Spring skiing offers some of the best conditions for a season: Cold, freezing temps at night coupled with warm, almost hot days, produces a variety snow types during one eight-hour day on the slopes. So grab the sun screen, ditch the goggles and don your best tee-shirt, spring skiing is on in Southern California.

Bulletproof: Sometimes called boilerplate, it’s hard, fast, icy snow typically found if you catch first chair. So, my advice, chill in the parking lot a little longer before taking it to the slopes.

Granular: Snow that has melted and refrozen. It can be loose and sloppy or packed and firm. Gives you a chance to break out your powder sticks one last time even if it hasn’t dumped in months.

Corn: The finest of the spring harvest, Corn is similar to loose granular only better. Like the vegetable, spring Corn is usually sweet!

Crud: Another reason to break out your fatter boards. Crud is what happens to good snow: It’s tracked, ungroomed pitches that freeze over night and soften slowly and inconsistently. If you like the challenges of riding Crud, definitely give it time.

Mank: Kind of like it sounds.

Mashed Potatoes: Clumpy like your grandmother’s, this type of snow typically forms on a sunny day around 1:00 p.m. It’s like riding good snow but not really.

Slush: You probably won’t read this on any snow report but you might hear the term used in the lift line: “It’s getting slushy.” Bottom line: It’s wet, tends to grab at your bases and slows you down. Like Mashed Potatoes, it might be time to call it a day and transition to Apres ski mode.

Have fun, ride safe and enjoy these last couple of weeks of the year that was!

Earning my turns,
Glade Girl