Day 44 bring back winter

A very short day today because buddies were arriving to stay and I had to drive to Calgary to get them so only a few early morning runs to 11 o'clock. The drive to Calgary and back was pretty interesting as I left Fernie in +5 and arrived in Calgary in -20. At one stage the temp shifted from -20 to +2 and back in less than one mile of driving.

Back to the start. It rained all night again with temps never getting below +4. This is now the fourth solid day of rain and plus temps and to be honest I have had enough and would just settle for a freeze up if only to prove we are still in winter. The hill had the same closures as yesterday so no New side, no Lizard bowl and no Cedar bowl - any doubts about the closure policy were quickly dispelled by the sight of a cat 3.5 natural that has wiped out a path of trees through the middle of Cedar bowl.

The rain sort of stopped and we tracked round the old side triangle mostly sticking to bumps and groomers which were ok but very heavy, even the grooming was pretty random due to the soft snow. Eventually we ventured down Boom and Boom ridge which were both a work out in very heavy wet snow. That was about all we had time for.

Forecast for tonight is dropping to -5 with flurries so things should be a bit better tomorrow. If it cools slowly we could get a reasonable dry base but if quickly then we will have boiler plate with our best hope for dust on crust. Opinion in the bar last night was divided but the consensus was that this has been the worst January weather event since 1976 and it is only the good start and base that has prevented a total disaster. As it is if it doesn't get better fast we could be heading for a really depressing week or so.