Days 8-10 From freezer to awesome in just three days

When I left you dear reader you will recall that we were in the middle of a serious freeze up with no new snow but the stuff we had was well preserved in the cold and we were getting new untracked skiing as new parts of the hill were opening up on a daily basis. The Old Side was a bust as the Boomerang chair and Haul back T bar were not running and despite some considerable pre season publicity Polar Peak was yet to open. Well in the 3 days since my last entry pretty well everything has changed and for the better in a big way.

On Friday the weather continued much as it had all week with daytime highs on the hill barely getting above -20 and night time lows much colder. Overnight Friday into Saturday we had about 5 cms of fresh snow but with the daytime highs still in the mid minus teens it was low density snow which did little more than make things look a bit prettier. The real story is of Sunday (today) where the snow started in the night and by morning we had 12 cms of rather more solid snow as temps had risen to around -10. During the day it just kept coming, puking down snow all day giving us an estimated 35 cms of snow out of the cycle so far with an estimated 15 cms more to come before it all peters out some time tomorrow morning. The result has been that the hill has been transformed into a thick covering of deep powder all over with any closures more likely to be due to avi risks rather than poor coverage.

Friday was a New Side day due to the lack of lifts running on the Old Side. Everything that had been open remained good and we spent most of our time out on the Reverse Traverse either hitting the Saddles, Easter Bowl and the Big 3 or Cougar Glades. With the lack of people there were still plenty of untracked lines to be had but you did have to cut quite close to the trees to get the good stuff.

Saturday they opened all the lifts on the Old Side and I had intended to try them out but after a New Side morning which was improved by the new snow but I was ambushed by a Polar Peak opening around mid day. There was a brief window when the snow in the chutes was mostly untracked and the light was good. We looped Grand Papa Bear, Barely Legal and Papa Bear getting some great steep and deep skiing. After a late lunch we went back but the light had gone although the skiing was just as good, just not as easy. The rest of the day was spent enjoying the new snow in the Saddles although last run down Skydive was made interesting by my heel binding breaking and me having to get down the final pitch on one ski - not recommended but it had to be done.

Sunday I was out on the new DPS Wailer Pures (I had no choice with the binding gone on the old skis) and we decided to try the Old Side. Cedar was only open to just short of Snake Ridge although that may have opened later in the day. The new 12 cms of fresh snow which was being added to all the time made for great skiing in Cedar Ridge, Boomerang, Sun Up, Bear, and even Kangaroo. After a while we decided to go back to the New Side to see what effect the new snow had there.

The New Side was getting better all the time although the Knot Chutes remained a bit sketchy. Surprise Trees, Anaconda Glades, Bootleg Trees, and Currie Chutes were all good and filling in faster than we could trash them. The run to lunch through Easter was really good with the snow filling in very deep on the skiers right. After a quick lunch we were surprised to find Polar Peak open in the poor light but spent the afternoon looping Grand Papa and Papa Bear which by now were well over knee deep in soft powder which got deeper each lap. Viz was poor but with non stop face shots you would not have been able to see anyway so what the hell.

I got out as far as Baby Bear for the run off the chutes and it was just spectacular, one of the top 10 runs of all time. I linked into Decline where the top section was now untracked and deep and then cut into Window Chutes which was more than thigh deep in the places where the old snow had not been skied - seriously deep awesome skiing. Final run was Skydive which was just spectacular with long untracked lines and most of the early season growth covered - much easier than yesterday as I had two skis this time. Everyone in the bar was so pumped up about the conditions it made for a great evening although the drive back to town was rather testing even in the truck in 4x4 with snow tires.

So there you have it, tomorrow looks like it will be a super deep powder Monday which is a good way to start the week. Looks like the gym will have to do without me for a day or two. It is forecast to go back to some serious minus temps this week so the snow should stay in good shape and the crowds (well people then) should stay away because of the cold. Wait for Thursday evening for an update.