Last week, Montana saw a crazy winter storm. April was looking far more wintry than January ever did this season. It was exciting, to say the least. The storm culminated in a powder day at Big Sky for most MSU students, as we were lucky enough to have the day off from school.Â
Unfortunate long lines and treacherous road conditions had the day off to a bumpy start. We arrived at Big Sky for opening to find full mazes at both base lifts. Positivity was still high as we finally made it onto the first lift of the day. The snow was surprisingly light despite the barely freezing temperatures.
It was interesting to ski nearly two feet of snow directly on top of the dirt. Generally, when it starts to be the time of year for powder days, there is an established base at the resort. This season, however, there was never really any semblance of a base snowpack.
The huge storm provided a sense of false confidence for all of us skiing; the rocks were hard to see, but they were most certainly out. Sharks, as rocks are commonly referred to, were biting last week. Big core shots and unfortunate tumbles were the key events of our ski day.
Conditions aside, seeing snow on the trees and ice covering the lifts was a welcome spring surprise. The sun came out later in the day, and it became a perfect spring powder day. My skis came out unscathed, though not everyone can say the same, and it was refreshing to wear more than one layer underneath my shell jacket.
This was probably the last of any big storms for the season, but it was a lovely goodbye. Hopefully, next year will provide more views of snowy trees and icy lifts, but I’ll take whatever snow comes.