Saturday, December 11, 2010

Day 8 No weekend crowds and still more powder

I had been worrying about today as with the well publicised best opening week for some time I imagined and invasion of weekend worriors from Calgary and the hill being ugly busy. As it was there were a few more people around but no real crowds ( not like Christmas holiday week) and if you hit out into the boundary areas of the hill it was still pretty deserted. My own view is that the premium pricing on the hill has driven a lot of people away and as a result numbers will suffer but hey, thats great news for me and my buddies.

No new snow overnight but temps of -3 as we got to the hill with a cold wind and minus temps all day. As we hadn't been to the old side for a couple of days we decided to start there and found great snow everywhere. Powder had been skied over but there were stashes and best of all there was wind grooming (soft flat fresh snow blown in by the wind) in Boomerang, Boomerang Ridge and Linda's - all excellent. An early trip in to Sun Up found soft blow in between the bumps giving great skiing.

Dropping off the chutes at the top of Bear into Cedar bowl I found a young lady minus one ski in some quite deep powder and was able to assist in finding the missing ski. It cost me a couple of good powder turns but my experience is that when you do these good deeds the Griz usually rewards you with something really nice in the next few days - here's hoping. We went out to Snake Ridge and looped Redtree and Steep and Deep which were both excellent and only lightly tracked but a bit aldery (lots of alders) on the way out. Big thumbs up to whoever cut the traverse out to the boundary as it was spot on for avoiding having to climb but still getting you there.

Trips back were through Kangaroo which is great for this time of year. I may keep a log of how many times I ski the Roo this year, 12 to date. Bear chutes are starting to get sorted out as long as you look out for the log drops. The only part of the old side which is in need of help is the Cedar ridge/King Fir part which still looks very bushy.

Things were so good we had a very late lunch and then finished on the New side. Only time for Surprise Trees, Cornice Chute, and Big bang which were all surprisingly untracked. We then divided out strength with Lynda hiking up into Easter bowl ( great she said) and me dropping Secret Chutes and then into Spinal Tap. The chutes were good and Spinal tap was great fun but still tight due to the coverage. As always a finish down Skydive which remains an extended rolling soft snow terrain park from top to bottom.

As usual the Griz was crowded on Saturday so we came home early for a hot tub. Spent the evening putting up Christmas decorations and drinking Cornish Rattler. Forecast is for tons of precip in the next few days but rising temps ( a real Pinapple express) so it could get messy or it could be awesome. I am sure it will be snow at the top and rain in town but it is the bit in between that will decide just how the next few days will turn out.

No comments:

Post a Comment