Monday, March 28, 2011

Day 106 yet another really good days skiing

The overnight report said 1 cm of fresh but that isn't the real story. What happened was that we had mountain snow so that it was about 5 cms up top, 1 cm at the snow plot (hence the report) and nothing in the valley. This sent me high to the New side which may have been a mistake as some buddies who went to the Old side and skied Snake and Gorby said that it was awesome untracked powder. Temps were about -2 rising during the day although we had yet another day of overcast and flurries so whilst temps did rise we didn't get any sun damage or any of that really slushy spring skiing mush that everyone else seems to rave about and I think is just crap. Viz was really bad at the top of White pass with the light as flat as I have seen it all season so even getting down Gun bowl was a challenge but things did improve later. First loop was back through White Pass/Highline trees which just confirmed poor light but great new soft untracked snow. Next we pushed out to Skydive and for what seemed like the one hundreth time this season got first tracks. Not a great call as the first two thirds were very good but the bottom third was refrozed death cookies that hadn't softened even a bit and were as ugly as a bears ass - I guess everything comes with a price tag. After that we just looped Anaconda (several different chutes and one so good that I got taken out by my own slough) followed by Bootleg which just about held up as soft snow until the groomer above Gilmar Trail, needless to say all of these were either untracked or had just one or two previous visitors. Last run before lunch I hit High Saddle which was still skiable but starting to get a little scraped out in the lower section. Easter bowl nearside remained good winter sking. At this stage I have to mention some of the best snow on the hill which I got all day every time I dropped from Timber top to White Pass base. This snow was in the chutes in the trees between Lift Line and Big Bang, normally this area is really ribby with logs, roots, scub etc and is therefore off everyone's radar. At present this is now all filled in with great snow and lightly used giving some of the best steep chute skiing on the hill - did it every run with variations. In the afternoon it was back to the New Side loops but working on the basis that the warmth would now have softened the lower front runs which proved to be more than right. First loop was in Stag leap and I swear that even though it was early afternoon there were no tracks through the trees going in and nothing in the run itself - pretty soft and the chunky stuff low down now skiing like soft jersey cream. After that it was good slightly firmer skiing in Decline/Window chutes. On a whim I dropped Low Saddle and to my surprise found the best snow of the day by just dropping straight below the chute and hocking off the avi crown into what was soft untracked powder to the bottom of the bowl. Exit was by a traverse across Easter into Spinal Tap which was again great soft skiing even in the low ski out. One more Low Saddle/Easter (it was that good) and then it was time for the final rip down Skydive which had improved out of all proporton since the morning by getting a lot softer and more skiable than the morning. Beer, hot tub, bed.

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