Day 19 a case of perfect timing

The perfect timing was to get the mother of all colds just before Christmas. Had a little tickle in the throat yesterday evening which developed into a sore throat and chesty cough during the night. By this morning it was a full on stinking cold as we headed to the hill. I had intended hiking Polar Peak today but feeling as I do it will be a few days yet before I am up to that.

It was -12 at the hill with thick valley fog giving up some valley snow which thinned out around the top of the Bear so that the Lizard head wall was in sunshine but as soon as you descended you were back in the fog which felt particularly cold in the moist atmosphere. For the whole day it seemed colder than the mercury and I was glad of the exrata layer (4 plus the jacket) that I had put on because of my cold.

Feeling so bad I just took it easy round the old side and found it pretty well skied out with an ice base, chunky on top and mostly bump skiing. Bear bumps, Sunny side, Cedar ridge (plus gully) and of course a trip through Kangaroo (very icey bumps). After that we were mostly up and down Boomerang dipping into Linda's, Boom bowl, PS I Love You and Boom Ridge all of which were chunky on top and scratchy underneath.

The cold was getting to me and with very low energy levels we did one final run down Bear chutes (like all the rest) and went for a late morning hot choccy and cookie break. The fog had started to rise against all the expectations so after the break we went the New side where you could ski all the time off White Pass in the direct sunlight. We looped Surprise trees, Highline trees, Milky Way trees dropping the Gun bowl each time with the snow rather softer than the old side but still well skied.

We waited until the fog cleared a bit before looping into Currie bowl and taking the steep chutes into Concussion which amazingly was starting to have some surface melt in the direct sunlight. Conditions were much the same as the old side but with a bit more soft. The final run down Stag Leap convinced me that my energy levels were so low that I would hurt myself if I stayed out so at 14:00 we quit the hill.

The cold went from bad to worse during the afternoon and I am just about to head off to bed at 19:00 in the hope that this will cure me in time to ski tomorrow. Haven't felt this bad for years - might not even go to the hill tomorrow.