Yes, I am not usually one to get too hung up about what will happen tomorrow (what will happen will happen) but after a pretty good day today I really think that tomorrow could be a very ugly day and maybe one where just getting through to the opening of the Griz Bar at 11 could be something of a challenge - but more of that later.
Today dawned with overcast skies which hung around all day with the odd bright periods but finally turned to rain at the base on the last run of the day. Temps were about +4 on the way to the hill and stayed above zero all day all over the hill so we had a softening trend. As we drove away tonight it was +3 in hard rain at the base.
Just like yesterday as I arrived in the locker room I was told that the skiing was bad but I have now worked this out - the people who tell me this ski in places where the skiing is bad so what they say is correct. If they skied where the skiing was good they would have a very different view but they don't - why not is anyone's guess but as they say in Yorkshire "there's nowt so queer as folks".
We went to the New Side and tried Lift Line under Timber which was just ugly, heavy, refrozen crud and very hard work. When we got to the top of White Pass they had opened Currie Bowl for the first time in two days so we headed out across the Reverse Traverse to see what we could ski. The notices told us that Polar Peak and the Saddles were closed and a patroller buddy told us they had put a sign line in on the far side of Currie Creek to rule out any chance of the Big Three - don't anyone dare call them the fingers in my hearing.
We looped out to the Concussion/Toms Run area and had great untracked powder for about the top two thirds of the run. The last third was crust and very hard work but when you have a good time you always have to pay the bill in the end. This was the form for the next few laps of Currie Chutes with untracked powder followed by work. As the day wore on things changed in that the upper sections became tracked up soft snow which was not so good but still ok while the lower section softened into spring skiing which was actually quite good fun with soft bumps on the Gilmar Trail. A number of people have asked my how Lynda is hold up in these conditions given her chemo therapy. Well, the answer is that she hung on in with us skiing all the stuff we did all morning but by about 1:30 she was through for the day. This is a bit of a pattern and it looks like she will take a season to get her full fitness back but while she is on the hill she still giving it.
The whole morning up to a late lunch was spent looping the Currie Chutes from Currie Creek to Concussion in the conditions as described above and having a great time. After lunch we went back to the New Side and did a couple more Currie loops each time dropping Lift Line off Timber top which had softened to be just about acceptable. The end of the day found us with some time on our hands so we looped White Pass through Knot Chutes which were surprisingly good and then a ripper from top to bottom to get the timing right. The final run in Currie was another chute out beyond Tom's and then a surprisingly bumpy exit through the Gilmar Trail.
We had some good beers with patrol buddies in the Griz but it had started raining hard. The official word is that this rain will stay with us on a warming trend and by tomorrow we will have rain all the way to White Pass top all day. You have to hope that they have got it wrong but I fear they haven't and it will be a challenge to stay dry long enough to make it through to opening time for the Griz at 11 tomorrow morning - all this and clocks going forward for daylight saving, what a weekend.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
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