Day 80 wow, made it

Wow, yes, I am just so amazed that I have made it through to day 80 of the season without any major injuries (touch wood) and that things seem to be going better than most seasons although it has to be said that the lack of snow since Christmas is making it a very testing season.

Overnight we had another 5 cms of fresh making it 10 cms in 48 hours and this time it came down white all over the mountain so there was no rain line to deal with. On the way to the hill it was -3 and during the day once again temps rose to around +4 at the base and a bit below zero higher up. We had variable cloud during the day which gave us the odd burst of sun but also a few minor flurries which didn't really amount to anything.

We had an Old Side morning off Cedar Ridge in about three different ways and King Fir all of which were ok skiing with the fresh on top giving some soft lines. The four returns through Kangaroo all proved that an icey bump run when performing as it should is full of icey bumps, good skiing in my view and if you don't like it don't go there. We had trip down Linda's which was also soft and nice and then as a lot of the morning had been used up we slipped down Boomerang which was a bit scratchy in places and headed out to the New Side.

Starting on the New Side so late we didn't have much time before an even late lunch so we just did Cougar Glades which still remain soft and lightly tracked on the hard left and took it all the way down to the disused cat track at the bottom of Stag Leap. Next we found Polar Peak open and took a loop back to PP base via Grand Pappa Bear which was a bit ribby on top but soft untracked snow lower down. We then hit Mamma Bear via my right chute which had loads of deep soft blow in all the way to the traverse. After that it was a run down Stag Leap itself which was slick in the trees and ok in the run.

Final run before a quite late lunch was Polar Peak (Baby Bear)which was full of soft blow in and then Skydive which is now pretty bumpy in the top and some way down but still skiing nicely in the new snow. We then had a very late lunch to avoid the Alberta Family Weekend holiday crowds. In the afternoon (what was left of it) we went back to the New Side which was starting to become pretty deserted as the crowds headed back to Calgary or the vacation skiers who were staying discovered that they don't yet have 7 hour a day legs.

We went to Polar Peak again and I had a rather disappointing run down Spirit Bear which was scratchy way further down than I expected before finally softening. We hit the right side Brain which remained soft and found plenty of untracked. Next loop we just went straight to right side Skydive Trees and had an amazing run down through the tight sections where I guess at least 50% of the skiing was untracked.

After a long unscheduled stop on Timber chair we only had time for the final Skydive rip. Today a lot of guests turned up for this event and we had both numbers and quality in the final rip of the day. Skydive is getting very bumpy and in truth Stag Leap is probably a better run but there there are such things as traditional values to consider when choosing your final run - it was still pretty good.

There is talk of another 6-10 cms tonight and continued precip activity for the rest of this week - bring it on.