One of the key elements of a great boot testing venue is the same thing that attracts the traveling, spring skier—a thick, late-season snowpack. Last winter’s low snowfall in the west pointed out the scarcity of these reliably viable, April-May ski meccas. Predictably, a burst of late-April storms brought feet of powder to the Northwest, which highlighted another test venue challenge—operational will. Most resorts had let their bean-counters convince them to run for early-closure cover, but thankfully not Timberline on Mt. Hood.
