Day 28 no new snow but no great crowds

Yup, we had no new snow to speak of overnight but by the same token the hill got busier but not the ugly busy crowds I had been expecting - perhaps the had heard they were charging $6.25 for Kokanee in the Griz Bar.

As I promised we went to the Old Side and had a really good morning. The start was delayed as one of my guests had forgotten her pass and had to go to guest services to get a replacement which was done fast and efficiently - thanks Liz. While waiting we had a rip or two up and down Bear which was fast groomed smooth skiing - not my kind of thing at all.

We hit out to Steep and Deep and whilst it was pretty steep the snow was quite chunky with only a very light covering of new stuff on top of the base. The right chute was packed but taking an edge and the return to Boom Chair via lower Kangaroo was quite fluffy. After that we reassembled the group and spent the morning doing -
Boom Ridge - kept to the skiers right to avoid the groomed section (when will they stop grooming the beautiful bumps out of Boom Ridge) and the snow was soft with some windsift.
 Boom to the Goat Trail - pretty hard packed but the bumps taking an edge.
Gorby Bowl - yes, another long trek out but worth it as it was very lightly tracked. Had to escape the cliff band by a left traverse into Steep and Deep which was as before.
Cedar Ridge right - good tracked powder taking and edge.
King Fir - Just like Cedar Ridge but with deeper snow below the fir itself.
Linda's - really just like everywhere else packed but taking and edge with soft stuff near the trees.
Bear Chutes/Buck Shot - as above

In summary the Old Side was in great shape but with no new snow it was the tracked bumps that made it fun. Best untracked snow was in upper Kangaroo which I did twice and was a bit tricky in the drop on to Cedar Trail. If there were two closed signs in the top as I have been told then I didn't see them.

In the afternoon we went to the New Side for a short session after such a long morning. Polar was running but not loading due to poor viz. Stag Leap was a little slick in the trees at the top but great soft skiing in the run. For a change we tried Knot Chutes ( a bit scratchy in the middle) Anaconda Glades ( surprisingly soft in the second chute with blow in) and Bootleg Glades which were ok hard pack but still pretty twiggy low down.

That of course got us to the final rip down Skydive which reamains tracked but soft for the most part. For the first time I got a bit more air than I intended in the final pitch but great skiing. The whoopdy-do on the traverse by the bridge is getting to the end of it's sell by date. I held it together ok but I can see why a lot of people took one trip out to the Big Three and decided not to take a second - from a personal point of view I hope it stays that way.

Some snow in the out look.