Day 28 Awesome

Yes, after 27 days skiing we get one which qualifies as awesome from bell to bell. Apparently we only had another 10 cms overnight but it seemed a lot more, the base was up around 115 cms and the temps were sitting at about zero at the base and -5 up top for most of the day. Off and on we had flurries all day and they were continuing towards the end of the day as we left the hill.

We went to the New Side and lined up well before opening to get early tracks. We were rewarded with a prompt start and a great rip in powder down Lift Line to White Pass. Even better White Pass was open although Currie was closed as was the ridge at the entrance to the I bowl. This allowed three or four runs back through the Gun Bowl and the Quite Right area to totally trash the powder before the fence dropped on the I bowl.

We headed out to Surprise Trees and got about third tracks which meant plenty of deep untracked snow which was so good we almost missed the ski out into Silver Lining. After a couple of loops going further each time to find better untracked snow they dropped the fence in Currie.

Lynda dropped early and got almost fresh tracks in Concussion but I headed out to Cougar Glades and had to cut the first tracks out there. Cougar Glades was just awesome untracked powder all the way down and even the ski out below the trail was starting to get ok. Next time round was Easter bowl which had only been lightly used and was great powder all the way down.

We spent some time on the New side trying lots of stuff -

Mitchy Chutes - mostly untracked and deep
Easter bowl again - just as good as the first time
Anaconda Glades - hike the hump and it was deep and fresh in chutes
Bootleg Glades - dropped early before the main chutes and had great skiing in the tight tree chutes.
Concussion - again, many great untracked ways down.
1-2-3s - good powder all the way down and some untracked stuff to be found round the edges.

We went for lunch and were surprised to see how crowded it was at the day lodge as the parts of the hill where we had been skiing had been pretty quiet considering this is the major holiday week.

After lunch we went to the Old Side and found Cedar high traverse was closed. With this in mind we had a few runs down Cedar Ridge which was deep and soft but fairly well tracked. Late afternoon a break down in the Haul Back lift decided us to head back to the New Side for a finish. This was not before we had dropped lower Kangaroo twice and found a lot of deep untracked snow.

On the New Side we got word that the Saddles had opened but a quick look into Corner Pocket with all the tires exposed convinced me that there was better finish. I think I was right as the top of Skydive was all of todays fresh on top of yesterdays mostly untracked deep powder that was there already. The result was the first real straight line powder rip of season in the top section of Skydive. The cut into the lower section of Decline proved that things there had improved a good deal since yesterday and it was totally skiable with care as long as you were prepared to jump round some of the small Christmas trees.

Good beers afterwards. hot tub and relax. temps are still around zero and with a lot of precip in the forecast there has to be a worry that we are going to see rain in the next 24 - hope not.