Well, it's not quite fair to say that you could copy and paste almost any of my posts over the past 10 days to cover what happened today but on the other hand you wouldn't be all that far from the truth.
First off my usual apology for the late time of day for posting this report. In case you didn't know this weekend is the weekend of Griz Days when we pay homage to our local snow god The Griz. The celebrations include axe throwing, log tossing, a parade down town and drinking stacks of beer. As soon as we got back from the hill tonight it was straight back down town for the parade and then some chilli and beer while watching log chopping competitions and some fire works. We would have stayed later for some live music but temps were down to -8 and falling fast so sitting at home in the warm did have it's appeal.
Once again we had no snow overnight and a bluebird day. Overnight temps had fallen to -14 and were still -10 as we drove to the hill. Even though we had uninterrupted direct sunlight on the hill all day nothing melted or softened. The warmest temps I saw were at the White Pass load at about 2 o'clock when it was -3 and for the most part it was nearer -6 all over the New Side. As we drove away from the hill it was -3 and as stated above the temps even in town tonight were -8 and falling fast. As I said, the result was that everything off the groomers remained bullet hard and near enough unskiable.
We went to the New Side and stayed there all day as is my habit on a Saturday when I tend to feel that the Old Side just gets too busy although I was told today that it was very quiet so maybe I should rethink this strategy. We looped White Pass through Quite Right and Highline (now using the trail map definitions of these runs) and found they were groomed rather better than over the past few days as was lower Heartland. Polar peak was open so we put 4 loops through the Coaster which was ok with cut backs under the chair which were the only ungroomed skiing to be had as far as I could see - sketchy but ok.
We ran to base through the usual Currie Powder, Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge all of which skied very firm and slick but ok to a greater or lesser extent. Finding ourselves half way through the morning there seemed to be only one logical thing to do and that was to do it all over again exactly as before and that is precisely what we did with the same results. The only variations were a speculative deviation into Gun Bowl on one lap and I bowl on the next in the hope that things were softening - they weren't and the skiing in both places was as ugly as a bear's ass. Time for lunch via the usual run off.
The morning had taken longer than expected so we were faced with a pretty short afternoon. We looped White Pass just like the morning trying just one trip into the I bowl hoping for some soft snow and coming away seriously disappointed. After that it was 4 or 5 loops of Polar Peak where the Coaster had become a very slick ice slope and not for the faint hearted. The run under the lift was always interesting with conditions varying from slick ice to refrozen crud to some quite soft snow depending on what line you took. Another run to base in increasingly slick conditions.
Just time for a couple of very fast White Pass loops through Quite Right before the traditional top to bottom rip through Down Right which was skiing very well even at the end of the day. Not too crowded in the Griz and good beers with buddies followed by the Griz Parade down town. Lets hope all the fuss we have made of the Griz has it's effect and he relents and gives us the snow that we need so badly.
During the day we did reflect that if you were to wind the clock back to our European vacation skiing in the 80's today would have ranked as great day. Groomers were fast and well groomed, bluebird skis, cold temps keeping the snow in good shape no crowds etc. Our problem is that having lived in Fernie all we want is soft snow freeriding and were aren't getting any of that but it's worth bearing in mind that any vacation skiers with our old expectations must be having a great time.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
Day 85 a bad case of deja vu (all over again)
So here is the explanation of the title - when I look back over the last few days I realise that I made a mistake yesterday in titling it as day 85, it should have actually been day 84. In order to get things back on track today is now titled as Day 85 which should give everyone a sense of deja vu in more than just the obvious sense in that the skiing was pretty much the same as yesterday and many days we have seen in February. The "all over again" part is a direct quote from a football (soccer) manager (coach) famous for his foot in mouth saying who did actually say - it's deja vu all over again.
On the way to the hill it was -5 (as usual) but at least this time they were calling 1 cm of new snow (I understand the actual measure was 0.7 cms but what the hell) and with the base reduced to 139 cms which has to be getting near an all time record low for the end of February. It was hazy and overcast and although it cleared a little by the end of the day there was no real warmth in the sun so everything remained hard and icy, particularly off the groomers. We had been promised flurries which never materialised and by the end of the day the disturbed weather which had been evident all around from the top of Polar Peak had dissipated and we were back in clear stable conditions with temps of -4 and forecast to go way lower during the night.
We went to the Old Side for out usual poke round and found everything off the groomers bullet hard and ugly ice with a 1 cm dust covering. Groomers had been very busy grooming in all the avi debris which has been lying around for a week of two and as a result there is almost unbroken grooming from Dancer in the Lizard bowl to Trillium In Cedar Bowl, in fact I have never seen so much flat groomed acreage in all my time in Fernie. We drifted around Bear, Arrow, Dancer, Cascade, Cruiser, Cedar Centre, North Ridge, Lower North Ridge, Lower Linda's etc. All the grooming was very good but with some hard icy patches but with no chance of any off groomer skiing we went to the New Side.
The White Pass loops were very fast and slick through Highline and Quite Right. We debated the fact that we seemed to be skiing the ice much better but concluded that after so many weeks of these conditions we were just pointing our skis straight down the fall line and skiing about twice as fast as we used to so the ice simply doesn't affect us. Polar Peak was open and we had a couple of loops up there with the Coaster skiing a lot better and a lot less slick than yesterday as result of the up draft wind which strengthened all day and blew new soft snow in all the time. The run down under the Polar Chair was just as icy and ugly as it has been all week and was therefore great fun. We tracked out across the County Line to ski under the Polar Chutes in the groomed avi debris before running down to lunch. Yesterday I saw a guy pull a very cool manoeuvre on Summer Road by jumping onto a 20 ft log lying alongside the trail, skiing the log and then airing it back on to the trail. It just had to be done but unfortunately I stacked it on landing and landed on my buttock - later in the day it did work but everything you learn comes at a price.
In the afternoon it was just back up the New Side to try White Pass loops. I did cut first tracks out along the Idiot Traverse mid afternoon to try the I bowl which proved to be ugly ice, not having softened at all and explained why I was able to get first tracks. We went back up Polar for a few more loops and then three runs to base via County Line/Currie Powder, then Down Right and finally back to County Line/ Currie Powder. this was all good fast skiing on slick groomers which we did as fast as I think I have ever skied. The run off through Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge which was the route we always took remained smooth and very fast all day.
So in summary another day when nothing softened, no new snow, only hard icy groomers to ski and those very quickly. I have a strange feeling that nothing much is going to change tomorrow.
On the way to the hill it was -5 (as usual) but at least this time they were calling 1 cm of new snow (I understand the actual measure was 0.7 cms but what the hell) and with the base reduced to 139 cms which has to be getting near an all time record low for the end of February. It was hazy and overcast and although it cleared a little by the end of the day there was no real warmth in the sun so everything remained hard and icy, particularly off the groomers. We had been promised flurries which never materialised and by the end of the day the disturbed weather which had been evident all around from the top of Polar Peak had dissipated and we were back in clear stable conditions with temps of -4 and forecast to go way lower during the night.
We went to the Old Side for out usual poke round and found everything off the groomers bullet hard and ugly ice with a 1 cm dust covering. Groomers had been very busy grooming in all the avi debris which has been lying around for a week of two and as a result there is almost unbroken grooming from Dancer in the Lizard bowl to Trillium In Cedar Bowl, in fact I have never seen so much flat groomed acreage in all my time in Fernie. We drifted around Bear, Arrow, Dancer, Cascade, Cruiser, Cedar Centre, North Ridge, Lower North Ridge, Lower Linda's etc. All the grooming was very good but with some hard icy patches but with no chance of any off groomer skiing we went to the New Side.
The White Pass loops were very fast and slick through Highline and Quite Right. We debated the fact that we seemed to be skiing the ice much better but concluded that after so many weeks of these conditions we were just pointing our skis straight down the fall line and skiing about twice as fast as we used to so the ice simply doesn't affect us. Polar Peak was open and we had a couple of loops up there with the Coaster skiing a lot better and a lot less slick than yesterday as result of the up draft wind which strengthened all day and blew new soft snow in all the time. The run down under the Polar Chair was just as icy and ugly as it has been all week and was therefore great fun. We tracked out across the County Line to ski under the Polar Chutes in the groomed avi debris before running down to lunch. Yesterday I saw a guy pull a very cool manoeuvre on Summer Road by jumping onto a 20 ft log lying alongside the trail, skiing the log and then airing it back on to the trail. It just had to be done but unfortunately I stacked it on landing and landed on my buttock - later in the day it did work but everything you learn comes at a price.
In the afternoon it was just back up the New Side to try White Pass loops. I did cut first tracks out along the Idiot Traverse mid afternoon to try the I bowl which proved to be ugly ice, not having softened at all and explained why I was able to get first tracks. We went back up Polar for a few more loops and then three runs to base via County Line/Currie Powder, then Down Right and finally back to County Line/ Currie Powder. this was all good fast skiing on slick groomers which we did as fast as I think I have ever skied. The run off through Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge which was the route we always took remained smooth and very fast all day.
So in summary another day when nothing softened, no new snow, only hard icy groomers to ski and those very quickly. I have a strange feeling that nothing much is going to change tomorrow.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Day 85 back to ice skiing
Yesterday I speculated on the possible out comes of having a warm day where the snow had softened and then set up in some cold conditions. My fear was that with more of the hill tracked up we would have less terrain that was skiable and even more ugly ungroomed terrain to contend with. I have to say that overnight and into today my worst fears were realised. It got cold. everything became hard and ugly ice, today in the absence of direct sunlight nothing softened, the skiing was tougher than ever away from the groomers - and why do I always have to be so right with these things.
Before I start the blog I want to answer a question which I am always being asked as I ski around and that is "why are you skiing on your DPS Wailers (112 under foot with full rocker) in these conditions and not some carving ski which would be much better ?" The answer makes sense to me, but to be fair not to too many other people I speak to. The reason I am skiing in these conditions is to get better in them. The reason I want to get better in them is so that when I go looking for good stuff in marginal conditions I do so in the knowledge that if I find the conditions are just ugly crud then I will always be able to ski them with no problems. If I am going looking for good stuff it will be on my DPS's and it will be those that I have to ski out on if things go wrong. It therefore seems obvious to me that it is on those big skis that I need to practice and not on some skinny carvers which I know would ski better but would not be there when I was put to the test - as I said, it makes sense to me but apparently no one else given the number of people who are skiing around on skinny carving skis.
It was -7 on the way to the hill with light cloud cover which remained all day. The result was nothing softened and temps up the mountain were always about -3 all day. On the way home it was -2 and I suspect we are going into a period where nothing much warms up or softens for some time. Just as I feared last night all over the hill we had tracked up more of the terrain while it was soft and warm so that where it had not been groomed it was even more ugly, bumpy and icy than it had been over the past week.
We went to the Old Side and just like yesterday we poked round Bear, Arrow, Bow, Cascade and few runs in between which were all groomed and hard but skiing ok. In a couple of loops on Cedar Bowl, Cruiser and Cedar Centre skied ok and even lower Cedar Centre was good but firm as was lower Linda's but Lower North Ridge was getting very sketchy with some big ice patches. We went to the New Side.
Just like Yesterday we had loops in White Pass through Quite Right and Highline which had been groomed but not recently but they skied ok. We headed off to Polar peak which was very slick in the Coaster and got a lot more slick as the day went on. First loop I cut back under the Chair and found some hard icy bumps but amazingly a cat track for the last few turns. Last loop before lunch and this time after running back under the Polar Chair I noticed that the County Line had been deactivated and we could ski across under the Polar Chutes but no further, Some groomers had smashed the avi debris down a bit under the Polar Chutes. I traversed into these which were not exactly groomed but at least were skiable. The ski off was as always Currie Powder (slick but ok) Trespass Trail (firm and good) Diamond Back (so slick and twiggy that we have started to navigate routes away from the main drop in untracked crud) Summer Road (good) Lower Sib Ridge (getting firmer and slicker all the time) and then to lunch.
After lunch we just looped the New Side doing Polar Peak loops and then run back to base via the ski off described above. In Polar we always took the Coaster and the traversed to under the lift. Most times we dropped to the cat track and then skied out the Reverse Traverse into the semi groomed stuff and then to base. Just once I tried to cut the corner and ski the left side fence line under the chair and then cut sharp left into the semi groomed stuff. Not a mistake I will make twice as it was bullet hard ice and I am still looking for some fillings that I think I might have left out there on the run. We managed 4 loops in he time available.
We just had time for one last top to bottom rip through Down Right which was slick but smooth and then a quick ski out. One of the topics of conversation in the bar tonight was how much faster we are all skiing in these slick grooomers than we were even 7 days ago - amazing what practice does. Don't even dare to think about what tomorrow may hold, can't be another beating for the body on a hard ice surface can it ?
Before I start the blog I want to answer a question which I am always being asked as I ski around and that is "why are you skiing on your DPS Wailers (112 under foot with full rocker) in these conditions and not some carving ski which would be much better ?" The answer makes sense to me, but to be fair not to too many other people I speak to. The reason I am skiing in these conditions is to get better in them. The reason I want to get better in them is so that when I go looking for good stuff in marginal conditions I do so in the knowledge that if I find the conditions are just ugly crud then I will always be able to ski them with no problems. If I am going looking for good stuff it will be on my DPS's and it will be those that I have to ski out on if things go wrong. It therefore seems obvious to me that it is on those big skis that I need to practice and not on some skinny carvers which I know would ski better but would not be there when I was put to the test - as I said, it makes sense to me but apparently no one else given the number of people who are skiing around on skinny carving skis.
It was -7 on the way to the hill with light cloud cover which remained all day. The result was nothing softened and temps up the mountain were always about -3 all day. On the way home it was -2 and I suspect we are going into a period where nothing much warms up or softens for some time. Just as I feared last night all over the hill we had tracked up more of the terrain while it was soft and warm so that where it had not been groomed it was even more ugly, bumpy and icy than it had been over the past week.
We went to the Old Side and just like yesterday we poked round Bear, Arrow, Bow, Cascade and few runs in between which were all groomed and hard but skiing ok. In a couple of loops on Cedar Bowl, Cruiser and Cedar Centre skied ok and even lower Cedar Centre was good but firm as was lower Linda's but Lower North Ridge was getting very sketchy with some big ice patches. We went to the New Side.
Just like Yesterday we had loops in White Pass through Quite Right and Highline which had been groomed but not recently but they skied ok. We headed off to Polar peak which was very slick in the Coaster and got a lot more slick as the day went on. First loop I cut back under the Chair and found some hard icy bumps but amazingly a cat track for the last few turns. Last loop before lunch and this time after running back under the Polar Chair I noticed that the County Line had been deactivated and we could ski across under the Polar Chutes but no further, Some groomers had smashed the avi debris down a bit under the Polar Chutes. I traversed into these which were not exactly groomed but at least were skiable. The ski off was as always Currie Powder (slick but ok) Trespass Trail (firm and good) Diamond Back (so slick and twiggy that we have started to navigate routes away from the main drop in untracked crud) Summer Road (good) Lower Sib Ridge (getting firmer and slicker all the time) and then to lunch.
After lunch we just looped the New Side doing Polar Peak loops and then run back to base via the ski off described above. In Polar we always took the Coaster and the traversed to under the lift. Most times we dropped to the cat track and then skied out the Reverse Traverse into the semi groomed stuff and then to base. Just once I tried to cut the corner and ski the left side fence line under the chair and then cut sharp left into the semi groomed stuff. Not a mistake I will make twice as it was bullet hard ice and I am still looking for some fillings that I think I might have left out there on the run. We managed 4 loops in he time available.
We just had time for one last top to bottom rip through Down Right which was slick but smooth and then a quick ski out. One of the topics of conversation in the bar tonight was how much faster we are all skiing in these slick grooomers than we were even 7 days ago - amazing what practice does. Don't even dare to think about what tomorrow may hold, can't be another beating for the body on a hard ice surface can it ?
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Day 83 back to spring skiing
As I have said before I have no problem with spring skiing but I do rather like it to come after a winter of skiing but it looks like I am going to be flat out of luck on that one. Over the past 10 days we have been having an all too stable weather situation where we have no snow, bluebird days and minus temps all over the hill which meant that the ungroomed slopes were bullet hard ugly ice. Well, today things changed so that at least we had softening in the afternoon which allowed us to ski a variety of different ungroomed slopes in the softer conditions and this was way better skiing than we have had for a number of days.
On the way to the hill today it was -5 just as it has been for the past few days and of course there was no new snow. Conditions were bluebird just like in the previous days but around lunch time the temps up the mountain started to rise so that by mid afternoon we had +5 at the White Pass and Polar Peak loads. This meant that for the first time in ages everything in the direct sunlight started to soften although everything out of the sun remained very hard and as soon as the sun went off any slope it started to set up pretty quick.
We went to the Old Side and poked around looking for good stuff but as this was still the morning everything off the groomers was still rock hard. We ran around Bear, Arrow (some soft stuff in the gully) Cascade (and even a newly groomed area between Cascade and Bow which we called Cow or Bascade) and then into Cedar Bowl where Cedar Centre actually skied quite well for a change. After a few more loops through North Ridge, Lower Linda's and other such places we decided it was time to try the New Side.
As soon as we got up it was apparent that things were getting warm and the south facing slopes were softening. We started to run back through the Gun Bowl which for the first time in days was skiing ok if not great. The I bowl was also just about ok but like the Gun Bowl still a little on the icy side. It did look like Knot Chutes were going to open but it was getting on for lunch and we headed up Polar Peak where the Coaster was open and soft, We did two loops always cutting back under the lift which was still quite firm before dropping Currie Powder (slick but ok) Trespass Trail (fast) Diamond Back (slick and twiggy) and Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge both of which were very easy and fast.
After lunch I headed back up White Pass with a view to skiing the Knot Chutes which had been opened but when I got to the top I noticed that Shale Slope off Polar Peak had been opened so I pressed on to that. On the Polar Chair things got even better as it became apparent that the sign line on lookers right had been pushed back so that after a few turns in Shale Slope you could traverse into Grandpapa Bear just below the cliffs and take the higher chute for the first time this year. First time round I missed the traverse and just had to ski down but after that it was 5 loops of Grandpapa Bear and then down the lift line which skied very nicely even in the very steep pitches. Of course there were a few top to bottom fallers but from what I could se no one was hurt too badly.
I ran to base the usual way just to make a change and then was back up Polar for 3 more loops which were getting stiffer all the time as the sun was going away from the slopes. There was just time for a run back round Trespass Trail the White Pass and then a loop through the Gun Bowl which had really firmed up before it was time for last run. This was another rip through Down Right and then a run off through all the usual places to end the best day's skiing for quite some time.
Over beers in the Griz we discussed the future. The downside of today is that we have trashed up more of the hill so that if we get a freeze up means that we will have more unskiable ungroomed terrain to cope with - on the other hand we had a good day and if it softens tomorrow then we will be no worse off. Some snow is in the forecast, and looking down the valley today there was certainly some weather about. In a year like this we will just take whatever we get.
On the way to the hill today it was -5 just as it has been for the past few days and of course there was no new snow. Conditions were bluebird just like in the previous days but around lunch time the temps up the mountain started to rise so that by mid afternoon we had +5 at the White Pass and Polar Peak loads. This meant that for the first time in ages everything in the direct sunlight started to soften although everything out of the sun remained very hard and as soon as the sun went off any slope it started to set up pretty quick.
We went to the Old Side and poked around looking for good stuff but as this was still the morning everything off the groomers was still rock hard. We ran around Bear, Arrow (some soft stuff in the gully) Cascade (and even a newly groomed area between Cascade and Bow which we called Cow or Bascade) and then into Cedar Bowl where Cedar Centre actually skied quite well for a change. After a few more loops through North Ridge, Lower Linda's and other such places we decided it was time to try the New Side.
As soon as we got up it was apparent that things were getting warm and the south facing slopes were softening. We started to run back through the Gun Bowl which for the first time in days was skiing ok if not great. The I bowl was also just about ok but like the Gun Bowl still a little on the icy side. It did look like Knot Chutes were going to open but it was getting on for lunch and we headed up Polar Peak where the Coaster was open and soft, We did two loops always cutting back under the lift which was still quite firm before dropping Currie Powder (slick but ok) Trespass Trail (fast) Diamond Back (slick and twiggy) and Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge both of which were very easy and fast.
After lunch I headed back up White Pass with a view to skiing the Knot Chutes which had been opened but when I got to the top I noticed that Shale Slope off Polar Peak had been opened so I pressed on to that. On the Polar Chair things got even better as it became apparent that the sign line on lookers right had been pushed back so that after a few turns in Shale Slope you could traverse into Grandpapa Bear just below the cliffs and take the higher chute for the first time this year. First time round I missed the traverse and just had to ski down but after that it was 5 loops of Grandpapa Bear and then down the lift line which skied very nicely even in the very steep pitches. Of course there were a few top to bottom fallers but from what I could se no one was hurt too badly.
I ran to base the usual way just to make a change and then was back up Polar for 3 more loops which were getting stiffer all the time as the sun was going away from the slopes. There was just time for a run back round Trespass Trail the White Pass and then a loop through the Gun Bowl which had really firmed up before it was time for last run. This was another rip through Down Right and then a run off through all the usual places to end the best day's skiing for quite some time.
Over beers in the Griz we discussed the future. The downside of today is that we have trashed up more of the hill so that if we get a freeze up means that we will have more unskiable ungroomed terrain to cope with - on the other hand we had a good day and if it softens tomorrow then we will be no worse off. Some snow is in the forecast, and looking down the valley today there was certainly some weather about. In a year like this we will just take whatever we get.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Day 82 a bit of a deterioration
Yesterday everyone said to me "Cheer up, things could be worse" so I cheered up and sure enough things got worse. I had said yesterday that I might be able to copy and paste that blog for today as I thought things would be much the same - I was wrong. In summary the wind got up sweeping snow from the groomers so they became slick ugly ice and in the few places the snow was deposited off piste it came down as crust covered slab. There were very few places that the snow was deposited on sheltered parts of the groomers but where that happened it was soft and ok skiing.
On the way to the hill it was -4 and of course no new snow. It was a bluebird day yet again meaning that in the sunlight the viz was good and in the shadow it was very flat light. During the day temps rose at the base to just plus temps but they remained a few degrees below zero all over the hill meaning for what seems like about the 100th day running nothing softened and all off groomer skiing was bullet hard ugly ice.
The main weather feature of today was the wind which was very strong and seemed to be blowing straight off the head wall in every bowl so that all the groomed runs had any soft snow swept off them before most people got to the hill. The result was slick hard groomers hardly taking an edge with no soft snow except in Arrow left, Bear right and Down Right in the lower sections. What appeared to be soft sift blown onto to ungroomed areas turned out to be hard packed wind slab with wind crust as I found out to my cost.
We went to the New Side and looped White Pass through Quite Right and Highline which we thought were slick but had no idea how ugly they would get later in the day. Polar peak was of course closed in the these winds so we dropped Currie Bowl through Down Right which skied ok at that time and exited on the usual Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge. All skied ok except Diamond Back which is getting very twiggy and slick in the lower section. We did these double loops two more times during which I tried the section of the I bowl where the groomers had flattened the avi debris (you couldn't call it grooming) which skied ok. I also tried the Gun bowl to lookers left of the White Pass chair as it looked like there was soft blow in there. Big mistake, it was crusted hard wind slab and I stacked it big time going head first and have two full rolls before I could get my skis back under me and ski on.
We went to the Old Side and tried Red Tree which I expected it to be very good or very bad depending on how it was affected by the wind. In the event it didn't seem to be affected at all and just like yesterday it was some new snow on a hard crust base all the way down, ok but no stroll in the park. We went to lunch anticipating a short afternoon which became much shorter for reasons explained below.
After lunch it was back to Arrow on the Old Side where I had been told there was some soft snow on the skiers left gully. I found about 3 good turns but I have been told I should have hit harder left to get a better result. I then decided to try Linda's Run on the grounds that the sift may have ended up there, another big mistake but at least I didn't stack it - just. It was a thin layer of dust on crust which slabbed as soon as you touched it leaving a very icy uneven base - quite a challenging run.
On the way back up Boom the chair broke down and I was stuck for half an hour which just about made my day. We eventually got off having been taken very slowly up after a long halt. I did get a voucher for something which I can redeem at guest services but unless it involves alcohol I doubt I will find much use for it but it's the thought that counts.
So I just had time for a couple of quick loops round White Pass where Quite Right and Highline had been reduced to some very slick icy surfaces and not for the faint hearted. Last run was Down Right which had deteriorated significantly in the top from this morning to more ice skiing but lower down got better - the usual ski off which was both good and bad in the usual places,
On the drive back from the hill it was -1 but with no new snow in the offing it is hard to see how conditions will change unless we get a spring warm up in which case coverage could really become a problem. After a few beers in the Griz we were reduced to the "at least it's better than work" philosophy and when you are down to that you know you are getting somewhere near rock bottom. Lets see if tomorrow can come up with some new challenges we haven't even thought of.
On the way to the hill it was -4 and of course no new snow. It was a bluebird day yet again meaning that in the sunlight the viz was good and in the shadow it was very flat light. During the day temps rose at the base to just plus temps but they remained a few degrees below zero all over the hill meaning for what seems like about the 100th day running nothing softened and all off groomer skiing was bullet hard ugly ice.
The main weather feature of today was the wind which was very strong and seemed to be blowing straight off the head wall in every bowl so that all the groomed runs had any soft snow swept off them before most people got to the hill. The result was slick hard groomers hardly taking an edge with no soft snow except in Arrow left, Bear right and Down Right in the lower sections. What appeared to be soft sift blown onto to ungroomed areas turned out to be hard packed wind slab with wind crust as I found out to my cost.
We went to the New Side and looped White Pass through Quite Right and Highline which we thought were slick but had no idea how ugly they would get later in the day. Polar peak was of course closed in the these winds so we dropped Currie Bowl through Down Right which skied ok at that time and exited on the usual Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge. All skied ok except Diamond Back which is getting very twiggy and slick in the lower section. We did these double loops two more times during which I tried the section of the I bowl where the groomers had flattened the avi debris (you couldn't call it grooming) which skied ok. I also tried the Gun bowl to lookers left of the White Pass chair as it looked like there was soft blow in there. Big mistake, it was crusted hard wind slab and I stacked it big time going head first and have two full rolls before I could get my skis back under me and ski on.
We went to the Old Side and tried Red Tree which I expected it to be very good or very bad depending on how it was affected by the wind. In the event it didn't seem to be affected at all and just like yesterday it was some new snow on a hard crust base all the way down, ok but no stroll in the park. We went to lunch anticipating a short afternoon which became much shorter for reasons explained below.
After lunch it was back to Arrow on the Old Side where I had been told there was some soft snow on the skiers left gully. I found about 3 good turns but I have been told I should have hit harder left to get a better result. I then decided to try Linda's Run on the grounds that the sift may have ended up there, another big mistake but at least I didn't stack it - just. It was a thin layer of dust on crust which slabbed as soon as you touched it leaving a very icy uneven base - quite a challenging run.
On the way back up Boom the chair broke down and I was stuck for half an hour which just about made my day. We eventually got off having been taken very slowly up after a long halt. I did get a voucher for something which I can redeem at guest services but unless it involves alcohol I doubt I will find much use for it but it's the thought that counts.
So I just had time for a couple of quick loops round White Pass where Quite Right and Highline had been reduced to some very slick icy surfaces and not for the faint hearted. Last run was Down Right which had deteriorated significantly in the top from this morning to more ice skiing but lower down got better - the usual ski off which was both good and bad in the usual places,
On the drive back from the hill it was -1 but with no new snow in the offing it is hard to see how conditions will change unless we get a spring warm up in which case coverage could really become a problem. After a few beers in the Griz we were reduced to the "at least it's better than work" philosophy and when you are down to that you know you are getting somewhere near rock bottom. Lets see if tomorrow can come up with some new challenges we haven't even thought of.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Day 81 Conditions
As there has been no significant change I thought I would return to the subject of just how good/bad this seasons skiing conditions are. I am prompted by a number of people who are trying to tell me that conditions are no worse than 2005 and I am afraid that is just rubbish. It is true that in 2004/5 we were down loading Timber Chair in January just like we were this year but may I quote from Lynda's journal which in the days before the blog was just about as authoritative a document as you could get.... "5th Feb Great Powder Day ! and then 6th Feb another great powder day - 64 cms in 48 hours"
I rest my case, we have had nothing to match that and if my memory serves me correctly that dump remained preserved by some pretty cold conditions until the spring snow arrived "27 Mar POW, 28 Mar POW, heavy snow Timber not open, 29 Mar POW Currie not open for 2 days 30 Mar POW getting tired" so the answer is no, this is not just about as bad as 2005, it's much worse.
Now to be fair things have improved a lot over the past week for three reasons - firstly we had 9 cms of new snow which always helps if only to make things look a bit prettier - secondly the temps have dropped to minus double figure at night and don't really get that warm during the day so the snow has hung on for the most part - thirdly the colder temps have allowed snow making on the lower hill all night and for significant chunks of the day so the ski outs have got a lot less sketchy. That having been said it is still far from even acceptable conditions.
To be even fairer, if you are a groomer skier you will be having a great time. Huge tracts of the hill have been groomed and in the lower temps the groomers are in great shape for the most part and way better than the icy surfaces we had last week. However if you want off groomer free riding (which is all I want to do as do most of my buddies) then the conditions are simply diabolical. Hard bumpy ice surfaces under some dust on crust with hazards that can really hurt if you get it wrong. Don't just take my word for it, we were scheduled to have the junior free ski competition here the weekend just gone and it was relocated to Kicking Horse due to conditions. Put another way even official sources think the free riding in Fernie is totally sub standard.
It was -8 on the way to the hill today and overcast although it became bluebird later in the day - needless to say we had no precip of any kind over night. Base temps rose to +4 but it remained minus temps up the mountain all day. More importantly a light cold wind was blowing across the surface all day so that even in the direct sunlight the surface temp of the snow remained down at around -8. The result unsurprisingly was that even in the areas exposed to direct sunlight the ungroomed snow remained bullet hard with some dust on crust and the only variation was that were the snow had been skied in the warm weather 10 days ago it was tracked up ice bumps and where it hadn't at least the base was smooth.
We went to the New Side and did loops comprising a couple of White Pass loops, a couple of Polar Peak loops and then a run to base through Diamond Back and Lower Sib Ridge. We did this three times and the only way things had changed from yesterday was that the Coaster was in a bit better shape probably due to less traffic. I did experiment by dropping into the Gun bowl and the I bowl on various laps but these proved to be very bad decisions and I found myself skiing ugly frozen avi debris covered by some light dust just to hide the problems.
In the afternoon I hit out on the Old Side and skied Red Tree a couple of times and as anticipated it was dust on crust but at least the crust was smooth so the skiing was just about acceptable but no stroll in the park. I took a run down North Ridge to see if Cedar Ridge was tempting which it wasn't so I gave it a miss. Back on the New Side I did 4 more Polar Peak loops which were ok and just like yesterday the best ungroomed skiing was skier's left of the Polar Chair in the lower section where there was a small (and I do mean small) line of tracked up soft snow.
We ended the day with a Currie rip through Down Right which was smooth and fast. The ski off via Trespass Trail. Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge were fine except that Diamond Back was getting rather slick in the mid section. Another day over and beers in the Griz. I have a horrible feeling that I will just be able to copy and paste this report for tomorrow.
I rest my case, we have had nothing to match that and if my memory serves me correctly that dump remained preserved by some pretty cold conditions until the spring snow arrived "27 Mar POW, 28 Mar POW, heavy snow Timber not open, 29 Mar POW Currie not open for 2 days 30 Mar POW getting tired" so the answer is no, this is not just about as bad as 2005, it's much worse.
Now to be fair things have improved a lot over the past week for three reasons - firstly we had 9 cms of new snow which always helps if only to make things look a bit prettier - secondly the temps have dropped to minus double figure at night and don't really get that warm during the day so the snow has hung on for the most part - thirdly the colder temps have allowed snow making on the lower hill all night and for significant chunks of the day so the ski outs have got a lot less sketchy. That having been said it is still far from even acceptable conditions.
To be even fairer, if you are a groomer skier you will be having a great time. Huge tracts of the hill have been groomed and in the lower temps the groomers are in great shape for the most part and way better than the icy surfaces we had last week. However if you want off groomer free riding (which is all I want to do as do most of my buddies) then the conditions are simply diabolical. Hard bumpy ice surfaces under some dust on crust with hazards that can really hurt if you get it wrong. Don't just take my word for it, we were scheduled to have the junior free ski competition here the weekend just gone and it was relocated to Kicking Horse due to conditions. Put another way even official sources think the free riding in Fernie is totally sub standard.
It was -8 on the way to the hill today and overcast although it became bluebird later in the day - needless to say we had no precip of any kind over night. Base temps rose to +4 but it remained minus temps up the mountain all day. More importantly a light cold wind was blowing across the surface all day so that even in the direct sunlight the surface temp of the snow remained down at around -8. The result unsurprisingly was that even in the areas exposed to direct sunlight the ungroomed snow remained bullet hard with some dust on crust and the only variation was that were the snow had been skied in the warm weather 10 days ago it was tracked up ice bumps and where it hadn't at least the base was smooth.
We went to the New Side and did loops comprising a couple of White Pass loops, a couple of Polar Peak loops and then a run to base through Diamond Back and Lower Sib Ridge. We did this three times and the only way things had changed from yesterday was that the Coaster was in a bit better shape probably due to less traffic. I did experiment by dropping into the Gun bowl and the I bowl on various laps but these proved to be very bad decisions and I found myself skiing ugly frozen avi debris covered by some light dust just to hide the problems.
In the afternoon I hit out on the Old Side and skied Red Tree a couple of times and as anticipated it was dust on crust but at least the crust was smooth so the skiing was just about acceptable but no stroll in the park. I took a run down North Ridge to see if Cedar Ridge was tempting which it wasn't so I gave it a miss. Back on the New Side I did 4 more Polar Peak loops which were ok and just like yesterday the best ungroomed skiing was skier's left of the Polar Chair in the lower section where there was a small (and I do mean small) line of tracked up soft snow.
We ended the day with a Currie rip through Down Right which was smooth and fast. The ski off via Trespass Trail. Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge were fine except that Diamond Back was getting rather slick in the mid section. Another day over and beers in the Griz. I have a horrible feeling that I will just be able to copy and paste this report for tomorrow.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Day 80 normal service is resumed
I am of course referring to the blog after the departure of my Irish buddies, Last night we had a somewhat spectacular farewell at my buddy Dan's place where we were treated to an excellent meal by his wife Ruth (thanks Ruth) and more importantly treated to a bottle of tequila by Dan himself. The upshot of all this was that there was no way I could possibly have written the blog last night and hence the way things fell out. Now everyone has gone and it is just back to Lynda and me living at the house things should get a lot easier.
The quick summary I put down was very accurate. We had 9 cms of new snow which gave us some more coverage lower down and at the very least made things look a bit more pretty and wintery. The extra snow made it better for the groomers and as result the groomed runs were less icy and taking an edge where before they had been a bit sketchy. The problem rested with the ungroomed areas which had been skied into hard ice bumps where the new snow made little or no difference to just how ugly the skiing was. Some improvement was seen in areas that had been closed and therefore remained smooth and now had some dust on crust such as Red Tree - ok skiing but not great by any stretch of the imagination, and that was yesterday for you.
Today started very cold overnight with deck temps of -14 and even though it was a very bluebird day it never warmed up even in the direct sunlight - naturally no more new snow. Temps were below zero even at the base all day and up the mountain at the Polar load I noticed that it hung in at around -7 all day. So, in summary a cold day which was great for preserving the snow but everywhere that had not been groomed the underlying bumps, or just uneven surfaces were very hard and tended to beat up anyone trying to ski them.
We went to the Old Side and noticed extensive grooming in Lizard Bowl. My theory is that the Hill have now worked out that no matter how much the weather brings new snow it won't be enough to fill in the icy bumps so it is best to groom them in and start again with the next snowfall. We poked around an number of groomers in Lizard and Cedar bowl which all skied well - the ungroomed that we tried was rather tougher. Cedar Centre Trees was ugly and uneven on the base, Sunny Side shoulder was just the same and Boom Bowl was if anything even more ugly and icy today than yesterday. Red Tree might have been nice but we just couldn't face the long push out in the very cold and grippy snow.
We went to the New Side and had an ugly run down Puff before having a couple of even more ugly loops through Gun Bowl and Highline although there was some grooming in Highline which meant that you could bail if the icy bumps got too much. Before lunch we did a couple of loops up Polar Peak where the views were just spectacular because of the dryness of the air. Only the Coaster was open which was skiing as well as it has done over the past few days with not too much scraped out ice skiing. The run down under the chair was hard ice bumps. After two ok loops we ran to base through Currie Powder, Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge, all skiing very well with some much improved coverage.
In the afternoon I was back up White Pass only to find Polar Peak closed due to an electrical fault. After a couple of run backs through White Pass which demonstrated that the grooming was good and that everything ungroomed was rock hard dust on crust bumps I ran to base via Down Right and then the lower mountain as above which skied very nicely taking an easy edge.
Polar Peak reopened and I spent the afternoon looping it. I eventually found the only soft tracked up real winter ungroomed snow on the hill to the skiers left of the Polar Chair and just made the most of this very limited opportunity not to be beaten up by and irregular ice base which was what was happening on every other part of the hill. After final chair I just had time to skate round to White Pass load for a quick loop and then another run to base via Down Right to finish the day.
So in summary the position on the hill has been improved by the new snow but the groomers are still the only smooth skiing with everything off the groomers hard, icy and bumpy and in a state where the amount of snow we have had does little more than make it look better - it certainly doesn't make it ski better. Nothing will change and all the off piste skiing will be ugly ice bumps until we either get more snow or if things start to soften up during the day, no sign of that today.
In the outlook we have some more snow on the way but not in any great quantities. It's getting cold (-8 on the deck as I am typing this) so no prospect of anything softening any time soon. Let's see what tomorrow holds.
The quick summary I put down was very accurate. We had 9 cms of new snow which gave us some more coverage lower down and at the very least made things look a bit more pretty and wintery. The extra snow made it better for the groomers and as result the groomed runs were less icy and taking an edge where before they had been a bit sketchy. The problem rested with the ungroomed areas which had been skied into hard ice bumps where the new snow made little or no difference to just how ugly the skiing was. Some improvement was seen in areas that had been closed and therefore remained smooth and now had some dust on crust such as Red Tree - ok skiing but not great by any stretch of the imagination, and that was yesterday for you.
Today started very cold overnight with deck temps of -14 and even though it was a very bluebird day it never warmed up even in the direct sunlight - naturally no more new snow. Temps were below zero even at the base all day and up the mountain at the Polar load I noticed that it hung in at around -7 all day. So, in summary a cold day which was great for preserving the snow but everywhere that had not been groomed the underlying bumps, or just uneven surfaces were very hard and tended to beat up anyone trying to ski them.
We went to the Old Side and noticed extensive grooming in Lizard Bowl. My theory is that the Hill have now worked out that no matter how much the weather brings new snow it won't be enough to fill in the icy bumps so it is best to groom them in and start again with the next snowfall. We poked around an number of groomers in Lizard and Cedar bowl which all skied well - the ungroomed that we tried was rather tougher. Cedar Centre Trees was ugly and uneven on the base, Sunny Side shoulder was just the same and Boom Bowl was if anything even more ugly and icy today than yesterday. Red Tree might have been nice but we just couldn't face the long push out in the very cold and grippy snow.
We went to the New Side and had an ugly run down Puff before having a couple of even more ugly loops through Gun Bowl and Highline although there was some grooming in Highline which meant that you could bail if the icy bumps got too much. Before lunch we did a couple of loops up Polar Peak where the views were just spectacular because of the dryness of the air. Only the Coaster was open which was skiing as well as it has done over the past few days with not too much scraped out ice skiing. The run down under the chair was hard ice bumps. After two ok loops we ran to base through Currie Powder, Trespass Trail, Diamond Back, Summer Road and Lower Sib Ridge, all skiing very well with some much improved coverage.
In the afternoon I was back up White Pass only to find Polar Peak closed due to an electrical fault. After a couple of run backs through White Pass which demonstrated that the grooming was good and that everything ungroomed was rock hard dust on crust bumps I ran to base via Down Right and then the lower mountain as above which skied very nicely taking an easy edge.
Polar Peak reopened and I spent the afternoon looping it. I eventually found the only soft tracked up real winter ungroomed snow on the hill to the skiers left of the Polar Chair and just made the most of this very limited opportunity not to be beaten up by and irregular ice base which was what was happening on every other part of the hill. After final chair I just had time to skate round to White Pass load for a quick loop and then another run to base via Down Right to finish the day.
So in summary the position on the hill has been improved by the new snow but the groomers are still the only smooth skiing with everything off the groomers hard, icy and bumpy and in a state where the amount of snow we have had does little more than make it look better - it certainly doesn't make it ski better. Nothing will change and all the off piste skiing will be ugly ice bumps until we either get more snow or if things start to soften up during the day, no sign of that today.
In the outlook we have some more snow on the way but not in any great quantities. It's getting cold (-8 on the deck as I am typing this) so no prospect of anything softening any time soon. Let's see what tomorrow holds.
Day 79 Oh Dear
Oh dear, it happens once every season when I get so pissed that I can't do the blog and today is that day this year. It is my Irish buddies last day here and in celebration it is a bit like the old joke - we saw the sign that said "Drink Canada Dry" so we decided to try it.
We had 9 cms of new snow which made quite a lot of stuff better but was still dust on crust for the most part. Temps remained cold so snow stayed in ok shape. The New Side was ok and the Old Side opened Snake Ridge out to Redtree that skied ok. Polar Peak was good on the New Side.
Run of the day for me in terms of skiing surface was Lower Kangaroo (no joke) but because of the very considerable wood related obstructions it was impossible to get more than one or two turns at a time.
Apologies for the brief and very drunk report - more tomorrow,
We had 9 cms of new snow which made quite a lot of stuff better but was still dust on crust for the most part. Temps remained cold so snow stayed in ok shape. The New Side was ok and the Old Side opened Snake Ridge out to Redtree that skied ok. Polar Peak was good on the New Side.
Run of the day for me in terms of skiing surface was Lower Kangaroo (no joke) but because of the very considerable wood related obstructions it was impossible to get more than one or two turns at a time.
Apologies for the brief and very drunk report - more tomorrow,
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