Coverage continues to set new benchmarks. Thunder was this deep in February 1998 and March 1991, but you have to go back to 1979 for as much snow at the bottom. The base of Chair 1 is in a hole now.

In some ways today was similar to two weeks ago 2/17, with most of Thunder retaining a packed powder surface. Grooming was better today with Skyline and lower Robins excellent in early morning. By afternoon Skyline had moguls, but like those in Emile's and Goldridge, they were nicely spaced with excellent snow quality.

Unlike 2/17 it was sunny most of the day with no wind, so Chair 4 softened up, with its groomed runs in the best shape 10:30-12:30.

What was strange was the lack of crowds; perhaps people feared the predicted storm would come in early like last weekend. I skied 30,500 vertical, a record for a SoCal weekend day, especially with no high speed lifts.

The ungroomed on Thunder was excellent skier-packed powder from Skyline to Robins. Herb's and Andy's softened by mid-afternoon. Elsewhere, the ungroomed snow had not been packed out much, and had set up to a heavy consistency requiring careful turns. Anyone who was there Wednesday or Thursday could have had fresh powder all day. Bentley's was the only steep lower run which had been skier packed, and much of it was turning to spring conditions today.

Surface conditions will change soon (for better or worse depending on snow level) but there is at least a month of coverage left on chairs 1&4 and at least 2 months on Thunder.