Day 29 more of the same

First off we have had news of the guy we helped out of Fish bowl the other day. Turns out he has two cracked vertebrae and concussion but is on the mend. All this happened while wearing a helmet which just convinces me that I won't be skiing with anyone not wearing one - it's bad enough having to fill out an incident report for the hill - I don't fancy having to fill out a coroners report.

We seem to be locked into a bit of a timewarp here with another cold day, no fresh snow, tough scabby conditions and not too many people on the hill. Starting temps were -14 and didn't get up much during the day and conditions were overcast with light flurries coming and going, no accumulation and such little snow as there was being very dry dust on crust. Not a lot to get excited about and certainly not the "awesome conditions" that official sources would have us believe to exist on the hill.

As I was giving a few hints to a buddy's wife on her skiing I didn't get about too much during the morning. We stuck to the new side dropping Currie a couple of times by Down Right and Currie Powder and cutting back off White Pass through Highline and the I bowl. In general conditions where hard pack/boiler plate with a bit of dust on crust and some fairly heavy packed but smooth blow in.

Late morning I found myself on my own so had a rip through Decline and Skydive before a late lunch. Conditions were just like yesterday - icy bumps at the top, chunky/heavy bumps mid section and decidedly scratchy on the lower part.

After a late lunch went back to the New Side with Lynda and Red Pants Rob and managed 4 loops before final bell - Decline, Cougar Glades, Stag Leap and Skydive. The conditions were again the same as yesterday and were highly marginal with very mixed conditions. As I have said before I enjoy this sort of stuff but I quite understand that for many this would not be considered very enjoyable skiing.

A few beers then home for a hot tub. Problem is that we haven't had the usual Christmas/ New Year dump so the snow base now is at least 50 cms below what we usually see even in a poor year. The base is ok but the conditions now only just about rate ok. Spoke to a buddy today who had booked next week off work but has decided to go back to Calgary as the conditions don't justify him using up his holiday - I guess that says it all.

You can only ski what's there so for the next few days looks like much the same but not really very good conditions - so it is.