Five to six hundred skiers and snowboarders hit the lower mountain Hart Prairie, Sunset, and Aspen lifts. After hanging in limbo for two months, employees logged in their first paycheck hours. By noon, lift crews started loading skiers up the Agassiz chair to Midway, and a few hours later, opened the Ridge side of the resort to the top. While a small group of protestors against the resort's snowmaking proposal soon left, many skiers voiced surprise at the powder. Grass poked through some runs - a casualty of the previous week's devastating wind storm, but the snow was better than expected with a depth of 10 - 36 inches. Marketing director David Smith summed up the surprise, "Conditions were incredible - light powder."