Saturday, January 9, 2016

Day 30 was this really a Saturday ?

I was interested today to see what the first proper Saturday of the year would be like and I have to say it didn't strike me as that busy. There were still places in parking lot 2 when Lynda dropped me off at about 9 and the day lodge at lunch time had plenty of free spaces. There were no line ups on any of the lifts I used and almost no one on the runs I was skiing although to be fair even if the whole population of Calgary came to camp on the hill I doubt that the places I was skiing would be particularly busy.

Temps on the way to the hill this morning were -11 and on the way back tonight about -12. During the day temps rose on the New Side (I had a New Side day today) to about -7 but over all it was pretty cold and if you can believe the forecasters (pauses for laughter) it will stay cold for a day or two yet. Conditions were overcast most of the day and we had light flurries off and on until early afternoon which produced lovely light fluffy snow but not in quantities which were likely to be measurable in terms of an accumulation. Later in the day things brightened up to a sun cloud mix but nothing to do much to change the underlying temps.

I went for a New Side day and dropped Lift Line for the first of many times on the way to White Pass load and found a hard bumpy base with no significant new snow but some wind sift. The basic story of the New Side today was no real new snow but some new soft wind blown snow which accumulated to a quite significant degree in some places.

Polar Peak was open and the light in the top was very poor to begin with but improved steadily as the day went on. The wind had deposited  new snow anywhere to the north of the lift line and gave great deep snow in the chutes, and along the fence line to the skiers left of Grand Papa Bear. As has been the case all week the top of the Polar Chutes were closed but by dropping Shale Slope and traversing left you could access most of the chutes and all of them from Mama Bear and beyond.

I spent some time playing in Grand Papa and Papa Bear chutes before taking Mama Bear (awesome deep windsift) and running to base. I ran Cougar Glades/Stag Leap which were lightly tracked wind sift and great soft snow skiing. Even the lower part of Stag Leap is becoming more friendly if still a bit twiggy.

Next loop up Polar was just as good as before with all the repeats of the chutes before running to base. This became the pattern for the day so just take it as read that every time I went up Polar I had several loops in great wind sift skiing in various chutes before running to base. The next run to base was via Decline top and then Window Chutes all of which was soft bump skiing, and even the Window Chutes choke had filled in a bit. Next, another Polar loop (see above for details) then a run to lunch by hiking up Lone Fir (still very mellow deep snow and easy jump turns in the chute) and then a traverse to Spinal Tap which was deep and soft with a slightly technical exit to the right of the stream bed.

After lunch I ran into buddies who had not skied the stuff I had skied in the morning so it was bit of a repeat to some extent. Polar loops then a run to base through the top of the Brain which was good deep snow and the a drop through the Window chutes which were still as good as before. Another Polar loop and then a run to base via Lone Fir and Spinal Tap which was good soft snow - see above.

Last run was Skydive. Actually I am sure I have forgotten a loop but let's put it down to a mixture of old age and too much beer. What ever we skied it would have involved Polar Peak and something around the Big Three (don't let me hear anyone calling them the fingers) and it would have been good, because everything was today. Skydive had 4 takers for the final rip and it was great soft bump skiing in the top and not totally twiggy in the bottom.

The Griz Bar was very quiet tonight continuing the theme of a quiet Saturday and after a couple of beers I am having another quiet night in. No snow in the forecast but what we have remains in good condition and with so few people to trash it then it should last for a while yet.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Day 29 a bit of new snow but not as much as we had hoped for

Overnight we did have some more new snow but not in the quantities promised, On the Old Side it felt like about 3 cms of new snow but the base underneath remained soft and taking an edge. On the New Side there seemed more ( maybe 7 cms) but the under surface firmed up so it was rather unforgiving and bumpy. When it came to where to ski you paid your money and took your choice.

The temps on the way to the hill were -12 and on the way back tonight it was -15 at the house. During the day things warmed up to maybe -8/-10 all over the hill although in the sun on the top of Polar Peak it may have been a degree or two warmer. All this seemed to ambush everyone, myself included who had anticipated rather warmer temps and for most of the day I found myself a bit light in the face covering department. It was overcast with the odd sunny patches and occasional light flurries all day. The most interesting feature in the weather was the cloud which clung to the base of Polar Peak all day giving cold and poor viz conditions on all runs to the south of the lift line and to the lower parts of all runs but great sunny conditions on top and in the Polar Chutes.

Lynda was back having one of her skiing days and we had some warm ups on Bear and Arrow to start the day. New Lift Line was easy soft bumps skiing in not very good light. We tried Cedar Ridge which was very nice soft bumps and where Lynda had her first major head down the hill stack. This was actually good news as she was ok and climbed back for her ski with no problem so any worries she had about the new hip's performance in a stack were answered.

We had lots more runs around Cedar Ridge, Boom Ridge, Boomerang all of which were a light covering of snow on a reasonably soft bumpy base. All loops were through Kangaroo where there was ok coverage on soft bumps if a bit twiggy and which gave me pause for thought. The hill has obviously spent a lot of time and trouble (and presumably money) making Kangaroo more user friendly so why are they cutting the Cedar Trail track in a way that give a 3 ft plus drop off onto the track and is making life very difficult for the unsuspecting. Makes no sense to me but then what do I know.

We went to the New Side where as stated there appeared to be a bit more new snow but with the under surface having hardened up into some quite testing conditions. Lift line was good but with poor light. We looped White Pass through the Gun Bowl and Quite Right which were good wind blown snow on a firm base. The hump under the chair skied very mellow. Last run before lunch and we headed out to Cougar Glades. When we got there I was lost for words (something that everyone will confirm doesn't happen often) to find the Glades totally untracked and so we had first tracks down and also in the lower part of Stag Leap at 12:30 - unbelievable.

We had lunch at the excellent Big Bang Bagels and if anyone knows of a better deal or a tastier lunch than the Mr Fernie Bagel I want to know about it - great taste and value.

After lunch I headed back up the New Side and went to Polar Peak which had been open all day in the on/off viz conditions. As before you could access the Polar chutes by dropping Shale Slope and then cutting hard left under the cliffs. This is getting a bit rocky, icy, and generally sketchy but is the only way to access the chutes so I guess we are just going to have to suck it up. I did a couple of Grand Pa Bears and a Papa Bear which were ok with  some blow in and cut back to the load. Next I hit the traverse out to the top of Mama Bear and had great skiing in soft deep smooth blow in which by my guess hadn't been touched since patrol tested it first thing in the morning - best skiing on the hill.

I dropped a soft bumpy Decline top before cutting left into Window Chutes which only appeared to have one track in ahead of me and was great deep soft snow although predictably scratchy in the choke. Next time round I had intended to go back up Polar Peak but because of my auto pilot I was well down the Reverse Traverse before I realised that anything was wrong. I hiked up the ridge to Lone Fir and had a nice run down although a few icy patches are starting to poke through in the chute - the cushion underneath was as always (apart from the time it avied on me) sensational deep skiing. I cut across Easter to Spinal Tap and unsurprisingly found only one track in there ahead of me a great soft snow all the way through - the exit on the side of the creek bed is still a bit technical.

I was intending to head out to the Big Three next but on the way out noticed that Concussion did not look to have been overly used so I dropped off. It was good call as it was soft lightly tracked big bumps all the way through the chute. So at the end of the day I found myself at the top of Skydive with no one else there. I am fully aware of the commitments of some of the Skydive club that kept them away today but others do have some explaining to do. With no one to race (of course it isn't a race) I just ripped it in one from the top all the way down to the locker room door - a great way to finish.

A nice couple of beers and now a subdued night before the weekend crowds kick in. No more significant snowfalls called for until next week but we can always hope.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Day 28 one of my biggest days

What made today one of my biggest days skiing wasn't just the new snow although that helped (of which more later) but where we skied. I linked up from the outset with my ski buddy Brad and we are really a rather bad influence on each other. We push each other to ski steeper tougher pitches all the time and to go way faster in the process. The result was really big day in some pretty good conditions.

On the radio this morning they gave a snow warning for the East Kootenays calling for up to 15 cms of fresh snow. The bad news was that this seemed to centred to the west of us and in the event whilst we got snow most of the day it was not in the forecast quantities. We had 2 cms overnight and during the light snow which continued all day I would guess we got another 6 which had a great effect on improving the hill particularly as practically no one was here. The good news is that they are calling for another 4-8 tonight although sitting in the hot tub about half an hour ago there didn't seem to be much coming down.

On the way to the hill temps were -4/5 and stayed that way all over the hill. The snow was coming down light and dry and continued all day to a greater or lesser degree giving the figures quoted above. The result on the skiing conditions was that we got a good covering of new snow on a variable base and where the new snow fell on soft snow it was really good. Everything just got better as the day went on snow accumulated and by the end of the day we had some serious slough management issues on some slopes. In summary everything just got better and better.

Here goes for a run down of a day of serious ripping. We went to the New Side and found the light a bit flat and so tree skiing was always going to first choice. Drops from Timber top the White Pass load were mostly through Lift Line but we did go left into Puff Trees and right into Big Bang all of which was excellent skiing with many untracked lines. After that it was -
Cougar Glades/Stag Leap - First tracks in fresh powder getting quite deep in the trees. The lower part of Stag was much improved by the new snow.
Touque Chutes/Spinal Tap - First tracks in deeper snow all the way down. The creek bed was bit firmer than yesterday but the new snow made for great slough surfing in the chute
Decline/Window Chutes - First tracks, soft bump skiing in fresh snow down Decline to the trail then a drop into the chutes which were really filling in with the new snow, even the choke skied ok on the way out.
Lone Fir - First tracks, very deep snow in the top of the chute and most of the scratchy bits covered, great deep snow on the cushion below. The exit through Easter bowl and Freeway was pretty poor light but nice soft snow with plenty of untracked lines.
Skydive -as last run before lunch we took Skydive and disaster of disasters there was one track in there in front of us. Luckily the boarder had cut a tight line down the centre so we cut equally tight lines either side to get fresh tracks and still leave as much as possible for those following - only an asshole trashes more powder than they need and spoils it for those coming after. Great powder and the lower section while still twiggy was much improved.

After a quick lunch we headed out again -
Anaconda/ Bootleg Glades - the snow was really building up and Anaconda 4/5 was great, particularly after the exit from the trees. Bootleg was nicely filled in to the left of the main area.
Stag Leap - it occurred to us that we hardly ever ski Stag from the top as we usually cut in from Cougar Glades. We had first tracks through the trees and down the Cougar cut in where we found a few (but not many) tracks and the lower section was getting really mellow although still a little twiggy.
Easter Meadow/One Step Beyond - take your choice for the name of the chute, it's just beyond Lone Fir and is steeper and tighter than Lone Fir which itself is steeper and tighter than any of the Saddles. Great skiing with slough management being the main issue. The final chute took a few hard edge to edge jumps to get through but the skiing underneath was soft and deep. We exited via Spinal Tap which was even more filled in and better skiing than the morning.
The Brain/Decline - at this point Brad had to leave me due to family commitments so I tried the top section of the Brain which was untracked and the deepest snow on the hill all day. The drop just above the trail was real over the head face shots. I cut out on to Decline and hit the lower section which was now deep soft bumps with only a few tracks.
Surprise Trees - a fill in run off White Pass on the near shoulder of the trees was untracked. The lower sections had loads of soft snow.
Skydive - last run rip down what was now deep tracked powder and easy fast terrain hugging skiing at maximum speed. After the day I had I was looking for maximum air all the way down and in the final pitch nearly stacked it as a result but just managed to get it back together.

As anyone can see this was really big day with more tough skiing done than I can remember for a long time. Beers of course but home in time for a long soak in the hot tub with a beer. The only worry is that the 4-8 cms tonight does not appear to be materialising but after a day like today who cares - roll on tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Day 27 a nice day

I'm afraid that's it folks, not an awesome day, or a ripper day, or any other kind of hyped up day but just a nice day's skiing in Fernie which is good enough for me.

There was no new snow overnight and the hill was reporting 2 cms but it was far from clear if this referred to a new overnight fall or yesterday's afternoon skiff - I suspect the latter. Temps were called for as -4 over the whole hill all day. On the way to the hill my truck was telling me it was -8 and on the deck now I am getting -4 but that is not the whole story. We had hazy sunshine all day which gave some very flat light in shaded areas which only improved when the conditions clouded over as they did from time to time. Up the hill temps warmed considerably and I think we saw +1 or maybe +2 in places on the New Side during the afternoon.

People's memories seem to be remarkably short. Everyone was going on about how nice it was that the temps were so warm and so much warmer than forecast. Don't they remember that this is exactly how things started to go wrong in January last year leading to rain, freezing ice surfaces and the worst conditions in living memory. I am not saying that it's going to happen but it's just that in an El Nino year I would not be so happy that things are coming through much warmer than forecast as everyone else seems to be - time for a serious reality check.

Lynda was having another day on the hill and skiing very well on her new hip. As a result I had a pretty mellow morning making sure that everything was going well. We started with runs down Bear and then the Bear bumps on the right and the Sun Up shoulder, also nicely bumped. We cruised round various runs such as North Ridge while I took detours in such places as Boom Ridge (soft twiggy bumps) Linda's (soft bumps) while Lynda stuck to groomers. I had a couple of runs back through Kangaroo which now has warning signs at the top presumably because of the drop off on to the cat track half way down - it skied fine as long as you took care..

New lift line was also soft bumps in flat light and then it was time for a run down Boomerang before heading over to the New Side. Lift Line was much harder bump skiing than yesterday and was as always the only route from Timber Top to White Pass load. We had a couple of runs back through White Pass and the best snow was in the Gun Bowl and the I bowl which were all soft bumps. For lunch we hit out on the Reverse Traverse and dropped off the Skydive Traverse into the newly gladed areas in the Currie Chutes and had some very mellow bump skiing.

After lunch I was on my own and went up the New Side and straight to Polar Peak. Just as has been the case for the past few days the Polar Chutes were closed but by cutting sharp left off Shale Slope you could access most of the chutes without crossing any sign lines. I had a couple of loops down Grand Papa Bear which was firm big bumps and great if unforgiving skiing. Next I hit all the way hard left off Shale and ended up in the top of Mama Bear which was filled in with great untracked wind sift and provided great steep firm but taking and edge skiing.

After all that tense and technical Polar activity I decided I had earned a rest and just dropped Decline which is still good terrain skiing but with the bumps a bit firmer than they have been and the first couple of turns in the top rather more icy. I linked up with a buddy for the next loop and we hit Touque chutes which were full of soft snow and then cut right into Spinal Tap which remains full of soft snow and is good skiing but a bit technical in the last few turns in and out of the stream bed avoiding the twigs. Next I hiked up to Lone Fir and it was great skiing even in the chute with only a couple of icy patches waiting to ambush you. The cushion below was super deep and lower Easter bowl was great bump skiing as was the exit through Freeway.

Last time up White Pass and we decided that we had just enough time for a ripper back to the load which we did with a couple of minutes to spare so I guess technically it wasn't last time up after all. Of course Skydive was the last run and tonight we had 6 of us in the Skydive club which is a record so far this season but I am sure it will be exceeded as the season wears on. A really nice run down in the usual mixture of conditions.

As I said, a nice day's skiing but with me feeling very nervous about the warming trend which I am promised will end soon.


Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Day 26 a good old fashioned New Side ripper

Today Lynda had made an appointment with her physio for 9 in the morning so I was dumped at the hill well before first turn on the lifts. I decided to hit the New Side and have a good old fashioned rip round everything I could find as a way of making the most of the day.

Temps had warmed up to about -5/6 and stayed pretty much that way all day all over the hill which was way warmer than it has been of late. The forecast was for light snow in the morning and flurries in the afternoon so it should come a surprise to no one that we got flurries in the morning and light snow in the afternoon. Although the accumulation was only a few cms it did seem to have a very beneficial effect on the hill with the covering giving some light fluff but more importantly where it landed on the blue ice it did seem to give a bit of grip and improve the skiing surface out of all proportion to the actual amount of the snowfall.

It was overcast all day so that the light was not great but not as bad as I have seen it. Polar Peak was open in the morning but with the flat light there didn't seem to be many takers. In the afternoon as the cloud base descended to cover the top of White Pass the Peak was closed and even at lower elevations it was good idea to get in the trees in order to avoid braille skiing.

Here comes list of the runs with comments as far as I can remember which come with a health warning relating to my memory after such a long day of good skiing -

Lift Line - used numerous times as the drop from Timber top to White Pass load and good firm bump skiing with a nice new covering taking a good edge. Just once I dropped Puff Trees right and that was exactly the same but with a few trees thrown in for good measure.
Gun Bowl/Quite Right - all firm bumps taking a nice edge and the hump under the lift is skiing as well as I can remember.
Anaconda Glades/Bootleg Glades - tried the 2 chute in Anaconda and it was chunky tracked snow but soft. Bootleg was much firmer bumps but still plenty of soft snow and the lower section skiing very well where all the alders have been ripped out.
Cougar Glades/Stag Leap - still lots of lightly tracked stuff in Cougar but things getting a bit quicker on the harder skied surfaces. The lower part of Stag Leap is still very twiggy but getting better by the day with use.
Decline/Window Chutes - the new snow has made the icy bumps in the top of Skydive/Decline much easier but they are still a bit technical. Decline great skiing down to the Megasauraus Trail and then nice soft snow in the chutes to the left of the main Window Chutes before cutting back in for some deep snow but all a bit scratchy in the chokes.
Touque Chutes/Spinal Tap - haven't done this for a while and the new snow has made the first couple of icy turns in the top a bit more mellow. Spinal Tap is still very deep snow and great creek bed skiing even if the ski out has a few twigs that try and trip you up,
Lone Fir - it has been some time since I hiked up to Lone Fir and I decided to give it a go. It was good call, there were only a couple of icy patches going into the chute and below was super deep soft snow on the pillow. The exit trough Easter Bowl and Freeway was good soft bump skiing.

After lunch I resumed the programme and just had time for -
Currie Chutes - I hadn't tried this before this season and found the most mellow soft bump skiing. More importantly it seemed to me that quite lot of glading had gone on in there and the trees seemed much further apart.
Decline - I felt I deserved a gentle run and Decline fitted the bill with great soft snow all the way down and great skiing on the skiers left in the final pitch.
Secret Chutes/Spinal Tap - They seem to have opened up the skiing on the chutes to the left of Decline (or maybe I am just getting a bit better) so I dropped them for some good lightly tracked bump skiing. Spinal Tap was just as good as before.
Siberia Ridge - with some time to fill in I looped Sib Ridge off the top of Timber and found only one track in ahead of me. Nice bumps skiing in the top, a little technical in the choke and then some slightly twiggy terrain skiing to the groomer.

End of the day and of course it was Skydive time. Just Dan and myself there tonight and we had a good final run with conditions exactly as described for the past several days. My performance was almost back at 100% as this cold seems to be going as fast as it came. Opinions differ on whether or not there is precip in the outlook and just how much it might be. For my part I will take whatever we get and be grateful.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Day 25 a rather quieter day

Well of course things were a lot quieter today as the holiday crowds had gone home and if you took out the Non Stop groups here were very few of us fare paying customers skiing the hill.

Personally I had a quieter day because after all my friends have succumbed I have been stricken by the Fernie Flu. Well of course it isn't flu it's just a bad cold and I am usually very hard on anyone who gets a cold describing it as flu - I have had real flu just once in my life and it laid me low for 4 weeks and the kind of cold that people describe as flu isn't even in the same ball park. That having been said I can't resist the alliteration. I suppose I could go and ski Kimberley and say I have the Kimberley Cold but quite frankly that seems going a bit far just to maintain linguistic verisimilitude.

We have been promised the disappearance of the inversion in temps in the Elk Valley and today was the the day it almost happened - tomorrow should be back to normal with the dry adiabatic lapse rate of air going back to the norm of 2 degrees for every thousand feet gained. It was about -11 on the way to the hill and reported as -8 on top for most of the day. Driving back from the hill we had temps of -8 in the valley and that seems to be where we will start from tomorrow with mountain temps not much difference. We are now facing a warming trend between now and the end of the week which may give us temps of -2 by Friday and maybe a little precip overnight on some of the nights.

Last night we had 2 cms of fresh snow reported but when I got to the hill it seemed a little more to me - maybe we had something between the report of the snow data and first turn. The surprising thing was the effect of what was very little snow had on the skiing. despite being only a skiff of snow the new stuff gave a great surface that took and edge and even on the icy surfaces you were able to get a much better edge than yesterday.At the start we had some rather unpleasant freezing rain which covered your goggles each run but that soon stopped and we just ended up with the odd light flurry off and on for the rest of the day.

Lynda was skiing today so we went to the Old Side for some gentle skiing which suited my medical condition. We looped around Bear and North Ridge a few times which were soft untracked groomers. During the morning we dropped New Lift Line and Boomerang both of which skied ok with firm bumps much improved by the new snow. I had a couple of runs through Kangaroo which was a bit sketchy. The main problem in Kangaroo was that last nights grooming on Cedar Trail (crosses Kangaroo about half way down) had cut into the uphill slope so there was a minimum 3 ft drop off onto the trail. The snow removed in this operation had been pushed down so that the first two turns in the lower section were in cat debris, Tough skiing but an entirely self inflicted wound.

Mid morning we headed over to the New Side and skied numerous loops off White Pass chair back through High Line, Quite Right etc. The snow was good but the light came and went as it did all day when the sun came out to shine through a misty haze giving a load of diffused white light - very flat light. Last run before lunch was Concussion/Alpha Centauri which we dropped off the Reverse Traverse and had nice bumps coming at us in the right spacing all the way down.

After lunch Lynda was still skiing so we looped White Pass a couple more times where everything remained lightly tracked all day. We ran to base mid afternoon through Alpha Centauri once a again and the skiing was good.

Lynda left the hill and I picked up with some buddies for a bit of skiing. We hit a couple more White Pass loops which were very mellow in big bumps (particularly Quite Right)  -

Decline - very mellow soft bumps all the way down
Polar Peak - we did the first few turns in Shale slope then hit left into Grand Papa Bear chute which was hard bumps but with the new untracked soft stuff on top.
Concussion - still skiing well in soft bumps.

This just left us the usual final run down Skydive. Today we had 4 takers and it was great fun skiing, read any one of the last few days reports on conditions as nothing has really changed. A few beers in the (very quiet) Griz Bar and then home for an early night to try and shake this cold. Hopefully I will be up for some rather more extreme skiing tomorrow.

I have a feeling I may have missed out a few runs here but I am so dosed up on cold cure anything is possible - apologies in advance,

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Day 24 all a bit beaten up but still ok

Actually I was talking about the hill being beaten up but tonight's heading might just as well have referred to me, the skiing is getting pretty tough. The last snow we had was about 7 days ago and since then we have had the busiest Christmas holidays for a number of years and as a result everything is well pounded in. Most runs are firm bumps where there has been no grooming and it is only in the very light traffic areas is there anything that might be described as soft snow.

Overnight temps on the deck were -23 and stayed that way on the way to the hill. Once again we had the inversion on a bluebird day and starting temps up top were -7. As the day progressed we had light haze forming which eventually turned to cloud and gave every sign of maybe some break in the arctic high and maybe some precip in the next day or two. The light got very flat and the temps started to get back to normal so that by close it was -13 at the base and -12 on top. It is likely that by tomorrow things will be cold but with no inversion.

One of the problems with an inversion like the one we started with this morning is that you are either going to be cold on the lift if you are dressed right for the top of the hill or if you are warm on the lift you will be over dressed up on top. I tried a bit of a compromise and as luck would have it managed to spend the day not too cold on the lift and not to warm on top. I went to the New Side with the idea of staying high and warm for as long as I could,

I had a few warm up runs through White Pass via Highline, Heartland, Pillow Talk etc. all of which were hard bumpy skiing and quite warm (-5 or so) in the inversion. Polar Peak was open and I went up. The chutes were still closed as a result of the carnage from 2 days ago but the rest of the Peak was open. I dropped down the Coaster just to check it out and found it slick but not as icy as it had been. After that I hit the Crusty Chutes which were nice and soft but a steep entry made for a tricky line. Next I found that by dropping the top of Shale Slope and then cutting left I could get in to Grand Papa Bear chute and indeed if I wanted to traverse hard I could have made it into the top of Mama Bear without crossing any sign lines. I looped Polar several times as it was just so goodtesting bump skiing.

I ran to base through a very mellow and soft bumpy Decline. After that I was back up Polar Peak for some more loops just as before and then finally before lunch ran down Cougar Glades and Stag Leap both of which were tracked but soft and lower Stag Leap remains a little twiggy.

After lunch it was more loops of White Pass and then some runs to base via -
Touque Chutes - a bit more tracked up than before but still good skiing down to Freeway.
Decline/Window Chutes - nice bumps skiing in Decline and soft snow in the Window Chutes if a little scratchy in the choke.
Siberia Ridge - still in great shape and lightly tracked.

Last run of course was Skydive where I was once again the only participant. As it has been for some time the bumps in the top were icy, the upper section was terrain hugging soft snow, the flats easy skiing and the final pitch a bit twiggy. Time for an early night and an attempt to shake off this cold which everyone seems to have in Fernie at the moment.