Day 76 Awesome red hot Currie powder

It turned out that the 24 hour snow fall was 25 cms giving us 78 in the last 7 days and the base has risen to 298 cms so it looks like the 3 metre party will be delayed until the next weather cycle that is due to hit us early next week. There was no significant snow overnight and today was a fairly clear day with good sunshine at times, temps starting at -10 and getting up to -2 at the base during the day. Things stayed clear tonight allowing for heli bombing of all the ridges so everything should be open tomorrow and as we lay in the hot tub drinking beer this evening it was -12 under clear starry skies.

We went to the New side on the grounds that Currie bowl was more likely to open than Cedar High Traverse and therefore we would get significant fresh powder ahead of the Old side. As we rode up Timber we had been told that White pass was closed but word came over the radio that it was opening and by the time we reached White Pass it was green. Only the White Pass core was open at first but even that was pretty good filled in powder from yesterday afternoon. There were a few more people around due to the start of Alberta family weekend but not too bad with lift lines only a couple of minutes at worst.

They opened the rest of White Pass keeping Currie bowl and Anaconda closed and we had several good runs taking the Knot chutes ( second chute really deep as was Jim) and the Surprise trees getting fresh tracks each time as we moved further left ending up well into Triple Trees. Late morning they dropped the signs on Currie and the race was on.

We only had the low traverse but took it out to Skydive to find two tight tracks on the left but the main part mostly untracked with yesterdays 25 on top of all the rest this weeks deposits. Rob, Lynda and myself just staright lined it in thigh deep powder all the way down in what was the run of the season so far and well into the top 10 runs of all time ( and I have a lot of time on the clock). Next the Brain which only had one track in it which we quickly lost after the first turn then it was deep untracked powder in the trees all the way down to the cat track.

With first tracks gone the rest of the morning was spent getting early tracks with some untouched stuff in Decline, Stag Leap, and Window chutes (all deep and awesome) before heading for a late lunch.

After lunch we went to the Old side to see what was open and most importantly if Cedar High Traverse was open to allow access beyond Snake ridge - it wasn't. We traversed as hard as we could which included a tricky crossing of the Gorby cliffs and ended up in lower Steep and Deep. The snow was awesome thigh deep powder but we had given away so much vert to get there it was all over too soon. Looking up we could only imagine what it will be like when the upper traverse opens.

In a nutshell the juice wasn't worth the squeeze so we went back to the New side where we completed a great drop of Cougar Glades where untracked lines could still be found if you cut the trees tight. Last run down Skydive was not as good as the earlier fall line rip but still pretty good to finish one of the top 10 days of powder, ever.

Off to Calgary Airport tomorrow to pick up my Irish buddies so I guess I will only have time for about two and a half hours skiing in the morning but given the satisfactory results from this evenings heli bombing there will be only one place to go and it should hold up even under this weekend's crowds until I have to leave the hill - let's see.