Day 77 still no change but a little warmer

Just like the last few days I really don't know what to say. Another day with no precip (can anybody remember the last time it snowed in the valley) but on the deck this morning we had -6 as the temp. The radio said that it was +2 but quickly revised this down and we were obviously on the edge of two weather systems as on the way to the hill things warmed up to -2.

On the way home it was +3 and that is a good indication of how things warmed up during the day although up the higher parts of the hill it remained at minus temps (just) all day. Conditions were bluebird (again) with a bit of cloud cover drifting in late afternoon. Despite the direct sunlight and warming temps at the base everything off the groomers on the upper mountain remained obstinately frozen rock hard with no sign of softening of any kind.

We went to the Old Side as usual and found Bear to be particularly ugly wind swept ice. Arrow, Bow, Dancer and all runs below in Lizard skied a bit better but with some very hard icy patches. Cedar Centre was ok firm and groomed as was the rest of Cedar and North Ridge. All the intervening off piste such as Boom, Boom Ridge, Linda's, North Ridge and all associated areas remained closed due to ugly icy conditions. So we left the Old Side late morning on the grounds that there was no off piste to be had and even the groomer were significantly worse than yesterday.

On the New Side we tried the bumps in Highline and found that they were hard and icy and showing no signs of softening. We just had time for two trips up Polar peak before lunch where on the Coaster was open and it skied hard sheet ice with some tufted blow in to soften the skiing. Final ski out from the Peak was always a cut across to under the lift and then ski the hard icy bumps under there which were a challenge but at least were more interesting than skiing groomers. Ski off for lunch was Currie Powder (more ice and less sift than yesterday) Trespass Trail (ok) Diamond Back ( ok but very slick in places) Summer Road (ok but becoming worn in the mid section) Lower Sib Ridge (actually skiing pretty well if a little twiggy in places and rather better than yesterday) Falling Star ski out (ok early but getting very soft and brown later on).

Afternoon we went back up the New Side and did a couple more loops of Polar Peak and the icy bumps under the chair before running to base just as before and in identical conditions. Next it was up for four more loops of Polar Peak which deteriorated steadily in the Coaster as the day went on but remained unchanged under the chair - to be fair the conditions there were not really capable of deteriorating any more than they already had. When the Peak closed it was yet another run to base as before and if anything Currie Powder had got a bit worse as the day went on.

Last run off White Pass was down Down Right which skied very mellow and was probably the best run on the hill by that time. The run off from Trespass Trail was just the same as before with conditions getting just a little harder as temps fell towards evening. Beers in the Griz and then home for a quiet night. Some snow may be in the forecast but the outlook has many conflicting aspects. Most important is that my buddy Dan has just taken a set off from working in the mine and usually when he does this we get snow so go Dan go. Let's see how tomorrow turns out.