direction when ski patrol decided to close that route. After they stopped us, they said as long as we avoided going to the shooting star lift we could go in that direction. Nice, we had lost all our speed and had a long hike to the next hill. As if this wasn't bad enough, the snow had been heavily tracked and was ripe with mogals; it was going to be a rough ride down.
All things considered, I had an amazing day. I can't wait until next weekend, hopefully there will be some sunshine in the future. I had a disposable camera with me and took lots of pictures. When I get them developed and scanned I'll post them.