Day 129 A good finish to a great season

Final day was good day for skiing and an even better day for partying as may be judged by how late this report is being made on Monday morning. Of course things have been delayed by having to write my final article for the Fernie Free Press (also delayed by the celebrations) and having to get the car in for it's annual service.

Overnight we had just 3 cms of fresh which was enough just to help the underlying surface take a better edge and make things looks prettier, and by that I mean more wintery, snow in the trees etc. It started sunny but quickly became overcast and with base temps of +4 so we had what we had for the previous couple of days where the melt line just moved slowly up the hill giving really nice skiing conditions.

We went to the Old Side and found that it was mostly untracked and uncrowded. The new snow had the effect of merging with the underbase so it was firm below and soft on top but without being hard or scratchy. A run down Arrow and the gully to the left of China Wall showed that where it was untracked the skiing was surprising good. First tracks down Boom Ridge, Boom bowl and Buckshot confirmed this to be true.

We just poked around in all the usual places and found that Cedar Ridge was still a bit hard underneath so that by late morning mine remained the only tracks on the new snow in there. Kangaroo was so soft and mellow that we ran it 4 times in some of the best conditions outside of deep powder of the season.

Things remained pretty well unchanged all morning and we just looped all the already mentioned Old Side runs in improving conditions, we then went to lunch.

After lunch we spent so time watching the Slope Soaker (a new event at Fernie where you have to skim across an artificial pond) and which was fun. Fancy dress was in evidence although everyone had taken the warning posted on the official website (a seasons ban for anyone doing it naked) to heart.

After that it was short afternoon on the New Side where the new snow seemed a bit deeper but the base colder and harder so there was no real adhesion between the two layers and it was all rather scratchy. Polar Peak was open but again just the Polar Coaster so with the chutes shut the runs were not added to the season total which finished at 164. At least we could cut left and get into Papa Bear for the bottom third which actually skied ok if you like tufted warm snow on a hard base.

The order was Polar Peak, Skydive, Polar Peak Decline all of which was skiing ok but not as good as two days ago or come to think of it the Old Side had been in the morning. We killed time with a run back through Surprise Trees which were again ok.

Last run of the season had to be Skydive which we did top to bottom with no break and found it soft on top but firming up lower down so that the skiing got easier and bit more like it had been yesterday. A great way to finish the season.

A lot of partying with friends that carried on in the Pub later and resulted in todays late report. Now It's just a case of spending the next 5 days getting ready to continue the world tour. Lynda has just pointed out that starting yesterday we will spend 6 Sundays in a row in 6 different countries, Canada, USA, Fiji, Australia, Thailand and the UK - scary.

Give me a couple of days and the season round up will follow.