Day 88 some new snow at least

Let's not get too carried away, we didn't have any new snow overnight but as forecast eventually it came first thing in the morning and then with few light flurries off and on all day falling away in the evening. The result was a very minor accumulation of maybe 4 cms (I think rather less) which got blown around as wind sift as the wind increased later in the day.

It was pretty cold on the way to the hill with temps of about -5 and overcast and snowing lightly. During today the temps fell so that during the day it was around -7 at most of the loads and a lot colder up the hill particularly in the increasing winds. Driving away from the hill it was still -5 so all in all it was a cold day with some new snow and not particularly good light. Forecasts are for things to get way colder tonight and maybe even a little more snow.

We went to the Old Side where the snow had only just started to fall but already had supplied a thin cushion between skis and surface. We skied round Bear, Arrow, Bow and Cascade in Lizard which all had newly softened surfaces. Later we pushed out into Cedar a couple of times and found the light very flat but the skiing ok on Trillium and Cedar Centre. We even skied lower Cedar Centre a couple  and found it very mellow despite the ice warnings - Runs down were by straight lining Lower Linda's and somewhere in there we had a rip down a very easy and soft North Ridge in the new snow.

We went to the New Side and after a couple of White Pass loops through Quite Right in the soft snow and an experiment with the off piste under the lift (still very hard) we did two Currie loops. One was through Down Right and the other was crossing the County Line then a cut back through Currie Powder which both skied better in the new snow. The run off via Diamond Back an Lower Sib Ridge was as good as it has been and super fast in the more friendly conditions. Lunch.

After lunch we decided that the new snow accumulating had to have made some improvement to the off piste and we headed to the Old Side to test the point. After a fairly scratchy run down Bascade we went out the Cedar bowl and had much better luck. The new snow was settling on the old hard but smooth ungroomed surface. We had three runs through Cedar Centre off the groomers and in the trees and gullies where the new snow appeared to have been blown in and made for some good soft skiing in between the hard ice outcrops. Not great free riding but totally awesome compared with what we have been getting.

We then took a risk and decided to go out to Redtree. It was generally decided that this would either be the best or worst decision of the day depending on whether the snow had been blown into, or blown out of that area. It turned out to be risk worth taking and the blow in was good (fantastic by this season's low benchmark) and we had first tracks even at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This was the best run of the day by a big margin.

Just time to rip back to the New Side for a final loop and for the first time in ages I stuck my nose in Puff Trees and they skied just about ok with some hard icy patches but also areas of soft blown in snow where several good turns could be strung together. Our last run was down Currie Glades (again for about the first time in a week) and the hard base while still there was covered with some good blown in soft snow which allowed several turns to be strung together. The run off was just as usual and just as fast.

Beers in the Griz afterwards and a hint from a few people who should know that we may a centimetre  or more tonight. Perhaps tomorrow will be quite good as well.