3rd April

Day 102 proved to be pretty ok as well. Just as all this week we had some light snow overnight (this time only 4 cms) to repair the hill and headed off in temps of -2 and overcast conditions to go and see what we could find.
Having rather neglected the old side over the past few days I headed out over that way to check what I had been missing and renew my membership of the old Fernie club.
As expected the upper parts of Snake Ridge and Steep and Deep were in excellent condition and tracked up powder. The lower sections showed evidence of sun damage not covered all that well by new snow and were pretty chunky and hard work. Kangaroo was quite forgiving in the upper section but everything below the cat track was gnarly refrozen crud every time I went through. The north facing slopes of Cedar ridge all were in pretty good shape as was Boomerang and Boomerang ridge which were skied several times.
At lunch I hooked up with some buddies and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon rolling round the new side. By mid afternoon the temp had risen to + 10 at the base with softening snow on all slopes subject to direct sunlight. For obvious reasons we moved to the North facing slopes and found good fresh snow in Easter bowl, Secret chutes and Spinal Tap. A run down Sib ridge had mixed results and was starting to show signs of wear in the mid section.
Last run of the day was Skydive although some of the group opted for Decline and the debrief in the locker room afterwards confirmed that they were both in pretty good shape at the top but very slushy at the bottom and should be avoided tomorrow until the temps rise and the snow softens.
The last week has been a real bonus but it looks like all good things come to an end. Forecasts vary but are in general agreement that we will see a massive warm up over the next few days with temps in town getting up to +12. Looks like spring skiing where we stick on the groomers until to snow softens then have a couple of good hours skiing softening crud until it gets all too soft and we have to call it a day. Just about what we should expect in the last 10 days of the season.