Day 75 a change on the way we hope

On the way to the hill it was -2 and overcast. During the day it must have got up to + 4 at the base and lower plus figures at the top but luckily the sun stayed in so with no direct sunlight to damage the snow the cooling effect of the snow base meant that there was very little deterioration in the underlying conditions. The base shrunk to 249 cms which was good enough when it has been packed in the way it has been this season.

The warming trend was the first change we saw. The other was ridge line cloud (which once again socked in White Pass and closed Polar Peak) and which brought flurries at first and by the time we left the hill we had snow with the look of an accumulation. The call for tonight is 8-18 and you may recall that the last time these figures were called we got 75 cms. I am not that optimistic but there has to be a chance that tomorrow will be a powder day.

Today was really no change from the last week, with the exception that the higher temps gave a softer surface, and we went to the Old Side. We looped out Steep and Deep (soft on top but a bit scratchy on the exit), Gorby bowl (great soft lightly tracked snow and a bit technical on the exit through the rock band) and Snake main which was great wind sift and an exit through KC chutes which was again nice edge to edge jumping in soft snow.

We spent a little time off Cedar Ridge and King Fir, Boom bowl and Buck Shot all of which were good soft snow but a bit tracked up. We had 5 returns through Kangaroo which were all hard icey bump skiing and as a result great fun before finishing for lunch with a drop through Bear Chutes which was tracked in and taking a nice edge. The Old Side was mostly tracked up but with great skiing taking an edge in fairly soft snow wherever you went.

After lunch we went to the New Side and just like yesterday did loops off White Pass which was totally socked in. With Polar Peak closed there wasn't much else to try -

Decline/Window chutes - soft bumps in the top and soft heavy snow lower down with the exit taking quite a nice edge.
Easter/Spinal tap - top of Easter was soft blow in and after a traverse into Spinal tap it was tough edge to edge jumping but fun jumping from the right shoulder to the creek bed and back again in the lower section.
Stag Leap - soft all the way down with the lower section almost getting friendly in the softening conditions.
Cougar Glades - much the same as Stag Leap.
Skydive - last run of the day and like all the other runs softening in the lower section making it altogether more friendly. With no one else around I hit the run top to bottom without a break which in the improving conditions was no big deal.

Fingers crossed for new snow tomorrow.