I knew today was going to be bit strange as when we woke up the weather network was showing current temps of -9 and the deck showed zero, clearly things were moving fast. We went to the hill and found it a overcast with breaks and +1 at the base and about -5 on top. By mid afternoon it was up to +5 at the base, +1 at White Pass base and about zero on top. The snow got very warm and chunky as the day wore on even quite high up although by the close things were starting to set up and it was actually snowing on top (wet snow below) as we came off the hill.
For no real logical reason we decided to have a New Side day and found Polar Peak closed for viz which didn't seem all that bad but the chutes did look a bit slabby from underneath. As I was still suffering from slightly low energy levels due to my cold I spent the morning guiding friends into some of the places they might not have gone.
We intended a trip to Skydive but as a buddy fell down Currie Creek we took that instead and it was surprisingly good as the snow was deep and temps hadn't yet risen. Next loop we took Stag Leap which was tracked but soft. The rest of the morning was Skydive (soft bumps in the top and pretty ok all the way down) Cougar Glades (very mellow but starting to get soft in the left lower exit chute as the temps rose) Lone Fir (a bit heavy but ok in the chute and soft in the fan) Spinal Tap (really very good and deep with the lower chute starting to be great fun jumping in and out of the creek bed avoiding the dead fall). It was pretty low key morning and so we went to lunch.
After lunch it was back to the New Side to push things a bit harder -
Decline/Window chutes - the snow in Decline still had untracked lines and the trees above Window Chutes was mostly untracked. Window Chutes itself skied heavy but the rising temps meant that the exit chute was soft and much less scratchy than normal.
Gotta Go/Bootleg Glades - as regular readers will know my buddy Rob found a good line to the left of the choke in Gotta Go yesterday and as he was working today (sorry Rob) I went back and put some more tracks in there and it was still deep and soft. Bootleg Glades were ok in the top and starting to bump up lower down with bumps that came at you just right, you have to love bumps like that.
Secret Chutes/Spinal Tap - the chutes still had good soft untracked snow near the trees. Spinal Tap was just like before and great skiing, perhaps it's just because we are getting used to it.
It was time for a fill in loop on White Pass so we dropped the Knot Chutes (good but chunky snow) and Surprise Trees (just starting to set up) before heading out to Skydive.
On Skydive it was just Rod and me tonight and as today had been tough chunky skiing we agreed to take it easy. This lasted about 5 turns in then it was the usual rip all the way down.
Tough skiing so another early night and still a crap shoot on the weather, particularly the precip.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
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