Day 74 a short day but a pretty good one

Today was short because I had to drive to Cranbrook to pick up our next guest in the morning and what with one thing and another I wasn't on the hill much before noon. We decided to ski all the way through to the finish without a break although Lynda did take a short lunch so she would be in good shape for her first Skydive a 4 o'clock which she was.

Overnight we had another 7 cms of snow which pushed the base to 302 cms. it was time for the 3 metre party but as it was a Monday and not many of us here it was a rather subdued affair. Temps on the hill rose to +3 at the base and zero on top but with overcast conditions and a cold wind every thing stayed in great shape. As we left the hill it was +2 in the valley and although there were a couple of light flurries there was nothing to get excited about and I expect the next few days will give us no new snow and steadily warming conditions although I really hope not.

With limited time we went to the New Side and found the snow remarkably light and low in moisture and very deep in certain places as a result of wind activity. Polar Peak was open so up we went only to find that all the chutes were closed (including the Clown Chutes) and the only way down was the Coaster which was ok but not very exciting even in the marginal viz.

We looped down through Alpha Centauri which was lightly tracked and very soft as was Gilmar Gully below. After that we did a couple of White Pass loops which were good through the Gun Bowl as were all the options below. The next run to base was Cougar Glades which skied ok in the top but was rather sun affected in some of the open areas and had clearly slid in places lower down. We took the cat track to Stag Leap which skied really nicely and soft all the way down.

Next loop was Decline which being slightly more north facing had not been sun affected and skied very nice and soft. There was enough untracked snow on the side of the runs to allow the long sweeping GS turns in which you hold in the fall line for a long time before crossing the central ridge - great fun.

On the way out to the bridge at the end of the Reverse Traverse we had noticed that Currie Creek had looked more or less untouched so next time through we dropped it. Great untracked skiing (perhaps the best of the day) was to be had all the way through the creek and even the exit wasn't too scratchy.

Next time up I noticed that the Clown Chutes had been opened on Polar Peak. I learned later that they had been open for some time which was a bit annoying as having found them closed this morning I assumed they would be that way all day. I only had time for a drop of Crusty which skied soft and deep and even the entrance was just a straight forward drop in. I ran to base through High Saddle which I thought might be icy but turned out to be excellent soft edge to edge jumping all the way down. The skiing under the saddle was very soft and deep and you just had to avoid the blast trails which wasn't difficult as they were obvious with a lot of space in between.

We just had time for a quick White Pass loop and found the snow under the lift to be particularly soft and deep before it was time for Skydive. The conditions were about as mellow as I can remember and maybe that is why seven of us turned up for the run. It was a very easy soft snow run which made a pleasant change from some of the really ugly icy runs we have had there at the end of the day this season. We went for beers in the Griz to celebrate a 3 metre base and Lynda hitting her first 4 o'clock Skydive of the season.

Footnote - some of you will find that a number of people on the hill are addressing me as "Your Holiness" over the next few days. The reason for this is that when a guest arrived about a month ago I commented that due to his general lack of fitness there was more chance of me becoming the next Pope than him making Skydive at 4 o'clock, Well today he made it for the first time, an event not unconnected with the fact that he didn't want to be beaten to it by Lynda in my opinion. I am happy to be proved wrong and freely admit that he really is an awesome athlete, at least when measured against the standards of a post operative female senior.

Lets see what happens tomorrow.