Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

A couple of days ago, I took the day off to go snowboarding. With 16 inches of overnight snow and  snow still falling into the morning, it was going to be a prime day. As I pulled into the resort, and got ready to gear up, I made a devastating realization--I forgot my snowboard pants. Damn. After considering purchasing overpriced $200 resort shop pants or riding in my sweats, I came to the realization that I'd have to go home. There's no faking pants on a cold snow day. 

Since it was too late to go home, get the pants and get a decent day in, I went back to work and decided to go riding the next day. The following day was absolutely beautiful--blue skies, sunny and warm. I'm fortunate enough to live by a resort that doesn't get tracked out in the first few hours (or days) and holds fresh lines for a few days so the snow was nearly perfect too. In fact, they opened the tram for the first time following the storm so there was just a ton of fresh snow to be had. It was almost an advantage that I'd forgotten my pants the previous day because while the snow would have been great, the mountain had been covered in a thick cloud which would have cut visibility to nill.

This experience led me to the question at hand: What are the perfect ski/snowboard conditions? For me, despite how great the bluebird powder day was, I think I'd still go with daylong dump conditions, regardless of the cold and low visibility. There's just something about knowing that every single run you take is going to be pure, fresh powder.

How about you, do you prefer a bright, bluebird day or snow storm? Spring conditions or crisp January cold? What's your perfect ski day look like?

• skiing
• snowboarding
• snow
• bluebird