Day 103 a good day for a ski test

As anticipated temps over night dropped to about -3 and there was no new snow. The day was clear and bright with the base dropping to 220 cms and there was every chance that we would have one of those days where everything turns to slush.

Lynda was only skiing half a day as she was off to the physio to get a programme of exercises put together for her leg ( broken skiing two years ago) to take her through the summer sailing season. With this in mind she decided to try her brand new Salomon Geishas so we went to look for every type of surface we could find during the morning on the Old side to test them.

During the course of quite a long morning we found pretty well everything that you are likely to want to slide skis over. Hard icey groomers ( Bear early and Cedar centre) hard icey ungroomed (Arrow) Hard icey bumps (Kangaroo early) chunky refrozen crud ( almost any way down Cedar ridge you tried) Soft groomers (Bear and North ridge later) soft ungroomed steeps ( Boom ridge) soft bumps (Kangaroo later) slush ( Boom bowl left side late) and all points in between.

We were even able to try some powder as we hiked the old Face Lift which was open following last nights heli bombing of the ridge line ( a very cool sight from the Griz bar deck) for the first time in a few days. Everyone was turning left at the top so we turned right which had only been done once by a member of ski patrol and then I laid turns just to the left of his and Lynda to the left of mine. Not all that far but untracked powder all the way into the top of Cedar.

By the end of all that it was time for a late lunch and the skis had been thoroughly tested. Lynda was very please and concluded that they skied much like her Scarlets which skied much like her Guns which skied much like her Pocket Rockets and in fact most of the development work done by Salomon over the past few years has been done by the graphics department but as she likes those skis it's ok.

On my own for the afternoon I drifted over to the New side with my hiking pack and after a run down White Pass hiked Polar peak for the 13th or 14th time this year in warm sun but a cool breeze. The new snow in the chutes had softened but hadn't really stuck to the base so it was a sort of unstable mush all the way down which was ok but you did have to pay attention.

After that it was a run down Currie chutes (mush) then Skydive which was reforming crud with small death cookies which took more than the usual effort to get down. A quick trip to Guest Services to hand in some keys that I found hooked on one of the chairs of White Pass and which appeared to belong to a Non Stop skier and Preston North End supporter then some beers in the bar.

Hot tub and early night.