My wife and I left the art museum at 6a with microspikes and an expectation of 5-10 mph winds. All was calm until we hit the pines. We looked up to see clouds of snow blowing from the tram area and soon the wind was howling. The trail up through the pines was excellent (with microspikes) but with the wind gusting over 60MPH we were worried about falling trees, branches and especially the 18-inch, 8 pound greenish pine cones that were starting to litter the trail. We topped out to a pretty much empty Long Valley and made our way to get the quickest tram down. There was a long line to depart, some simply turning around as soon as they arrived. Trams up were cancelled for the rest of the day and our ride down resembled more an action movie than a smooth descent: "Stand away from the doors!!"..."the floor will NOT rotate"...we were buffeted by so much wind we had to stop and let the tram settle before proceeding...very slowly. Exciting!!!
A beautiful day on the mountain!
Don and Diane