Friday, April 8, 2016

Day 120 seriously hot

Yes were had been prepared for a hot day today but what we got was really hot. It was a blue bird day from start to finish and the snow was disappearing so fast that we all were grateful that it only has to hold out two more days which it just might about make.

Overnight temps got down to -2 in the valley but on top they did not get below zero. On the way to the hill it was +4 and getting warmer all the time. During the day we had temps of +18 at the base and +15 up the hill. As we drove away from the hill it had got up to +23 as we sat on the deck drinking beer.

We went to the Old Side and as usual got to Sunny Side Shoulder fast and found it softening as was China Wall. We did a couple more laps of Sunny Side and ran the chutes to the left of China Wall which were soft and good fun between the twigs,

For the rest of the morning we looped New Lift Line, Kangaroo, Boom Ridge and Boom Guts many times and they were all starting to get soft and in some cases too soft as we skied them. By lunch time we were skiing pure mush on these lines and tried Buck Shot which we hoped was also soft but was actually pretty hard in the shade. We rode the Boom lift with a patroller buddy and heard on his radio that the whole New Side was shutting down due to the surfaces becoming unstable - Polar Chutes, Concussion, County Line and Knot Chutes had all gone red so it seemed to us that we should stay with the Old Side which we did for the rest of the morning.

We lunched at Rusty Edge with their excellent offer of beer and a steak sandwich for 14 bucks. Yes, we actually drank beer at lunch time for only the second time this year. After a very sunny lunch we were back up the Old Side for more very very mushy Boom Ridge, Boom Guts, New Lift Line and Kangaroo skiing, all several times. The only run that was any different was the classic Cedar Ridge Line off North Ridge which was rather icy in the top even in these conditions but became softer lower down. Last run was Boom Guts and down to base.

We went to the locals deck for more beers in the sun and it was very hot indeed. In summary we had summer skiing all day and the snow is disappearing fast. Two more days to go and some fun events coming up this weekend. The water splash on the skiers left of Boom Chair did seem to be good preparation for the Slope Soaker on Sunday.

Out on my deck it is still +23 on the mercury and looking out towards Mount Hosmer I can see the first real Ghost Rider of the year forming on the cliff face. Summer is really on the way.

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