Day 51 what a difference a day makes

Still no new snow but the base remains at about 212 cms and the hill is in remarkably good shape above the rain line (about one third of the way up the hill) considering the lack of snow.

Went to the New side as usual ( until the next snow) and did a few loops on White Pass through Knot chutes and Surprise Trees which were in ok shape but starting to get a bit tracked out. Polar Peak looked ok but even with fairly clear skies there was obviously weather up there so hiking was a risk. In the event it was a risk not really worth taking. The conditions up Polar Perak were brutal with wind whipping snow into your face and causing a lot of damage to the skiing surface. A guy was hiking the boot pack about 50 metres in front of me and his tracks were washed out by the time I got to them so I was cutting a new track all the way up.

On top the wind was so strong that a couple of times I was almost blown over by the windage on the skis lashed to my back pack. Having strapped in I dropped the first chute which was pretty well wind pack all the way down. By the time I hit the County Line the wind had gone and it was a sunny but chilly day with temps sittong at about -5. Skied out through the steep chute in Concussion which like yesterday was good if not stellar skiing.

Spent the rest of the day either tracking down the County Line for Cougar Glades, Currie Creek, Skydive and Decline or looping back under White Pass for an Anaconda Glades and Bootleg Glades run to the bottom. The situation was just as you would have expected with good snow on top and not so good lower down depending on just how high each run ended.

Predictably Skydive and Decline had the longest marginal pitches as they finish the lower down the hill. To hear the long term locals talk you would think that these lower sections were hell on earth but actually they were only a bit scratchy and needed a bit of application to ski them. Anyone used to European spring skiing might have described the pitches as rather stiff powder. It all depends on what you are used to.

Still no snow in the forecast - off to the hockey, go Riders go.