Day 3 even more awesome powder

Today was the best day of the season so far (ok so I have only skied 3) but given just how good things have been so far that is still a pretty good reference. Overnight we had more snow ( reports varied but they seemed to cluster around 15 cms) and it was good deep powder which meant that the whole hill was once again awesome skiing.

The temps on the way to the hill were zero and stayed there all day and in fact were -1 on the way back. As with the past couple of days temps up the hill were a few degrees lower and similarly stayed there all day so as a result all the surfaces stayed in great shape. It was over cast on the way to the hill and stayed that way. We had flurries all day which came down as grauple in the morning which was lovely heavy pellets and by the afternoon it was an icy snow accumulation. I would guess that during the course of the day we had about 4 cms of fresh snow to add to the overnight precip.

I went to the New Side and grabbed early tracks in Puff which were nice steep terrain hugging lines all the way down the the White Pass load. In White Pass the sign line was down at the Zig Zag so all we had was the Highline/Heartland area which was deep with loads of untracked snow. The Zig Zag sign line soon opened and I helped to cut the traverse out to Surprise Trees which as a result gave me untracked, ski anywhere lines through Surprise. Next time round I cut the first side step up Anaconda hump and this time had first tracks in the second Anaconda chute which was as deep and good as I can remember. The only downside was the hike back through Trespass Trail which unsurprisingly sucked just as much as it usually does.

After that the whole morning was spend in variations through Surprise which still had many untracked lines in the trees even at the end of the morning. Anaconda remained in good shape moving across the chutes and the rest of White Pass (Highline, Heartland, Pillow Talk etc) had many great soft areas to jump into as the crowds were far less than I had expected. I went for a late lunch via Currie Glades which were tracked up but still a lot of fun and Gilmar Trail which was still very twiggy and marginal but totally skiable as a route to base.

After a late lunch I headed over to the Old Side for the rest of the day. The crowds (if indeed there had been any in the first place) had gone and for long periods of time it seemed like perhaps I was the only person on the Old Side. I looped out into Cedar Centre off the top of Bear and had some good deep powder skiing in the Centre trees. After that I just looped Boom Ridge and Cedar Ridge until last bell. Cedar Ridge had many cool lines tight to the trees as long as you didn't push too far right into the lower avi debris. Boom Ridge was lovely deep powder and good as long as you picked a line through the alders in the lower section.

Every loop back to Boom load (3 or 4 in all) was through the newly trimmed Kangaroo which was just sensational. With all the crap that had been allowed to accumulate in there removed Kangaroo is one of the best runs on the hill with steep tight lines and lovely deep powder - the only issue is the drop on to the cat track which can get a bit technical.

Final run was through Boom itself and then out down the Goat Trail which was much the same as Boom Ridge, good but a bit twiggy. After skiing we had intended to go down town to see the Christmas Train but after a day like this beer was the only way to go. It worked out well as my buddy Ray from Vermont turned up (the east Coast is having a crap start to the season) to stay with us and the party started just that bit early.

The outlook is for more flurries tonight with temps dropping to about -5. Accumulations could be as much as 10 cms but looking further out there are lower temps and more snow in the forecast for 11 out of the next 14 days so I am one happy bunny.