Day 4 A Change in the Weather

This morning started much warmer at -13 but with low lying cloud in valley which gave up some precip all day long, light snow at first then freezing moisture in the afternoon. There was an inversion so that it was only -5 at the top and a general warming during the day so that by tonight it was a balmy -7 on the deck.

We started on the old side and had some warm ups on Bear, Bear bumps, Sunny side and Bow trees. Having neglected the new side yesterday we decided to move over there early to give it a fair go. Played around in White Pass and found that the viz was surprisingly good for being so overcast. As in previous days there had been no significant accumulation but what was left was good coverage but with some tough chunky conditions.

Highline proved a nice surprise as some blown in seemed to have occured and there was soft snow in the central gully. Lift line was as before a bit technical in the middle section due to roots and stumps. For the first time took Lazy Locals traverse out to Big Bang. The traverse is well off the usual path and will need a lot more snow and work before it is up to standard. Big Bang was skiable with care but far too many early season obstructions to make it much fun.

The county line was interesting in that there was a crust ( I guess wind as there had been no rain or sun) across the top of Concussion making the chutes pretty interesting. For the first time this year we tried Anaconda (first chute) which had good coverage but was avi debris in the bottom section. Exited via Bootleg Glades which was hard to get in and out but ok in the middle section.

Last run before lunch was a trip along the county line to Cougar Glades. I have now formed the view that the new bridge at Currie Creek is a good idea as it won't encourage any more marginally able skiers out there than already go and will at least mean you won't have to negotiate the carnage of skiiers chickening out on the creek corner when you want to go out there yourself. Cougar Glades were excellent - plenty of coverage with no growth in between the trees and only marginal hazards on the way out.

After lunch linked up with a visiting buddy from the UK and showed him Cougar Glades again which were just as good second time round. Finished the day with a drop into Anaconda (second chute) which was very bushy but with hero snow so you could fall line through the small trees - ski out was deep soft powder. Another trip through Bootleg finished the day.

Beers in the Griz bar the wing night. An interesting evening in the Pub as we met loads of friends. Big topic of discussion was the up coming weather system which looks like it may give up some serious snow over the next few days.

Sitting at home tonight the doorbell rang and it was two young french ladies who had called to introduce themselves as our new neighbours - a big improvement on their Aussie male predecessors in my view. We cracked a bottle of wine and they said they had been told to ask us if they needed help by their landlord who turned out the be a ski patroller we knew - small world.

As I am typing this it is -7 on the deck and light snow.