Bousquet Mountain Ski Area on Monday, January 2, 2023

		Bousquet Mountain Ski Area Monday, January 2, 2023
		Submitted on January 2, 2023 by rocket21 (1394)
	Session	Afternoon
	Ticket Type	Discount from Third Party
	Lift Lines	0 minutes
	Trail Conditions	35% open; Spring Snow, Spring Snow
	Glades	Bare
	Moguls	None
	Terrain Park(s)	Rails and a few small jumps on Harris Slope. Exit has almost melted out.
	Run of the Day	Grand Slalom
	Food and Beverage	Did not partake.
	Comments	Spring skiing in early January. Used the Indy Allied discount (50% off midweek, which meant a $21 4-hour ticket + $5 RFID). Basically three runs open: Grand Slalom, Main Street, and Drifter. From the top of the triple, there were initially two trails open, but Jewett was shut down soon after I skied it. Totally skiable (very bottom had a growing bare spot, but there is a crossover that was still skiable above it). That left Easy Rider as the only way off the top of the triple, which was congested at times, and had dirt/rocks to avoid just before it crosses under the chairlift. Grand Slalom probably had the best base depths top to bottom and was the firmest under the top layer of spring snow. Also the least busy. The exit back to the chairlift was getting thin. Main Street was thin in places (and an area was marked off due to collapsing snow) and not wall to wall, but otherwise okay. Harris Slope (kind of a stretch to call it a separate trail at this point since there is nothing between it and Main Street) was getting thin. Drifter also had a few random items mixed in with the snowpack, but was otherwise okay spring skiing. Beginner carpet area had good coverage, as did the tubing area below it. Looks like they had started to make snow on North Slope, Beeline, and Russell, but will pretty much be starting from scratch when they get back to them. Presumably their next snowmaking window will be needed to rebuild existing trails. Impressive fleet of fully automated SMI Polecat tower guns. Both chairs were ski-on, but the triple had folks on every chair. Almost no one riding the double (doesn't access any of the steeper terrain, and runs much slower than the triple). Friendly lift operators. The new lodge is nice, but I was surprised at how small the main floor cafeteria is. All skier needs (food, rentals, restrooms) are located on the ground floor, which is nice. Upscale sit down dining upstairs. It is nice to see this area almost completely rebuilt, but it is sad to see how wide open the main mountain is now with the new lift and snowmaking configuration (lift is almost perpendicular to some of the original trail directions). It would be great if they could plant a bunch of trees to re-delineate the trails to give them definition and character. Louise's, Parker, and Dino's appear to have been largely unscathed, so hopefully one day I'll be able to return and give those a shot.
	URL	https://www.franklinsites.com/temp/bousquet-2023-0102a.jpg
	Report Rating	4