Over night we had 7 cms which wasn't great but it kept everything fresh and gave a covering on yesterdays snow. This 5/10 cms every night does make for some very good, if not awesome, skiing. On the way to the hill temps were -1 and having been caught out yesterday the highway authorities were well on the ball with ploughing down to the tarmac, tons of grit and more salt than the Atlantic Ocean. The road up to the hill today was so tame you would not believe it.
During the day we had the odd flurry with base temps above zero but the precip coming down as wet snow or ice pelets. Temps on top stayed a few degrees below zero and such snow as we had accumulated ok and the existing snow stayed in great shape. Polar Peak remained closed all day due to viz.
We went to the Old Side and cut the traverse out in to Snake Ridge and hit that untracked with a nice drop off the left shoulder into KC chutes which were also untracked and great soft snow. The return was via Kangaroo (soft and as mellow as I can remember) and Boomerang which was flat, soft and fast. Next loop we hit the shoulder between Steep and Deep and Gorby Bowl which as always was very steep but with deep soft snow between the alders. Steep and Deep itself had an ok covering mostly untracked but was rather scratchy underneath. The exit via Kangaroo and Boomerang was just as before.
We went to the New Side and managed a few loops -
Skydive - wonderful soft bumps in the top and easy skiing all the way down. Right side was untracked.
Stag Leap - easy skiing through the trees and then hardly any tracks in the run itself allowing you to freeride wherever you wanted to.
Secret Chutes/Spinal tap - a great finish before lunch. Although both the chutes and Spinal Tap were lightly tracked the snow held up as real hero quality and it was superb free riding all the way down through the chutes.
After lunch I linked upwith my good buddy Rob and we went just like a couple of teenagers trying to push each other harder and on occasions push each other off the traverse we were on. At one stage we had the New Side loops running at 25 mins which, when you consider that those loops have 18 mins of chair time that makes for some pretty crazy skiing.
Lone Fir/Spinal Tap - we ripped through fast enough to avoid our slough in great deep snow both in the chute and in the fan. Spinal Tap was as before, hero snow and easy skiing.
Cougar Glades/Stag Leap - as Rob had commented on how tight I could take the trees I took a very, very tight tree line on the left and had untracked all the way down. Stag leap was tracked but soft and deep.
The Brain - as were were in the mood for tight trees we hit this all the way down at speed taking air in the trees on the right. For the first time this year I exited on the trees to the left and into Decline which were super tight with a load of dead fall and as such were great fun.
Stag Leap - I can't remember exactly the order in which we did this but we did do it and it was soft and deep.
Decline/ Window Chutes - good soft tracked skiing except in the trees above Window Chutes which as always were untracked. The chute itself was soft but tracked.
We did most of our drops from Timber to White Pass via Lift Line which was ok but tough with one trip into Mitchy Chutes which was ok but a bit scratchy in places. On our last run out to Skydive we were a bit early so we hike up to Cornice Chute and jumped off the steepest part of the cornice to get a few very deep powder turns untracked before cutting out to Skydive. We had our usual last rip of the day out there and as always Skydive was a fun mix of bumps and soft snow.
After skiing I went to Straight Line (not a shop I usually use) to get a demo pair of Amarda JJs for tomorrow. Apparently you either love them or hate them so watch this space.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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