Day 22 what a great way to spend Christmas Eve

As forecast it started cold at -26 and didn't get much above -16 at the top all day. There was light cloud which gave up very light snow on and off all day but only about enough to screw up the light and not really to add to the base.

We started on the old side where some grooming had taken place to try and groom in the avi debris from yesterday. As it was so cold we were grateful that so much was ungroomed and therefore starting to turn to bumps. A morning of bump skiing on Bear, Lizard, Cedar and Boom Ridge kept us warm. One run through the newly opened Kangaroo proved it to be ugly ice bumps with twigs and a big ice crust drop off on to Cedar Trail, and that's from one of thr few fans of the run. Just as we headed in for a hot choccy break I saw two people dropping through Corner Pocket into Lizard and that set the agenda for the rest of the day.

After the break, went up the new side and hit out on the County Line, dropped through Corner Pocket which was well covered and a nice ski despite the double black diamond rating. Only problem was just at the bottom of the chute where we lost the light but a couple of turns in and it came back and then all you had to do was to pick the tracks between the avi debris and you had good deep powder all the way down to Dancer. The next couple of hours or so were taken up lapping through Corner Pocket, High Saddle ( a bit tougher) Low Saddle ( a bit steeper) and always tracking into Easter for the ski out.

Last run before a very late lunch I took a hard right hook into Spinal Tap for the first time this season and it proved to be a bit of a mistake. Ok at the top but it got icey with death cookies underneath half way down. a bit further down a tree had fallen across the stream bed which may be a problem as the snow builds later on ( you won't be able to duck it) but it probably will allow you to jump the tree to the right but let's see how that goes. Very tight on the ski out with an icey base and/or ice crust so not the place to go until the next weather cycle.

In the short afternoon went out to Corner Pocket to find that it had been scraped out by boards but the snow below was still good. Last run decided to try Cougar Glades on the grounds that the top should be as good as the top of Skydive and the bottom nowhere near as bad due to less traffic. For once got the call dead right and had a great run top to bottom with only a little toughness in the lower sections.

Great evening visiting friends, having drinks and opening Christmas presents at home. Looking forward to a short day tomorrow followed by Christmas Day.