Day 14 the best days skiing ever

So what made it the best day's skiing ever? Was it the fact that we had about 20 cms of snow at -8 overnight giving us awesome powder? Was it the fact that the crowds have still not arrived so we had most of the hill to ourselves for the day? Was it the fact that it puked snow all day despite the forecasts only saying we were in for a light dusting and as a result everything filled in and the base went over 2 metres? No, it was the fact that today Lynda skied for the first time after her hip replacement op almost 3 months ago to the day and had no problems.

Lynda's first plan was to ski before the end of the season, then before the end of January, then on Christmas day and finally today on Christmas Eve. The conditions were very favourable but even allowing for that it was great to get my best ski buddy back and that she was able to last for 3 and a half hours was a bonus - we are now both really looking forward to the rest of the season.

Overnight we had 13 cms of fresh snow which came down at around -8 making it just about perfect powder. As we drove to the hill it was -6 at the base and -10 on top and stayed that way all day. It snowed all day despite the forecasters only calling for a light dusting. When I say it snowed, it just puked down all day filling in existing tracks and giving some super deep deep skiing. It is just starting to slacken off a bit now in the evening but we must have had at least 20 cms of fresh which was confirmed in the bar tonight as having taken us past the 2 metre base mark, an awesome start to the season.

Because I was helping Lynda in the morning my skiing was limited to the Old Side on such runs as Bear, Arrow, Dancer, Cruiser, Cedar Centre, North Ridge and similar gentle skiing. It wasn't all that bad as the powder had piled up along side these runs and we were able to ski powder on a flat base most of the morning. We even tried a few of the ungroomed areas such as Boomerang and Bear Chutes which we super soft and deep.Not my usual type of skiing but time well spent to get my best ski buddy back on her skis.

In the afternoon I decided to make up for lost time and went to the New Side where I found Lift Line very deep if a little tracked but filling in - that set the pattern for the afternoon.

Polar Peak was open but very socked in. I took a run back through Grand Papa Bear which was very deep and soft before hitting out to Papa Bear which was similarly spectacular. Because of the poor light I couldn't really pull the trigger in either of these runs so decided to stay below the tree line for the rest of the afternoon.
Decline - very soft deep and mellow all the way down
Cougar Glades/Stag Leap - soft deep skiing with the bottom of Stag almost acceptable.
The Brain/Window Chutes - a great pitch through the upper Brain spoilt only when I had the most spectacular burial in the deep snow above the cat track. Windows were great deep snow in the entrance and even better through the chute.
Touque chutes/Spinal Tap - deep and becoming deeper all the way down
Knot Chutes/Surprise Trees - a great fill in run in what had probably been tracked powder early on but by the time we got to it we just had deep soft snow.

The final run of the day was of Course Skydive but what a Skydive. I hardly took my skis out of the fall line in the top section allowing the deep snow to brake me and had one of the best runs in there ever. The rest of the run was still very good and over all it was a great way to finish the day.

Beers in the Griz with buddies to round of one of the most awesome powder days ever. As it was Christmas Eve we took ourselves out to the Bridge Bistro which in my opinion does the best burger in town. Now settled down at home listening to Carols from Kings on Spotify ( they announce today that have the Beatles catalog available for streaming) do Christmases get any better than this. Still snowing, could be a good Christmas Day.