Sunday, November 29, 2009

Day 2

As I predicted the flurries last night didn't really amount to anything and the hill was showing 3 cms in 24 hours and a mid mountain depth of 103 cms. Everyone seems to forget just how sketchy things usually are on opening day - Lynda read back in her journals and discovered this is the most snow at opening for over 5 years. Even the awsome winter of 2 years ago only opened with 90 cms and that was second week in December.

Strangest thing was the temperature which was supposed to drop to -11 overnight but on our deck barely got down to zero. At the hill it was about plus 2 at the bottom, minus 2 at the top and the freeze line at about mid mountain. The real problem was that it never got cold enough low down for them to turn on the snow cannons so the lower mountain remains in a very thin state. With a Chinook in Calgary giving about plus 10 and spreading this way it doesn't look like things are going to change short term.

Things at the hill were much the same as yesterday but with no fresh powder and far fewer poeple after the excitement of opening day had worn off. The weather was overcast with light freezing moisture ( I wouldn't call it snow) blowing in from time to time in a gusty wind. Only the old side was open again and the groomers had been out taking the advantage of having some skier compacted snow to extend the groomed areas.

The only new things we tried today were Cedar Ridge which was ok between the alders but so much growth showing it was impossible to get much of a rythm going and a bit crunchy towards the bottom. Snake ridge opened with a sign line keeping us out of Gorby bowl and a warning that KC chutes were very ugly. We had some great runs in un tracked powder off Snake cutting right above the chutes to get us back out on to Cedar centre. Took a look into Linda's and Kangaroo and decided against both due to a substantial amount of timber being evident.

So that's the opening taster for 2 days with the opening proper next Saturday. Between now and then we hope for some more snow which is called for at the end of the week or at the very least cold weather so that snow can be made on the lower mountain to improve the ski out. A summary of the current conditions -
Lower Mountain ( anything below Bears Den) - rain crust, ice and not much snow. Use only to get off the hill and even then be careful.
Lizard - Whole bowl in very good shape with tracked powder in most places. A little grooming in Arrow and Dancer but everything else un groomed. Only thing to watch is bottom of Easter where the gullies haven't yet filled in and there are many hazards.
Sunny side - Skiable with lots of alders.
Bear -groomed but with good ungroomed stuff off both sides.
Boom bowl and boom ridge both passable with caution and good sking in between the alders in the bowl
North ridge - groomed and good
Cedar ridge - passable in places with many alders but some good pitches.
Cedar bowl - a few groomed runs with good tracked powder in between the grooming.
Snake ridge - great powder now a bit tracked up. Pitches curtailed by the need to track right above KC chutes unless you are particulkarly fond on gardening.

Not a comprhensive list but I will add to my ramblings as there will be not much to report with 5 days of hanging out waiting for the hill to open proper. Hail to the Griz with a prayer for more snow.

On more important topics the hot tub worked well again tonight to get rid of early season pain and the Ghostriders 10 game winning streak came to an end last night - next home game next weekend and we will be ready.

1 comment:

  1. Dude, you're back! missed your blog! can't wait to catch up. Good news re the snow. Hail to your lovely Lynda for keeping the journal. Hot tub sounds great! Hail also to the Griz with a prayer for more snow & bring on the ghostriders. Be in touch.

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