Day 29 a real work out

Overnight temps rose as forecast and we heard rain beating on the tin roof of the deck. As we drove to the hill we could see that the snow/rain line was about half way up the hill and the official boards were claiming 18 cms of fresh and a base of 135 cms both of which were probably true at the measuring plot which is about half way up Bear. We concluded that most of the Old Side would have been beaten up by the rain so the best (almost only) good skiing would be off the New Side.

First problem of the day was that they seemed to be short of staff at Timber so there was no one to organise the line and chairs were going up with only 2s and 3s on when there was a huge line up - not good planning. White Pass was closed but as nobody wanted to risk a run back to the base in the light rain we all stood around until about 10 when loading started. The rip down to White Pass had confirmed that the snow was going to be heavy Jersey Cream at the best with no real powder.

We had a partial opening on White Pass which was socked in at the top and the run through Gun bowl was heavy untracked which was hard work. Quite quickly the rest of White Pass opened and we had many runs down through Surprise Trees moving further out into the boonies each time to get frsh tracks. Most of the undergrowth was now covered and we had good heavy first tracks all over the area. By late morning we had worked our way quite a long way round the shoulder and were dropping on to Trespass Trail only a little past Bootleg Glades. The combiation of the busiest day yet and the very limited good skiing meant that the crowds were huge and ugly for a while but died away quickly after lunch - the heavey snow took it's toll.

At this point they opened Anaconda and we had two good runs to the bottom through the near Anaconda chutes which were kicking out a slough that almost took you out. On the way to the bottom we ran the near chutes on Bootleg Glades nearside and had some ok stuff but very very heavy and the Gilmar Trail was no better. As I said it was a real work out.

In the afternoon we did a bit more of the same and then Currie bowl opened but was closed at the County Line so you couldn't get any further than Currie Powder except for a cut into lower Concussion just at the end. Just like everywhere else it was heavy creamy, great fun when untracked and always ready to rip your ACL if you didn't pay attention.

Later in the afternoon we moved into 1-2-3s and found the best snow of the afternoon, particularly the untracked stuff in 3s. Final run was a great rip through 1-2-3s followed by a drop of Diamond Back Ridge which was ok for the first time this season if a bit testing in the lower section.

Just off to the Hockey (go Riders go) and then an early night. Even though temps are around +4 the hill is calling for up to 20 cms tonight so who knows what we will get.