Saturday, March 26, 2011

Day 104 an unexpected benefit

First of all apologies for the lack of paragraphs in this post, I have tried several times to edit them in but for some reson tonight the computer is just refusing to respond. After yesterday's spring conditions we didn't expect anything much particularly as there hadn't been much snow in the valley overnight. On the way to the hill it was -1 and very overcast with valley fog and snow flurries which persisted on and off all morning and fading into weak sunshine in the afternoon. We found we had about 5 cms of thick fresh powder which grew as the day went on and about double that in some places due to wind sift. The result was a good covering even on the south facing refrozen crud so that it skied ok and anything north facing was pretty acceptable powder. To the New side and Gun bowl despite being a bit socked in and refrozen crud on the base was actually ok skiing on the way to Anaconda. Anaconda and Bootleg were both untracked and pretty good, nice to get first tracks in such good conditions. After that we were out to Skydive and for about the 10th time this season we (Me, Bobby and Lynda) found ourselves with Skydive there ready for first tracks. We trashed it and it was great soft powder on a firm base which actually was taking a good edge. Low down what looked like death cookies were actually not as hard as they looked and skied like a form of chunky powder. We filled the morning up with Decline, just like Skydive and with one track in front of us. Stag Leap, untracked, although a couple of tracks came out of the right trees in the bottom and the conditions were as per Skydive. Secret chutes and Spinal Tap were the last run before lunch and were not quite as good as I had hoped, the chutes were fairly well skied and Spinal tap was very scratchy. In the afternoon we went back to the New side. On the loops we did several variations on Lift Line and the trees to skiers right and a couple of hikes to Mitchy chutes. After that we found that the drop down to Skydive Traverse had softened (it really was ugly ice all morning) and the continued to loop - Cougar Glades - a bit chunky but also soft on top as the new snow started to melt in warming afternoon conditions. Stag Leap - surprisingly mostly untracked and not getting heavy until you got down into the bottom third which was soft melt on a hard base. Easter bowl - good north facing winter snow in the top becoming a bit mushy low down. Decline/Window chutes - In was much the same in the top of Decline as the morning run but surprisingly good all the way down through the chute (not much of a log drop now) until the last couple of turns above the cat track which got a bit crunchy. Skydive - usual last rip of the day with bumps at the top, soft snow most of the way down and getting mushy but on a firm base in the final third. A great day with some more snow on the way tonight. For the second time in two weeks I had to line up to get into the Griz bar which was pretty empty when I eventually got in - something to do with health and safety regulations. Not at all happy as I don't like having to wait on one night a week to get into a bar which is more than happy to take my money on the other 6. Think maybe I am being taken for granted and perhaps I should spread my business (about 3000 bucks a season) a little more evenly around the town.

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