Day 4 no new snow but still ok

First of all apologies for this report being a bit late. It is because I was at the Rusty Edge enjoying their Monday night 10 bucks for a beer and burger offer which is an excellent deal. Unlike most places which skimp on the burger with these kinds of deals, this one is a full on burger with all the trimmings. Before anyone gets the idea that I might have been given some incentive to say this it is perhaps worth stating the policy of my blog which is that I will never accept any form of reward to make me express anything but my true opinions. That having been said I am drinking a glass of Jameson's Irish Whiskey while typing this and if the good folk at Jameson's want to send me a case I am open to offers.

We had no new snow overnight although they were calling for 4 cms of fresh from yesterday's cycle and that seemed about right to me. It was overcast on the way to the hill and a little socked in at the top of White Pass. By late afternoon this had lifted and we got some great late in the day sunshine which also provided some good views of Polar Peak. Temps were -4 on the way to the hill and stayed cool all day with closing temps of -4 at the base and about -7 up the hill. As I put the car in the garage tonight I noticed that the temps had fallen even further to around -10.

With my guest from Vermont we decided to try the Old Side first and had a couple of runs down Bear to get his early season legs in the right place. After that we hit out across Cedar Bowl which was ok but tracked up. Further loops were through Boom Ridge ( great soft snow on skiers left) Cedar Ridge was very mellow deep tracked snow all the way down and finally Boom which was tracked but still with soft stuff in the alders. Every loop back (three in total) was via Kangaroo which with it's new haircut is fast becoming run of the day for me - we went to the New Side.

Nothing new was open on the New Side although for a while it did look as though Knot chutes might open. A friend of mine that I met confirmed that Easter Bowl had opened on the Old Side and whilst I was tempted to investigate I stuck with the New Side. We looped White Pass several times using Highline Trees and the runs in that area to provide some very good soft snow skiing. Surprise Trees remained ok tracked skiing.

Finally by lunch time we hiked the hump at Anaconda and had a great, albeit short run down through the chutes. The ski out down Gilmar was challenging due to the soft bumps and twigs but was ok as long as you paid attention. Having had a good ski on both the Old and New side lunch was predictably late.

In the afternoon it was back up the New Side mainly because it did look like the Knot Chutes were going to open for a long while but it never quite happened. We spent the afternoon all over the White Pass area with some excellent deep powder on Gun bowl skiers left. Surprise trees, still some good lines, Pillow Talk, great line in between the trees. We even ran to base one more time through Gilmar despite the conditions.

Late afternoon we were still looping White Pass (Surprise, Anaconda, Highline, Pillow Talk etc. ) and for the last run of the day decided on a run off through Currie Glades which were soft and tracked and yet another run out through Gilmar which was getting decidedly sketchy. We were late off the hill having got the very last chair up White Pass so beers in the Griz were late as was the evening in Rusty Edge and hence this blog. Yet another really good day's skiing even if we didn't have any new snow.

The outlook is for it to stay cool and for some more snow. More importantly we are promised some more openings on the hill tomorrow and I am really looking forward to that.