Well, the forecasters had called for a light dusting of snow and in true Fernie fashion what we got was 35 cms in the last 24 hours and 51 cms out of the latest snow cycle in total. We got to the hill in temps of about -2 and during the day they didn't rise much staying a few degrees lower on top. Conditions were socked in from about half hill height. It snowed in various forms up to about midday when it lightened up a bit and the light even up at Polar Peak was as good as could be expected although far from ideal.
The blight for many snow users will have been the failure of the Bear Chair which stopped early morning and stayed stopped. The patrol had to do a chair evac and I heard reports of people being stranded for up to two hours which is a bit of a pisser especially if you are only a vacation or weekend skier. Luckily we went to the New Side so this didn't affect us beyond the New Side being rather busy for a Sunday although line ups were a minute or two at the most.
The New Side was restricted with Currie Bowl closed and the opening delayed because patrollers were being pulled to the Old Side to help with the evac. We spent a morning looping out into Knot Chutes and getting great soft and only partially tracked runs in the steep tight chutes. We looped Surprise Trees a couple of times and found the snow really deep in there (over the knee) and some fantastict untracked lines down to Trespass Trail.
On one Loop out we found thay had dropped the fence on Anacond Glades and had an awesome run full of face shots where the only danger was being taken out by you own slough. Bootleg Glades on the near side trees were also unracked and super deep. Next time out we tried Triple Trees and took all 5 sections finding untracked steep tight lines in trees.
We were still waiting for Currie bowl so we took a far Anaconda chute which was even deeper and more sloughy than the first before hitting the trees on the far side of Bootleg Glades which were great in the top but with a lot of deadfall to contend with in the lower section.
Currie Opened and we couldn't resist 1-2-3s which had many untracked lines and gave over the head face shots all the way down. Next loop we went out to Skydive and although it was tracked there were lines to be had tight to the trees either side and by carrying speed (something I am doing more and more in Skydive these days) I had almost continuous face shots in the top two sections.
My buddy Rod went for a late lunch but I was in no mood for a break and skied on only to find Polar Peak had opened in very poor viz. I worked my way out to Mamma Bear and was rewarded by the most awesome deep powder chute skiing of the season so far. The exit was via Cougar Glades which still had some untracked lines in the trees to the left and Stag Leap which was tracked but good free riding terrain.
The light on Polar improved so it was only "poor" and I took a loop back to the chair on Grand Pappa Bear which as always had some scratchy parts but also some awesome powder. I then dropped Baby Bear which was just as good as Mamma before taking Decline and Window Chutes to the base which by this time had some tracks (except in the trees above Window Chutes which always seem to have untracked lines to me) but were fantastic deep tracked powder.
Last trip up Polar was just before last chair so I ripped Pappa Bear all the way down and then cut into Currie Glades for some easy tree skiing before working back along Trespass Trail to White Pass Base. Final run of course was Skydive which with a few buddies was great fun racing down tracked deep powder.
The outlook is for 10 cms tonight, 10 tomorrow and 20 tomorrow night - as I said more awesomes could be on the way.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
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