There’s No Bad Snow, Just A Bad Turn

The first time I heard this, I was in Portillo after it had rained at the top of the mountain and then the temps dropped to sub zero. We had willed ourselves to ski until 2:00 when we retreated to the fire for hot cocoa. It was miserable skiing. Theo Meiners came in and asked why we weren’t skiing and we looked at him like he was crazy. “Have you been out there Theo? It’s terrible!” Theo gave me that crazy look of his and said, “Jess there is no bad snow, just a bad turn.”

“There is no bad snow, only a bad turn,” was my mantra as we searched every aspect of the mountain for descent snow. There were pockets of good snow in the nooks and cranies of the mountain, but most of the mountain was covered in breakable crust. Breakable crust is my least favorite type of snow to ski because it is so unpredictable. I would rather ski consistent bullet proof ice. The worst part about breakable crust is that you never know when it is going to break and you are going to fall on your head. Needless to say there were a few bad turns skiing.

The good news is there is a freeze thaw cycle occurring and the corn skiing should be phenomenal in the next couple of days.