Unlike 6 years ago, this was all snowmaking. Thanks to 10 cold days, Summit is about like mid-December of a typical low snow year (like the last 2). The newly opened runs were a bit thin, so grooming was better in the areas which had been open awhile. Weather was warm, softening the midday surface to a pleasant texture, not intense enough to be slushy anywhere. In afternoon shade it returned to hardpack, but very few scraped or icy spots.

The word was out, because morning traffic up 330 was as bad as I've seen in a while for a clear road day. We skied an easy first hour, but a huge wave of people arrived around 10AM and overwhelmed the 2 top-bottom quads for the rest of the morning. They declared a sellout around noon, and after lunch the lines lightened up. With no advanced runs open, the only challenge was in the terrain parks, which were very popular. The hits and features were not as big as they get mid-season, but were in very good shape.