Day 76 happy Valentine day and back to the powder

We were right to hope last night as overnight we had 10 cms of fresh pushing the base up to 257 cms and a source told me that on the New Side the new snow in fact was 12 cms and as that was the side that we stayed on all day then that was the number we had to play with.

The temps on the way to the hill were -6 and probably -9 on top although during the day the base got up to just about plus temps before falling back to around -5 tonight. On top it was mostly just below zero although getting a little warm and heavy in the direct sunlight without actually ever getting what you would call soft. The conditions for the day remained a sun/cloud mix all day.

We got to the New Side almost in time for first chair and had a great drop down Lift Line (the first of many for the day) in mostly untracked snow. Just to put it in perspective, what we had was untracked powder but we were finding the base through the new snow so it was by no means bottomless.

Polar Peak chair was not running so we headed out along the Reverse Traverse and found the final track ahead of us dropping off in Currie Creek so we cut the trail out to Skydive and had Skydive untracked top to bottom without a soul in sight, reminded me of last year.

Next loop round Polar Peak was open so we took a loop in Poppa Bear chute back to the chair before heading out into Baby Bear which had not been bumped up and as a result was great powder all the way down. We tracked out to Cougar Glades and were amazed to find them untracked. About half way down a couple of tracks appeared from the right but there is so much terrain in there it was only a couple of turns before it was once again untracked. The left hand ski out produced sloughs which were in danger of taking me out - awesome.

When we arrived at the top of White Pass the Polar Peak chair wasn't running so we just headed out to Stag Leap which was rather more tracked than I expected with about six tracks in front of us. Next loop was Polar Peak chair now re opened so it was another loop back through Poppa Bear ( still great soft snow on the bumps) and then a trip into Mamma Bear avoiding the rock in the middle. We finished the morning with a hike up Cornice Ridge to Lone Fir and had about third tracks in there in very deep steep chute skiing. The exit through the debris trail into Easter was great soft steep skiing.

In the afternoon it was back to the New Side for -
Polar peak/Decline/Window chutes - a great run through Poppa bear now filling in with windsift. Top of Decline still with some untracked and the Window chute almost all untracked on the previous deep base, up to that point some of the best skiing.
Polar peak/Easter trees/Spinal Tap - another great run through Spirit Bear then Easter trees which had hardly been touched. Once again Spinal Tap was still deep underneath the new snow and great fun jumping from the right shoulder to the creek bed and back again.
Polar peak/the Brain - Poppa bear chutes again but this time into the Brain. Now, I hope for fresh tracks first or second run of the day just as we had today. What I don't expect is that after 3 in the afternoon to get totally untracked inbounds steep powder which is what I got in the Brain. Actually there were a couple of tracks ahead of me above the top trail but they all hit left of the second stage stream and as I always ski the right hand shoulder I had untracked deep powder all through the trees wherever I wanted to go - awesome.

To kill time I had a loop off White Pass traversing into the Knot chutes which were ok but a bit crunchy and then Surprise Trees which were only lightly tracked with loads of fresh lines to be found all the way down.Final run down Skydive which was still in amazing shape with lots of untracked even at the end of the day.

So in summary a great powder day and my Polar Peak chute tally after 7 drops today rises to 49 times this season - lets see what tomorrow brings.