Day 51 sometimes fishing just doesn't work

This morning deck temps were around -8 with a forecast for it to warm and snow. Sure enough it got up to about zero degrees and although it looked like snow all day it refused to give up any accumulations and in the end just remained overcast.

We decided to hit the Old side and after a quick rip down Bear just to get the legs in the right place we went out to the Fish bowl in search of powder. Naturally we were fully kitted up and just a word to any prospective out of bound skiers, don't go unless you have transceiver, probe, shovel, friends who know how to use them, helmet, and a good understanding of what the latest avi report means.

The hope was that wind would have filled in the Poppa chutes on the nearside of the Fish bowl but this proved a lost hope. There had certainly been a wind event but the result was wind crud on a base of rain crust which was just about as good as it sounds. The interesting thing was the avi debris which came of Ridge 2000 which was about half the bowl and top to bottom with a 20 ft high debris pile and death cookies about the size of my truck. Good thing was that it has scoured the alder growth out of the bowl so things might get better later in the season.

Back inbounds we found Kangaroo, just as icey and ugly (and as much fun) as usual, Boom Ridge, groomed and hence no fun, Linda's, a bit of a chunky challenge but ok and Boomerang which was wind grooming in the tight skiers right.

We went to the New side and had a great rest of the day playing a lomg the County Line -
Window Chutes - Decline was a bit slabby in the top but the cut into the chutes was deep untracked, the log drop pretty mellow and the ski out a bit heavy.
Stag Leap - a little chunky in the top but soft deep lightly tracked powder on the right side and great soft snow on the left on the ski out.
Cougar Glades - Like most places very crusty in the first few turns then softer and deeper as you got down into the trees.
The Brain - Probably the best snow I found on the hill all day with yet again the first few turns leaving you thinking it had been a mistake but as the run went on the snow getting softer and better as the trees got tighter.
Secret Chutes - Not bad at all with loads of untracked available then a cut into Spinal Tap which only had three tracks in and was awesome with the exception of a couple of 4 ft sink holes in the stream bed which had to be jumped.
Currie Creek - We decided to drop short into the Creek which was getting hard as it set up at the end of the day but was good with a little avi debris to be negotiated on the ski out.
Skydive - Final ripper with buddy Rob on stiffening end of day snow but great fun if you held the speed and stayed on top.

Somewhere in there were loads of Lift Lines off Timber and the odd Mitchy chutes which were all good. The Skydive traverse deserves a special mention for staying in such ok shape considering the traffic it has had although you wouldn't think it from the number of bodies that we encountered when looping it - no accounting for folk.

Waiting for the promised snow.