17th March

Well day 85 was Paddy's day and we had the luck of the Irish with the best days skiing so far this season. About 10cms of fresh overnight had renewed most of the hill. More importantly Currie bowl and Snake ridge both opened after three nights and over 50cms of fresh untracked snow.
After yesterday we decided to hit out on the old side and grabbed first tracks in Steep and Deep and then Gorby, awesome untracked deep powder which gave over the head faceshots all the way down. Kangaroo was better than ever and after a couple of loops we headed out to the new side to check out the Currie opening.
Linked up with an instructor called Andy on his day off who was looking to see some bits of the hill that he doesn't normally experience with the groups he teaches - I don't think he was disappointed.
Cougar Glades at last lived up to it's full potential with great tree skiing. High Saddle opened and the run through it was great edge to edge chute skiing with loads of powder underneath and deep powder in the trees alongside Easter. After that we sort of got sucked into creek skiing by taking Secret Chutes in Spinal Tap, then Window Chutes off Decline which has improved no end since a couple of weeks ago when the drop off in the centre from the big tree trunk was over 6ft ( it's now only about 4ft with a soft landing). Did the usual loops off Skydive, Stag Leap and Decline and even skied The Brain most of the way down - don't look for any these on the trail maps as they aren't there.
Only downside tonight was that after a good few Paddy's night beers in the Griz and then wings night at the pub the Riders lost to the Nelson Leafs in game 3 of the play offs 3-1 ( last goal was an empty netter) so no more Hockey this season. Still, play off Champions of the division isn't a bad result for the season.
Temp on the deck -1 and the snow is falling so looks like another powder day tomorrow.