Monday, March 15, 2010

Day 94 and Polar Peak is back on the menu

Last night temps dropped to about -6 in town and I guess a little cooler on the hill. Forecast was for daytime highs of around +8 but the whole onset was delayed by overcast conditions so things didn't really start hotting up until well after lunch. When they did hot up things happened pretty quick and temps rose fast in what became a bluebird afternoon.

Just as I anticipated Polar Peak was open from the outset. Lynda had decided to take the day off so I decided to have a couple of loops on the New side just to get the legs in place. Last loop was down to the bottom via Anaconda and the Bootleg trees and then it was time for Polar Peak.

The hike was ok but the boot pack was very icey particularly in the avi debris near the top of the boot pack at the ridge. The thought was always there that the chutes could be the same tough conditions but trusting to luck I hiked to the top and as I had hoped the chutes were mostly blow in and fresh but with some hard patches that sounded under foot during the drop. It was ok but not enough to warrent doing it a second time.

The rest of the morning was spent going out into Anaconda extending one chute at a time and as always the snow was steep, deep and good tight tree skiing. Lunch.

In the afternoon went back to Anaconda and continued to extend even further into the chutes. Each time came out through Bootleg Glades which were ok if a bit firm in the bottom. As things had softened I went out to Currie chutes and was surprised to find very soft slow motion spring skiing all the way down.

Next went all the way out to Stag Leap where the traverse is getting very touch and go. The top of Stag Leap was great but very quickly it became crusty then very icey at the bottom. Against all odds tried Skydive for last run which for reasons I can't explain was much better than Stag leap. Soft at the top with a little crust in the middle but perhaps it was the skier traffic that left the bottom in pretty good shape.

Beers in the sun and a quiet night.

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