Overnight we had another 15 cms of powder and this time it really was powder as the snow came down at about -4 rather than the plus temps of the past few days. It was -2 on the way to the hill and the same on the way back. During the day it stayed well below zero up the hill and even the base was sub zero. It was overcast with some very brief sunny periods and by the end of the day we were getting some light graupel accumulations but the forecast is for nothing very significant to happen over night.
It was Saturday and on the back of some new snow so unsurprisingly the crowds were big. The whole thing was made worse by a significant break down of the Timber Chair early in the day. Now, I have got in trouble before for my comments on the state of lift repair on the hill so I will state the facts exactly as they occurred. At 9 the Timber chair started loading. At 9:10 the chair stopped with a problem at tower 28. At 9:20 the lift started moving to unload the people already on there giving a few lucky souls unchallenged access to White Pass. After repeated reports that things would be ok in 10 minutes we bailed to the Old Side at about 10 and found the lift line at Bear so big that we probably would still have been there now if we had waited.. We dropped to base and found Timber still closed so we went for a choccy break. At 10:45 Timber finally started working and we had access to the New Side. I make no comment on this other than to say that if you think his level of customer service is acceptable then fine. If like many of the day ticket holders I heard talking you think that it is totally unacceptable then the hill has a problem. As an aside a buddy of mine actually hiked out of the Haul Back load because the line up was so long - says it all. As I said, no comment from me just a factual report of what happened.
Because of the late start and the loss of skiing I just skied all day and missed lunch. In general terms it was deep soft powder snow on top and below yesterday's crap line it was soft snow on a very hard base, As a patroler buddy of mine described it - champagne on ice
I have had far too many beers with buddies to do a satisfactory report but we skied Knot Chutes (very mellow) Surprise Trees (ditto) Cougar Glades (first track awesome) Stag Leap (soft snow on icy bumps) Anaconda (soft and deep) Bootleg (ditto) Lone Fir (good in the chute and better below) Touque Chutes (very good soft snow) Spinal Tap ( good on the skier right shoulder) Easter Meadow (very deep and soft) Siberia Ridge (took the steep pitch in the choke for the first time this year) etc. Much more very good skiing but I can't remember it and tonight I'm afraid alcohol is going to be the winner.
Last rip down Skydive was good in the top and soft snow on a hard ice base in the lower section. far too many beers and a hot tub before more drinks with buddies tonight. Apologies for the rather sketchy report but that's what happens when your buddies ambush you with beer. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
Day 50 a game of two halves
Actually it was hill of two halves. There was very clear crap line around the level of the Megasaurus Trail where above the skiing was pretty ok and below it was as the name of the line implies pretty crappy. I am not quite sure how this would have translated to the Old Side but as that side is lower than the New it would just have meant that more of the skiing was below the crap line with all that implied. A buddy who had been patrolling on the Old Side confirmed that pretty much everything over there for all the obvious reasons was rather crappy below the first few turns from the top.
Overnight it snowed the very top and the official figures showed 11 cms in the last 12 hours and 23 in the last 24 at the snow plot - and who am I to argue with those figures. Of course it was raining at the base and only snowing very wet snow on top so the fine line between snow and crud was just as described above.
We went to the New Side and dropped Lift Line which was heavy wet new snow all the way down. Whilst I can't argue with official figures I can certainly argue with calling what we got powder. Maybe what fell at the very top of White Pass may just qualify as powder but below that it was heavy new snow which took a bit of attention to ski untracked and became easier with some skier traffic.
Temps were about +2 at the base, zero at the Timber Top and maybe -1 at White Pass Top. Although it remained overcast all day the viz problems of the past few days were not evident and we were able to ski the upper hill in almost perfect viz. Conditions stayed that way all day and there was no sign of any new precip until this evening when some light snow has started.
We looped White Pass through Knot Chutes (Tight to Jim and back) which opened quite quickly and various lines in Surprise Trees where we found so many fallen trees we speculated that maybe the run should be renamed Surprise dead fall. The snow was heavy but untracked and the trees appeared tighter because the branches were so weighed down with heavy snow the skiing in between was that much tighter.
They opened Currie Bowl and we skied out into Concussion and the associated areas and did several loops in heavy creamy snow much of which was untracked. The best news was that the crap line didn't start until around the top of Gilmar Trail which was groomed so this provided a fairly mellow way off the hill. We pushed out the Cougar Glades and had a spectacular rip in untracked snow before cutting out at the cat track just before things got ugly.
Our big mistake was to try Decline all the way down. The top section was great untracked skiing but the lower section turned into ugly ice crust and then boiler plate with retracked lines pulling your skis all over the place, It was worse than when we tried a similar exercise last Saturday and that is saying something.
Last run before a fairly late lunch was to drop through a newly opened Corner Pocket which skied very well with no tires showing and mellow edge to edge jumping all the way through the chute. The snow underneath became a little crusty just before coming out onto Dancer but was great skiing for the most part.
After lunch it was back up the New Side and I hit out into Gotta Go which was very good and deep with few tracks although the skiing in 3s below was bit affected by avi control debris. Bootleg Glades were surprisingly good until the final pitch which was breakable crust and had to be traversed. I managed a quick Cougar Glades loop which was just as good as before with loads of untracked line still available.
I decided to take a chance and hiked Lone Fir and found it was awesome deep snow in the chute and still pretty good soft snow all the way down to Freeway. With a bit of time to kill I did a couple of loops in White Pass through Knot Chutes, Surprise Trees and Quite Right. It was all good mellow skiing and easy in the context of the day.
For last run we debated Skydive but with the Decline experience under our belts we didn't fancy the lower section. In the face of muttering in the ranks I lead us up Lone Fir again and hit the chute and the cushion down to Freeway. This was still so good that all muttering was silenced.
So it was time for beers in the Griz where Friday is rapidly becoming the new Saturday. General opinion is that it would only take about 10 cms of fresh snow to repair the hill below the crap line to something that was acceptable and some forecasts are calling for that tonight - lets see.
Overnight it snowed the very top and the official figures showed 11 cms in the last 12 hours and 23 in the last 24 at the snow plot - and who am I to argue with those figures. Of course it was raining at the base and only snowing very wet snow on top so the fine line between snow and crud was just as described above.
We went to the New Side and dropped Lift Line which was heavy wet new snow all the way down. Whilst I can't argue with official figures I can certainly argue with calling what we got powder. Maybe what fell at the very top of White Pass may just qualify as powder but below that it was heavy new snow which took a bit of attention to ski untracked and became easier with some skier traffic.
Temps were about +2 at the base, zero at the Timber Top and maybe -1 at White Pass Top. Although it remained overcast all day the viz problems of the past few days were not evident and we were able to ski the upper hill in almost perfect viz. Conditions stayed that way all day and there was no sign of any new precip until this evening when some light snow has started.
We looped White Pass through Knot Chutes (Tight to Jim and back) which opened quite quickly and various lines in Surprise Trees where we found so many fallen trees we speculated that maybe the run should be renamed Surprise dead fall. The snow was heavy but untracked and the trees appeared tighter because the branches were so weighed down with heavy snow the skiing in between was that much tighter.
They opened Currie Bowl and we skied out into Concussion and the associated areas and did several loops in heavy creamy snow much of which was untracked. The best news was that the crap line didn't start until around the top of Gilmar Trail which was groomed so this provided a fairly mellow way off the hill. We pushed out the Cougar Glades and had a spectacular rip in untracked snow before cutting out at the cat track just before things got ugly.
Our big mistake was to try Decline all the way down. The top section was great untracked skiing but the lower section turned into ugly ice crust and then boiler plate with retracked lines pulling your skis all over the place, It was worse than when we tried a similar exercise last Saturday and that is saying something.
Last run before a fairly late lunch was to drop through a newly opened Corner Pocket which skied very well with no tires showing and mellow edge to edge jumping all the way through the chute. The snow underneath became a little crusty just before coming out onto Dancer but was great skiing for the most part.
After lunch it was back up the New Side and I hit out into Gotta Go which was very good and deep with few tracks although the skiing in 3s below was bit affected by avi control debris. Bootleg Glades were surprisingly good until the final pitch which was breakable crust and had to be traversed. I managed a quick Cougar Glades loop which was just as good as before with loads of untracked line still available.
I decided to take a chance and hiked Lone Fir and found it was awesome deep snow in the chute and still pretty good soft snow all the way down to Freeway. With a bit of time to kill I did a couple of loops in White Pass through Knot Chutes, Surprise Trees and Quite Right. It was all good mellow skiing and easy in the context of the day.
For last run we debated Skydive but with the Decline experience under our belts we didn't fancy the lower section. In the face of muttering in the ranks I lead us up Lone Fir again and hit the chute and the cushion down to Freeway. This was still so good that all muttering was silenced.
So it was time for beers in the Griz where Friday is rapidly becoming the new Saturday. General opinion is that it would only take about 10 cms of fresh snow to repair the hill below the crap line to something that was acceptable and some forecasts are calling for that tonight - lets see.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Day 49 a real day for appropriate equipment
Apologies for the late report but I had to drive to Cranbrook (I'm sorry Rocky Mountain International) airport to pick up an Irish sailing buddy who is coming out to stay. Skiing with an Irish sailing buddy, what could possibly go wrong there.
The reference in today's heading is to one of my often quoted sayings - There is no such thing as bad conditions, only inappropriate equipment and inadequate skill levels. Well, I will leave judgements on skill levels to others (and I have no doubt there will be plenty of those) but today was really a day when you needed the right equipment or you would have a most miserable day.
Overnight it rained in the valley and was +2 and light rain as we drove to the hill. During the day temps rose to +3 before falling away to +2 as we drove away this evening. The only change to the rain was that it just got harder as the day went on soaking everything in the base area and anyone who ran to base or skied on the lower mountain.
These conditions seem to put people off but personally I don't see it. When it's cold we dress to stay warm so why is it so difficult to grasp the concept that when it is wet we should dress to stay dry. Today I had my boot gloves to keep my feet dry, my heavy duty rubber fishing pants to keep my lower body dry and a plastic poncho under my yellow plastic rain jacket to keep my upper body dry. Most importantly (because I hate wet hands) were my heavy duty lined rubber gloves all of which kept me warm and dry all day despite skiing 6 hours in rain/snow conditions. As an aside my complete set of rain gear cost me about 120 bucks from Canadian Tire which is a fraction of the cost of some expensive ski jacket which would let in water after an hour or two.
I went up the New Side as it was a day to get as high as possible and found that the rain line was just below the White Pass load. Above this it was snow which became heavier as the day went on and by the end of the day I imagine we must have had at least 10 cms. The snow itself was heavy and wet and tended to ball when skied so one skier would trash a run in a single line. The only good thing was that the runs were repairing very fast in the new snow. A strange phenomenon was that there was an under crunch at the top of the hill and as we clearly hadn't had any sun I can only assume that the rain had gone to the top of the hill during the night and then the snow line had moved down giving a covering on the crust - at least that's the only explanation I could come up with.
A lot of the hill was closed - all of Currie Bowl beyond the County Line, Lift Line and Sib Ridge, Anaconda Glades, Knot Chutes to mention only a few. The real problem was the viz which was even worse than yesterday, something I would not have thought possible. This meant that if you stayed in White Pass you could not see for most of your run and if you ran to base for better viz you got soaked. With my wet gear I chose a mixture. I didn't try the Old Side as this is lower and would have been in the rain all day. Reports I received suggested that at the very top it was ok but deteriorated quickly as you skied down.
I spent all morning looping White Pass and Surprise Trees which were good heavy mushy snow and then running to base via Currie Glades and Bootleg Glades which were heavy at the top and got way heavier as you went down. Below the run outs were slushy in pouring rain. By lunch time the snow line had dropped to about the top of Gilmar Trail.
In the afternoon I went back up the New Side and this time stayed in White Pass looping in what was quite heavy snow (in every sense of the word) through Quite Right, Pillow Talk, Surprise Trees etc. An example of the poor viz was when I had to try and get to the washrooms at Timber Top from White Pass top. My rubber pants are great at keeping you dry but not the most convenient clothing if you need to answer a call of nature - it's a full derigging job. On the way I skied right off the trail and stacked it down a slope I never saw, furthermore the only way I found what I was looking for was by listening to the winding engine at Timber and following the sound, yes, it was that socked in.
After some great loops in the White Pass area in very wet heavy snow we decided on a last run to base through Triple Trees. This became heavy and wet just above Trespass trail and super heavy elephant snot just above Summer Road. We bailed on doing the final pitch as the snow was real ACL ripping stuff and took the cat track down.
A beer before heading off to Cranbrook in pouring rain. The hill now sits with very heavy mushy snow on the upper part and rain affected elephant snot on the lower sections. The forecast is for a cooling trend with more precip. If things work out in our favour this could mean a firm base with some new snow covering, if things go differently the outcome could be altogether less fun. Only thing to do is to go to the hill tomorrow and see what happens.
The reference in today's heading is to one of my often quoted sayings - There is no such thing as bad conditions, only inappropriate equipment and inadequate skill levels. Well, I will leave judgements on skill levels to others (and I have no doubt there will be plenty of those) but today was really a day when you needed the right equipment or you would have a most miserable day.
Overnight it rained in the valley and was +2 and light rain as we drove to the hill. During the day temps rose to +3 before falling away to +2 as we drove away this evening. The only change to the rain was that it just got harder as the day went on soaking everything in the base area and anyone who ran to base or skied on the lower mountain.
These conditions seem to put people off but personally I don't see it. When it's cold we dress to stay warm so why is it so difficult to grasp the concept that when it is wet we should dress to stay dry. Today I had my boot gloves to keep my feet dry, my heavy duty rubber fishing pants to keep my lower body dry and a plastic poncho under my yellow plastic rain jacket to keep my upper body dry. Most importantly (because I hate wet hands) were my heavy duty lined rubber gloves all of which kept me warm and dry all day despite skiing 6 hours in rain/snow conditions. As an aside my complete set of rain gear cost me about 120 bucks from Canadian Tire which is a fraction of the cost of some expensive ski jacket which would let in water after an hour or two.
I went up the New Side as it was a day to get as high as possible and found that the rain line was just below the White Pass load. Above this it was snow which became heavier as the day went on and by the end of the day I imagine we must have had at least 10 cms. The snow itself was heavy and wet and tended to ball when skied so one skier would trash a run in a single line. The only good thing was that the runs were repairing very fast in the new snow. A strange phenomenon was that there was an under crunch at the top of the hill and as we clearly hadn't had any sun I can only assume that the rain had gone to the top of the hill during the night and then the snow line had moved down giving a covering on the crust - at least that's the only explanation I could come up with.
A lot of the hill was closed - all of Currie Bowl beyond the County Line, Lift Line and Sib Ridge, Anaconda Glades, Knot Chutes to mention only a few. The real problem was the viz which was even worse than yesterday, something I would not have thought possible. This meant that if you stayed in White Pass you could not see for most of your run and if you ran to base for better viz you got soaked. With my wet gear I chose a mixture. I didn't try the Old Side as this is lower and would have been in the rain all day. Reports I received suggested that at the very top it was ok but deteriorated quickly as you skied down.
I spent all morning looping White Pass and Surprise Trees which were good heavy mushy snow and then running to base via Currie Glades and Bootleg Glades which were heavy at the top and got way heavier as you went down. Below the run outs were slushy in pouring rain. By lunch time the snow line had dropped to about the top of Gilmar Trail.
In the afternoon I went back up the New Side and this time stayed in White Pass looping in what was quite heavy snow (in every sense of the word) through Quite Right, Pillow Talk, Surprise Trees etc. An example of the poor viz was when I had to try and get to the washrooms at Timber Top from White Pass top. My rubber pants are great at keeping you dry but not the most convenient clothing if you need to answer a call of nature - it's a full derigging job. On the way I skied right off the trail and stacked it down a slope I never saw, furthermore the only way I found what I was looking for was by listening to the winding engine at Timber and following the sound, yes, it was that socked in.
After some great loops in the White Pass area in very wet heavy snow we decided on a last run to base through Triple Trees. This became heavy and wet just above Trespass trail and super heavy elephant snot just above Summer Road. We bailed on doing the final pitch as the snow was real ACL ripping stuff and took the cat track down.
A beer before heading off to Cranbrook in pouring rain. The hill now sits with very heavy mushy snow on the upper part and rain affected elephant snot on the lower sections. The forecast is for a cooling trend with more precip. If things work out in our favour this could mean a firm base with some new snow covering, if things go differently the outcome could be altogether less fun. Only thing to do is to go to the hill tomorrow and see what happens.
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Day 48 Just about ok but really on the edge
Yes, today was the start of a Pacific storm cycle which involves a warming trend and precip. We haven't had the full cycle or anything like yet but as far as today goes things could have been a lot worse.
Overnight the hill was claiming 5 cms of fresh and whilst this may have happened at the snow plot, in the real world we had wind sifted snow which filled in between any bumps but was little slabby in places, Temps on the way to the hill were +2 as they were as we drove away. During the day base temps hovered at around +3 and it was just plus temps at Timber top and just minus temps at White Pass top, in other words everything was really hanging on the edge.
The conditions were just like yesterday with it being really socked in at White Pass top and extending some way down the hill. If anything it was even more socked in than yesterday and the traverse out across Currie Bowl was real white stick job for most of the day. For most of the day we had flurry precip activity which manifested itself as rain below about half mountain height and snow above that. It was never that heavy either as rain or snow but enough the make some of the rain gear to be deployed for the afternoon session.
I went to the New Side and stayed there as I figured that the higher you were today the better the snow would be and from reports from buddies that doesn't seem to have been such a bad call. We rejected the idea of doing White Pass loops as the socked in conditions were so far down the hill that most of a White Pass loop would have been in very poor viz. Instead we just looped out into the Currie Chutes and ran to base.
In summary the conditions were good soft powder up top, mostly untracked if only because of the very few people skiing on the hill. Around the lower third of the mountain the warm temps meant that the surface turned soft and as the day wore on this line rose to about a mid mountain level. Above this the snowy precip kept the surface in great shape with wind sift helping to fill in. Below, the rain on a plus temp snow base meant that it was mushy getting down right heavy as you went down.
We spent all the morning looping the Currie Chutes which were very mellow and with so many lines available there were always untracked possibilities. I was skiing with Lynda and late morning she got another notch on her recovery belt by skiing Decline which was great soft bumps in the top and rather mushy low down. After that she went back to Currie Chutes and I hit Cougar Glades untracked and Skydive with only a couple of tracks in both of which were mellow and soft up to getting a bit heavy low down.
After lunch I went back to the New Side with the intention of trying the Saddles. Unfortunately Saddles had been closed so we hike Lone Fir and had the chute untracked where the only danger was being barreled out but your own express train of a slough. The run down to Freeway was great deep soft snow skiing only getting heavy in the last couple of turns.
We had planned to hike back up to Lone Fir but auto pilot took over on the Reverse Traverse and we ended up just above Currie Creek. The creek was well filled in and we had wonderful deep windsifted skiing all the way down. next time round I remembered to hike up and we took the Easter Meadow/One Step beyond chute which was even more full of soft deep untracked snow than Lone Fir had been earlier. the ski down to Freeway was even better than before.
We had time for a very white White Pass loop which involved a grope down the Gun bowl and a traverse out to Surprise Trees along the Idiot Traverse which all skied pretty well. Surprise Trees had hardly been touched all day due to the poor viz on the ski out and we got some nice deep tree skiing in the skiers right trees.
During the day all drops from Timber top the White Pass load had been down Lift line which was soft and bumpy but as the viz deteriorated we moved on the Puff Trees which actually skied surprisingly well with lots of soft bump lines.
Last run was Skydive and 6 of us made it out there. As you would expect it was very mellow soft snow on top but even down below a combination of steepness of pitch, skier traffic and a frozen under base meant that the skiing was ok even if we did finish in the rain.
We had a few beers in the Griz while we debated the next weather cycle. My own view is that we will get one ugly day of rain followed by a cooling day with more precip which with any luck will repair the considerable damage which I see as being an inevitable consequence of the rain that will hit us tomorrow. I would love to be proved wrong and for everything to come down white but we would have to be very lucky if that were to happen. Watch this space.
Overnight the hill was claiming 5 cms of fresh and whilst this may have happened at the snow plot, in the real world we had wind sifted snow which filled in between any bumps but was little slabby in places, Temps on the way to the hill were +2 as they were as we drove away. During the day base temps hovered at around +3 and it was just plus temps at Timber top and just minus temps at White Pass top, in other words everything was really hanging on the edge.
The conditions were just like yesterday with it being really socked in at White Pass top and extending some way down the hill. If anything it was even more socked in than yesterday and the traverse out across Currie Bowl was real white stick job for most of the day. For most of the day we had flurry precip activity which manifested itself as rain below about half mountain height and snow above that. It was never that heavy either as rain or snow but enough the make some of the rain gear to be deployed for the afternoon session.
I went to the New Side and stayed there as I figured that the higher you were today the better the snow would be and from reports from buddies that doesn't seem to have been such a bad call. We rejected the idea of doing White Pass loops as the socked in conditions were so far down the hill that most of a White Pass loop would have been in very poor viz. Instead we just looped out into the Currie Chutes and ran to base.
In summary the conditions were good soft powder up top, mostly untracked if only because of the very few people skiing on the hill. Around the lower third of the mountain the warm temps meant that the surface turned soft and as the day wore on this line rose to about a mid mountain level. Above this the snowy precip kept the surface in great shape with wind sift helping to fill in. Below, the rain on a plus temp snow base meant that it was mushy getting down right heavy as you went down.
We spent all the morning looping the Currie Chutes which were very mellow and with so many lines available there were always untracked possibilities. I was skiing with Lynda and late morning she got another notch on her recovery belt by skiing Decline which was great soft bumps in the top and rather mushy low down. After that she went back to Currie Chutes and I hit Cougar Glades untracked and Skydive with only a couple of tracks in both of which were mellow and soft up to getting a bit heavy low down.
After lunch I went back to the New Side with the intention of trying the Saddles. Unfortunately Saddles had been closed so we hike Lone Fir and had the chute untracked where the only danger was being barreled out but your own express train of a slough. The run down to Freeway was great deep soft snow skiing only getting heavy in the last couple of turns.
We had planned to hike back up to Lone Fir but auto pilot took over on the Reverse Traverse and we ended up just above Currie Creek. The creek was well filled in and we had wonderful deep windsifted skiing all the way down. next time round I remembered to hike up and we took the Easter Meadow/One Step beyond chute which was even more full of soft deep untracked snow than Lone Fir had been earlier. the ski down to Freeway was even better than before.
We had time for a very white White Pass loop which involved a grope down the Gun bowl and a traverse out to Surprise Trees along the Idiot Traverse which all skied pretty well. Surprise Trees had hardly been touched all day due to the poor viz on the ski out and we got some nice deep tree skiing in the skiers right trees.
During the day all drops from Timber top the White Pass load had been down Lift line which was soft and bumpy but as the viz deteriorated we moved on the Puff Trees which actually skied surprisingly well with lots of soft bump lines.
Last run was Skydive and 6 of us made it out there. As you would expect it was very mellow soft snow on top but even down below a combination of steepness of pitch, skier traffic and a frozen under base meant that the skiing was ok even if we did finish in the rain.
We had a few beers in the Griz while we debated the next weather cycle. My own view is that we will get one ugly day of rain followed by a cooling day with more precip which with any luck will repair the considerable damage which I see as being an inevitable consequence of the rain that will hit us tomorrow. I would love to be proved wrong and for everything to come down white but we would have to be very lucky if that were to happen. Watch this space.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Day 47 a very happy Australia Day
Now this isn't just me wishing my friends from all parts of the world a very happy day (although naturally I do just that) it is a statement of fact. Today was Australia Day and I did have a very happy day. It was just a very nice day's skiing which may well have passed as awesome in many places in the world.
There was no new snow overnight and temps on the way to the hill were -2. The lower mountain temps got up to +1 during the day but at the tops it was -4 on the mercury and in the wind chill we had to be looking at -7. It was overcast and the top of White Pass was just about as socked in as I can remember it. They had called a possibility of flurries and we had some very slight activity during the afternoon which initially fell as freezing rain but was icy fill in snow crystals later on. As we drove away tonight it was +2 in the valley and light rain which I hope was coming down white pretty well from the base area upwards.
The real feature of the weather was wind with a wind warning for the Crows Nest Pass in force all day. There wasn't much wind in town but on the hill there was a cold quite strong wind all day which at times was whipping up the snow and providing some good sift under the ridge lines. One of the effects of this was the number of trees already under strain from the heavy snow fall on the branches just giving up and snapping at the base. I was particularly sad to see the tree on the side step up to Cornice Chute lying on it's side - I almost felt like I had lost an old friend.
I went to the New Side hoping for an opening of Polar Peak but long before I got to the top it was apparent that this just would not be a starter in the strong winds. I imagine the shoulder up by tower 8 today would have been just brutal. I decided just to do loops of the Big 3 (anyone calling them the Fingers please stop reading here) as a relaxing and mellow day. The drop from Timber top to White Pass load was always through Lift Line which was filling in all day with blow in off the ridge line and very relaxing soft bump skiing.
The viz down to the Reverse Traverse was terrible all day and not much better until you got down to Skydive Traverse. The far side of the bridge in Currie Creek was bit of a dip so a low speed approach was the best way to go all day. All of the runs off the end of the traverse were much the same all day. Great soft tracked powder in the top becoming a little crunchy low down, I think the overnight conditions had either drawn some moisture from the snow or provided a hoar frost. Whatever the cause the tracked snow was for the most part skiing much softer than yesterday. Actually in my view the lower sections were skiing beautifully but there was an under crunch which made a pretty ugly noise and it was the noise and not the actual surface that was spooking people. I am sure if we had all been deaf we would have sworn the the runs skied well all the way down.
The day panned out as -
Decline - lovely GS turns in the top getting harder low down
Stag leap - excellent skiing in the trees, soft for most of the run and crunchy in the final pitch.
Skydive - just like Decline
Cougar Glades - quite chunky down to the cat track and lower Stag just as before.
Decline/Window Chutes - top section of Decline still excellent and the Window Chutes ok but a but scratchy in the chokes.
I had a fairly late lunch and with my buddy Brad headed back for more of the same -
Decline - as before
Stag Leap - as before
Lone Fir - we hiked up and noticed Shaun's Chute was open. I have never skied it with lass than a 3 metre base (we have 2.5 at the moment) so I continued to hike Lone Fir. You have to respect any chute where the closed sign when flipped doesn't say open, but rather says "extreme hazard". As we stood at the top of Lone Fir wondering what it would be like a snow devil blew past us and down the chute which convinced us that the blow in would be good. That was right and we had great soft powder skiing all the way down the sign line to Freeway.
Touque Chute/Spinal Tap - lovey soft sift in the top but the creek bed was a bit scratchy in places.
I just had time for a quick White Pass loop in soft snow and poor viz before heading out to Skydive. There were only two of us (Rod and me) at Skydive but it skied just as well as it had earlier.
On the way home we treated ourselves to a take away Chinese from the Cedar Garden and I have to say that I have never seen such large portions of good quality food in my life, our meal for 2 could easily have fed 4.
We are now facing a precip event this week and I'm afraid that it is shaping up as a possible rain event followed by snow which at least is better than the other way round. I checked out my water proof gear today so even in a worst case I will be out on the hill - as I have always said, there is no such thing as bad conditions, only inappropriate equipment.
There was no new snow overnight and temps on the way to the hill were -2. The lower mountain temps got up to +1 during the day but at the tops it was -4 on the mercury and in the wind chill we had to be looking at -7. It was overcast and the top of White Pass was just about as socked in as I can remember it. They had called a possibility of flurries and we had some very slight activity during the afternoon which initially fell as freezing rain but was icy fill in snow crystals later on. As we drove away tonight it was +2 in the valley and light rain which I hope was coming down white pretty well from the base area upwards.
The real feature of the weather was wind with a wind warning for the Crows Nest Pass in force all day. There wasn't much wind in town but on the hill there was a cold quite strong wind all day which at times was whipping up the snow and providing some good sift under the ridge lines. One of the effects of this was the number of trees already under strain from the heavy snow fall on the branches just giving up and snapping at the base. I was particularly sad to see the tree on the side step up to Cornice Chute lying on it's side - I almost felt like I had lost an old friend.
I went to the New Side hoping for an opening of Polar Peak but long before I got to the top it was apparent that this just would not be a starter in the strong winds. I imagine the shoulder up by tower 8 today would have been just brutal. I decided just to do loops of the Big 3 (anyone calling them the Fingers please stop reading here) as a relaxing and mellow day. The drop from Timber top to White Pass load was always through Lift Line which was filling in all day with blow in off the ridge line and very relaxing soft bump skiing.
The viz down to the Reverse Traverse was terrible all day and not much better until you got down to Skydive Traverse. The far side of the bridge in Currie Creek was bit of a dip so a low speed approach was the best way to go all day. All of the runs off the end of the traverse were much the same all day. Great soft tracked powder in the top becoming a little crunchy low down, I think the overnight conditions had either drawn some moisture from the snow or provided a hoar frost. Whatever the cause the tracked snow was for the most part skiing much softer than yesterday. Actually in my view the lower sections were skiing beautifully but there was an under crunch which made a pretty ugly noise and it was the noise and not the actual surface that was spooking people. I am sure if we had all been deaf we would have sworn the the runs skied well all the way down.
The day panned out as -
Decline - lovely GS turns in the top getting harder low down
Stag leap - excellent skiing in the trees, soft for most of the run and crunchy in the final pitch.
Skydive - just like Decline
Cougar Glades - quite chunky down to the cat track and lower Stag just as before.
Decline/Window Chutes - top section of Decline still excellent and the Window Chutes ok but a but scratchy in the chokes.
I had a fairly late lunch and with my buddy Brad headed back for more of the same -
Decline - as before
Stag Leap - as before
Lone Fir - we hiked up and noticed Shaun's Chute was open. I have never skied it with lass than a 3 metre base (we have 2.5 at the moment) so I continued to hike Lone Fir. You have to respect any chute where the closed sign when flipped doesn't say open, but rather says "extreme hazard". As we stood at the top of Lone Fir wondering what it would be like a snow devil blew past us and down the chute which convinced us that the blow in would be good. That was right and we had great soft powder skiing all the way down the sign line to Freeway.
Touque Chute/Spinal Tap - lovey soft sift in the top but the creek bed was a bit scratchy in places.
I just had time for a quick White Pass loop in soft snow and poor viz before heading out to Skydive. There were only two of us (Rod and me) at Skydive but it skied just as well as it had earlier.
On the way home we treated ourselves to a take away Chinese from the Cedar Garden and I have to say that I have never seen such large portions of good quality food in my life, our meal for 2 could easily have fed 4.
We are now facing a precip event this week and I'm afraid that it is shaping up as a possible rain event followed by snow which at least is better than the other way round. I checked out my water proof gear today so even in a worst case I will be out on the hill - as I have always said, there is no such thing as bad conditions, only inappropriate equipment.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Day 46 and the cost of skiing drops below 20 bucks a day
Yes, today my average daily cost of skiing dropped below 20 bucks and is heading towards season target of about 7 bucks that I usually achieve. The reason this is such a landmark (other than the fact that 20 bucks is a pretty reasonable price to be paying for your daily skiing) is that this is the same price as I pay on average for my beer in the Griz after skiing each day. So put another way from now on my cost of skiing should just keep dropping below my cost of beer for the rest of the season. Of course if anyone wants to do anything to try and get my beer price down to match my skiing costs I will be more than happy - I am sure that there are so many happy folk at the hill ready to celebrate this great landmark.
Overnight we had no new snow so anything we were going to get was going to come from new openings. In the bar last night they were talking about Snake Ridge and the Saddles, both of which we got. They were also talking about Polar Peak which we didn't get but to be fair they had blown the crap out of the Polar Chutes for avi control so even if we get it tomorrow I don't expect the snow to be anything to write home about.
On the way to the hill it was -2 so all the snow had stiffened up a bit over night. The areas affected by the brief appearance of the sun yesterday had chunked and crusted a little but nowhere had been affected to the point that we were faced with anything resembling refrozen crud. Today was overcast all day and temps at the base rose to + 1 but stayed below zero up the hill and by late afternoon the upper new side temps were in the region of -4. Viz wasn't that bad although a brightening in the afternoon through thick cloud gave very flat light on the slopes that pointed away from the sun.
It was typical January mid week with not many people around. I headed for the Old Side to check out Snake Ridge and found the high Cedar Traverse open for the first time in a few days. The side step out was a piece of work but I got second tracks on Snake Ridge in knee deep soft powder. Lower down we had a light crust forming but as we dropped over the ridge to the final pitch it all became soft. Next loop I hit Gorby Bowl which was if anything deeper and softer than Snake. This time I cut out into Steep and Deep and instead of the crust getting softer it just got worse until it was pretty interesting skiing in the lower pitches.
To reassess the situation I went back to Snake and found a few more tracks but plenty of untracked lines and the no crust, crust, no crust situation just as before. Loops were completed through Kangaroo and Boom Guts, both of which skied ok but showed signs of yesterday's sun activity in the form of chunky hard snow but totally skiable and good fun.
I got word that the Saddles had opened and headed to the New Side. I dropped Corner Pocket and found the best skiing in the chute itself which was very mellow edge to edge jumping. Below the light was not good and most of what I skied was avi control debris or rather slabby snow. In these circumstances I headed back to the Old Side for another Snake loop which was just as before but with a few more tracks and still knee deep powder if you looked hard enough. For a final run before lunch I dropped Boom Ridge which was ok but chunky and exited on the Cedar trail.
After lunch I had a plan. I had worked out that the crust on the Old Side was as a result of yesterday's sun and so the Red Tree fence would be good skiing - I planned a quick loop there. I was defeated by the Elk Chair running at slow speed and then breaking down for 15 minutes while I sat 2 metres from the top. It really is time that pile of junk was consigned to the scrap heap of history where it belongs. I went to Red Tree and found I was dead right but unfortunately a large number of people had already had the same idea. Ok tracked skiing so I headed for the New Side.
I dropped High Saddle which just like Corner Pocket provided the best skiing in the chute with the stuff underneath rather disappointing debris in flat light. Lower Easter Bowl and Freeway were an ok soft bumpy skiing exit. Next loop was Cougar Glades which were a bit chunky and sun affected and the Stag leap which was like all of the big 3 low down - rather hard going on a broken rain crust base.
I just had time for a Mitchy Chute drop which was soft and ok before heading out to Skydive for the last rip of the day. Four of us made it for the rip and we had a good drop at high speed through the upper two sections. Someone asked me later what the lower pitch was like but when you are racing (of course it's not a race) you just throw down and take whatever happens under your skis - it all seemed ok to me.
So what next ? The forecast suggests we could be getting precip and the temp forecasts range from +8 to -4. We have no idea , Watch this space.
Overnight we had no new snow so anything we were going to get was going to come from new openings. In the bar last night they were talking about Snake Ridge and the Saddles, both of which we got. They were also talking about Polar Peak which we didn't get but to be fair they had blown the crap out of the Polar Chutes for avi control so even if we get it tomorrow I don't expect the snow to be anything to write home about.
On the way to the hill it was -2 so all the snow had stiffened up a bit over night. The areas affected by the brief appearance of the sun yesterday had chunked and crusted a little but nowhere had been affected to the point that we were faced with anything resembling refrozen crud. Today was overcast all day and temps at the base rose to + 1 but stayed below zero up the hill and by late afternoon the upper new side temps were in the region of -4. Viz wasn't that bad although a brightening in the afternoon through thick cloud gave very flat light on the slopes that pointed away from the sun.
It was typical January mid week with not many people around. I headed for the Old Side to check out Snake Ridge and found the high Cedar Traverse open for the first time in a few days. The side step out was a piece of work but I got second tracks on Snake Ridge in knee deep soft powder. Lower down we had a light crust forming but as we dropped over the ridge to the final pitch it all became soft. Next loop I hit Gorby Bowl which was if anything deeper and softer than Snake. This time I cut out into Steep and Deep and instead of the crust getting softer it just got worse until it was pretty interesting skiing in the lower pitches.
To reassess the situation I went back to Snake and found a few more tracks but plenty of untracked lines and the no crust, crust, no crust situation just as before. Loops were completed through Kangaroo and Boom Guts, both of which skied ok but showed signs of yesterday's sun activity in the form of chunky hard snow but totally skiable and good fun.
I got word that the Saddles had opened and headed to the New Side. I dropped Corner Pocket and found the best skiing in the chute itself which was very mellow edge to edge jumping. Below the light was not good and most of what I skied was avi control debris or rather slabby snow. In these circumstances I headed back to the Old Side for another Snake loop which was just as before but with a few more tracks and still knee deep powder if you looked hard enough. For a final run before lunch I dropped Boom Ridge which was ok but chunky and exited on the Cedar trail.
After lunch I had a plan. I had worked out that the crust on the Old Side was as a result of yesterday's sun and so the Red Tree fence would be good skiing - I planned a quick loop there. I was defeated by the Elk Chair running at slow speed and then breaking down for 15 minutes while I sat 2 metres from the top. It really is time that pile of junk was consigned to the scrap heap of history where it belongs. I went to Red Tree and found I was dead right but unfortunately a large number of people had already had the same idea. Ok tracked skiing so I headed for the New Side.
I dropped High Saddle which just like Corner Pocket provided the best skiing in the chute with the stuff underneath rather disappointing debris in flat light. Lower Easter Bowl and Freeway were an ok soft bumpy skiing exit. Next loop was Cougar Glades which were a bit chunky and sun affected and the Stag leap which was like all of the big 3 low down - rather hard going on a broken rain crust base.
I just had time for a Mitchy Chute drop which was soft and ok before heading out to Skydive for the last rip of the day. Four of us made it for the rip and we had a good drop at high speed through the upper two sections. Someone asked me later what the lower pitch was like but when you are racing (of course it's not a race) you just throw down and take whatever happens under your skis - it all seemed ok to me.
So what next ? The forecast suggests we could be getting precip and the temp forecasts range from +8 to -4. We have no idea , Watch this space.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Day 45 back to full on powder skiing
After the past few day's rain event and then freeze up we rather inevitably had a major snow accumulation. Overnight we had 16 cms and when the snow finally finished early morning I would imagine we had about 20 cms out of the cycle. Conditions were absolutely on the edge with temps of +1/zero on the way to the hill and only a couple of degrees cooler up top. The snow (particularly low down) was heavy with a high moisture content. That having been said it was white all over the hill and that is good enough for me.
During the day conditions changed from overcast to sunny but with an upper mountain cloud curtain. The result was that low down temps got up to +2 and held at zero in the top but with some sun effect where snow was in the direct sunlight. This happened particularly in Knot Chutes and the top of Concussion. By late afternoon temps were falling and were -2 as we drove away from the hill. Luckily as the sun damage had not lasted long and the affected snow reformed as chunky chopped up crud and not as icy death cookies which would have been the worst case scenario.
With a big heavy dump of snow and weekend crowds we headed to the New Side to take advantage of rolling openings. We looped Knot Chutes (many different lines from the traverse in) ,Surprise Trees (very nice deep powder) but did not run to base and looped back to White Pass to try and catch the Currie Bowl opening which we did mid morning.
Only the low traverse side step was open across the bowl which was no bad thing as it kept the uncommitted away. First time out we got third tracks in Cougar Glades (which as everyone knows means first tracks in any of the chutes you choose) and Stag Leap where the new snow had covered the rain crust and enabled good skiing on a crunchy base. Next loop we hit Skydive which was lightly tracked and great skiing on top and acceptable powder covered crunch below. As I said today, this snow fall would not make the lower mountain good on the rain crust that was there. After this cycle has been skied in to soften the base it is the next cycle that will ski really well down low.
I decided to try a drop in Tight Knot (just great) and then take Triple Trees all the way down. Deep soft mostly untracked snow was the order of the day and very good. In the trees it was surprisingly good as the rain had washed snow off the trees which had compressed to make a good firm base to take the new snow fall. Just a bit of deadfall was evident in the lower section but starting to live up to my prediction of becoming one of the best tight tree skiing runs on the hill.
We had just time for a Concussion loop before lunch (Lynda's favourite) which skied ok in the sun affected upper sections (but only slightly affected) and very nice in the guts down to Gilmar Trail. This was so nice that I started the afternoon in just the same way and even though the sun had gone, it still skied ok if a bit chunky all the way down.
Next loop I did something I hadn't done for quite a few years and dropped the Crutch (or the Nick, or Nich) depending on who you talk to. It's the chute to the left of the Knot Chute boot pack that spits you out into the top of 1-2-3's. It was actually steeper than I remembered it and was about as steep as a Saddle and just as narrow. The best thing was that it was totally untracked and gave me the best deep steep powder skiing of the day. I ran to base with a very interesting soft bump run in 3's and then an ok deep powder in Bootleg.
I had noticed that in the top of 3's Gotta Go didn't look too skied out so I tracked across the top of the Knot chutes to get there. The traverse was very sketchy with rock drops and badly sorted terrain being the order of the day. Gotta Go looked a bit skied so I hopped over into Google Earth chute and had a very mellow deep soft powder line all the way into the top of 3's which skied just as well as before. the exit via Bootleg was still very mellow.
I decided to try the Big 3 and Decline was good but the drop into Window Chutes was even better. The ski down in Window Chutes was soft and even the chokes had enough snow even if they did have icy bases. I just had time for a White Pass loop through Tight Knot (getting scratchy and rocky on the way in) and Surprise Trees (still surprisingly good) before heading out to Skydive for last run.
Skydive skied very well in the top and ok on an ice base in the bottom. We had beers in a nice quiet Griz Bar and then came home for more beer and a hot tub. Looks like we are on a cooling trend which should improve the skiing surfaces. More precip but a warm up in the outlook - who knows.
During the day conditions changed from overcast to sunny but with an upper mountain cloud curtain. The result was that low down temps got up to +2 and held at zero in the top but with some sun effect where snow was in the direct sunlight. This happened particularly in Knot Chutes and the top of Concussion. By late afternoon temps were falling and were -2 as we drove away from the hill. Luckily as the sun damage had not lasted long and the affected snow reformed as chunky chopped up crud and not as icy death cookies which would have been the worst case scenario.
With a big heavy dump of snow and weekend crowds we headed to the New Side to take advantage of rolling openings. We looped Knot Chutes (many different lines from the traverse in) ,Surprise Trees (very nice deep powder) but did not run to base and looped back to White Pass to try and catch the Currie Bowl opening which we did mid morning.
Only the low traverse side step was open across the bowl which was no bad thing as it kept the uncommitted away. First time out we got third tracks in Cougar Glades (which as everyone knows means first tracks in any of the chutes you choose) and Stag Leap where the new snow had covered the rain crust and enabled good skiing on a crunchy base. Next loop we hit Skydive which was lightly tracked and great skiing on top and acceptable powder covered crunch below. As I said today, this snow fall would not make the lower mountain good on the rain crust that was there. After this cycle has been skied in to soften the base it is the next cycle that will ski really well down low.
I decided to try a drop in Tight Knot (just great) and then take Triple Trees all the way down. Deep soft mostly untracked snow was the order of the day and very good. In the trees it was surprisingly good as the rain had washed snow off the trees which had compressed to make a good firm base to take the new snow fall. Just a bit of deadfall was evident in the lower section but starting to live up to my prediction of becoming one of the best tight tree skiing runs on the hill.
We had just time for a Concussion loop before lunch (Lynda's favourite) which skied ok in the sun affected upper sections (but only slightly affected) and very nice in the guts down to Gilmar Trail. This was so nice that I started the afternoon in just the same way and even though the sun had gone, it still skied ok if a bit chunky all the way down.
Next loop I did something I hadn't done for quite a few years and dropped the Crutch (or the Nick, or Nich) depending on who you talk to. It's the chute to the left of the Knot Chute boot pack that spits you out into the top of 1-2-3's. It was actually steeper than I remembered it and was about as steep as a Saddle and just as narrow. The best thing was that it was totally untracked and gave me the best deep steep powder skiing of the day. I ran to base with a very interesting soft bump run in 3's and then an ok deep powder in Bootleg.
I had noticed that in the top of 3's Gotta Go didn't look too skied out so I tracked across the top of the Knot chutes to get there. The traverse was very sketchy with rock drops and badly sorted terrain being the order of the day. Gotta Go looked a bit skied so I hopped over into Google Earth chute and had a very mellow deep soft powder line all the way into the top of 3's which skied just as well as before. the exit via Bootleg was still very mellow.
I decided to try the Big 3 and Decline was good but the drop into Window Chutes was even better. The ski down in Window Chutes was soft and even the chokes had enough snow even if they did have icy bases. I just had time for a White Pass loop through Tight Knot (getting scratchy and rocky on the way in) and Surprise Trees (still surprisingly good) before heading out to Skydive for last run.
Skydive skied very well in the top and ok on an ice base in the bottom. We had beers in a nice quiet Griz Bar and then came home for more beer and a hot tub. Looks like we are on a cooling trend which should improve the skiing surfaces. More precip but a warm up in the outlook - who knows.
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