Day 25 merry Christmas everybody

And a particular merry Christmas to all of you who have raised the average number of hits on the blog to 400 a day - a bit different from the 20 hits a day that started things off. 

As you may know Christmas day is the day when we get to the hill a little late (why does opening a bottle of  Jamesons 12 year old in Christmas Eve always seem such a good idea at the time) and then taking a few morning runs before heading up to the Griz Bar for a couple of drinks with buddies and then home.

Today, a short day was more attractive than usual as there had been no new snow and starting temps in the valley were -18 although I think I detected a slight inversion on top. Anyway it was great test of my Christmas presents from Lynda of a merino wool long sleeved top and smart wool socks. I am delighted to say that they kept me really toastie all morning and if anything I was a little too warm.

We went to the New Side and found White Pass chair down for a tech problem. We ran back to Timber base via Lift Line and Black Cloud which showed that the hard pack had become hard but was taking and edge and the tracked powder was getting a bit heavy. Next time up White Pass still wasn't working so we hiked Lazy Locals with the intention of hitting Sib Ridge but noticed White Pass loading so we dropped Big Bang in nice hard pack.

After that with White Pass open we found that Polar Peak was also open so we went up. The light was very poor and I had some very unchristmassy thoughts towards the cat driver who had pushed debris into to entrance to the chutes and which couldn't be seen as you dropped in. Half way down the light got good and we noticed we were third and forth tracks down - that would be since forever in Polar Peak on Christmas Day as this is the first year the lift as been open at this time. We went to base via Stag Leap which was good but a mixture of hard pack and heavy tracked powder.

Next loop Polar was clear and we had a spectacular rip all the way down to the Reverse Traverse. The route to the bottom was Decline/ Window Chutes which were just like Stag leap but if anything the log drop had got a little bigger. Final loop was anthor spectacular rip down Pappa Bear chute and then of course Skydive to finish which was also just as Stag Leap - hard in places, heavy in others.

A great morning skiing made all the better by linking up with the best ski buddies in the world Rob and Katie. Beers in the Griz made much more fun by Lynda spilling her Mogul Smoker all over herself - she claimed that Rob's new gloves had got her too excited. Now at home getting ready for a hot tub with champagne, a gut busting dinner and then far too much to drink.

Merry Christmas.