Opening Day hopes have been high ever since snow starting falling on Saturday. Despite some beautiful, snowy scenes on the upper mountain, what’s happening down low is putting a damper on our plans to hit the slopes.

Before I show you all the positive prospects, let’s take a look at what’s keeping a lid on our Opening Day dreams:

In a word, THIS:

Six inches is the depth of snow in the base area where slopes (or flats) have been track packed.

Our brush cutting efforts this summer have left us with a lack of brushy ‘stuff’ sticking up down here, but the snow is simply not deep enough.

The measurement looks a little better where the snow has not been track packed.

This is the lowest point on the mountain, but it’s a key factor in whether we can open. So is the depth at the bottom of Main Street.

There, we have an unpacked reading of 12″. (This is the same level where you see our ‘official’ base area totals on the website.)

This modest snow depth is really the deal breaker. What may not be obvious from the numbers on our snow report is that between the 5″ we got Sunday and the 5″ we’ve had since then, it rained. It rained most of the night Sunday night, up to 6,600 feet. That’s half way up the mountain.

Still, there are a lot of positives that developed this week.

Our groomers have been out across the mountain the past two days, track packing the upper slopes. We do this for two main reasons. First, it gives us a great idea of how much more snow we need before we can completely groom the slopes. Second, it helps consolidate and preserve the snow we have. With single-digit and negative temperatures, it wouldn’t take much wind to blow off the freeze-dried snow crystals. So we’ve tracked all the slopes we can to help prevent that.

And while a lot of our slopes look tantalizing like this stretch of Temptation,

A lot of other slopes, even up high, look like this.

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but some of those stobs are easily two feet high.

Still, we are gaining ground overall.

When we took measurements last week, our snow pole showed about 23 inches at the top of Lakeview.

Today, it shows 32″.

The top of Engen tends to get more wind scouring, but even there we are seeing pretty good readings.

Our measurements in that area ranged from 21″ – 26″.

What’s even better, there are hardly any rocks showing.

We also got a chance to scope out the track packing on 45th Parallel. Most spots look really good.

But we do need more snow to cover the brush in other areas.

Rest assured, we’re not just sitting around waiting for the next blast of snow.

Our crews are out working even in these bone-chilling temperatures.

The last of the seat pads are secured.

And everyone’s ready for their first ride.

As soon as Mother Nature decides to give us her blessing.

Think snow!

– April

12/09/2013 (Monday) update: We have seen about 3″ of fresh snowfall since this report. Unfortunately, with temperatures below zero and in the single digits, that snow is EXTREMELY light and dry (basically, frozen vapor) and has not changed our situation significantly from what you see here. Keep those snow dances coming, we will do everything in our power to open as soon as we get enough snow to properly pack and groom the slopes!