First ski of spring

First day of Spring and look at the icicles on the Kings Hill Pass Cabin!

Jim Heckel enjoys perfect day and perfect snow on Deadman run

Even the tele turns were perfect

We found perfect weather and pretty good snow for the first day of spring skiing in the Little Belts on Sunday.
Two to three inches of powder fell overnight atop the hard and packed 55 inches of settled snow.
The skies cleared and it was a perfectly bluebird day for skiing the Deadman run from Kings Hill Pass.
It was a tad cold, 14 degrees when we started and the northwest wind cut through us, promising a weather change for Monday and Tuesday for a predicted snowstorm.
Jim Heckel wanted to get back for the Duke-Michigan March Madness, so we agreed not to tele in the south Deadman bowls.
But, when we got there we found ourselves flirting with all-out tele runs, descending about three-quarters of the way down the bowl before staying true to our pledge to ski through without yo-yo-ing. I've got to admit I wonder about our judgment in passing up those luscious bowls. What little bit of downhill we did was heavenly.
Once we started down the ridgeline we found that a light cover of snow was sitting on top of icy hardpack.
Our final couple of miles was pretty fast going because of it.
We did this run in 2 hours and 45 minutes without pushing.
I'm convinced we could have done this 8-miles plus run in less than two hours if we had tried.
This was a great way to start the spring season.