Thursday, January 5, 2017

Day 35 Promises, Promises

It seems to me that every day we are promised that this cold spell will end and when we get up in the morning the date for the warm up has been moved forward one more day. To be fair today did warm up a little from yesterday (it would have been a good trick for it to get colder) but we didn't get the milder temps that we were promised and now it looks like Saturday before we can drop off some of the layers we have been carrying around this week.

There was no new snow overnight and the base has now settled to around 180 cms. On the way to the hill the temp showing on the truck was -26. During the day temps on the hill were around -20 although we may have got some high minus teens late afternoon and as we drove back from the hill it was -21. Unfortunately  a wind popped up during the afternoon which had the effect of negating any feeling of warmth and pushing the wind chill well down into the minus 20's. It was overcast with a kind of high hazy cloud which suggested some upper atmosphere moisture for most of the day but by the end things had cleared to a hazy bluebird sky.

As I said yesterday I intended to try the Old Side but the Bear Chair was broken down when I arrived and not anticipated to come on line until 10 o'clock - I went to the New Side. Things were just like yesterday, where there had ben skier traffic it was hard, bumpy. rutted and icy but if you poked around there was still some soft snow to be had. Surprise Trees were very soft and Decline was also good, particularly in the lower section.

To everyone's surprise Polar Peak opened but when I got up there the Polar Chutes were closed as were the Clown Chutes and the Upper Coaster. In fact the only way down was to take the cat track down to below the Upper Coaster and then ski the groomed bowl below. I did it once and concluded that it wasn't worth getting cold (and it was cold) for that and shortly after that I understand it closed.

To warm up I took Easter Bowl (nice and soft in the top) to Bear (now running) and worked my way out along a very slow Cedar High Traverse to Snake Ridge which was ok and taking a good edge all the way down. I looped back through Kangaroo (a bit sketchy) and Boomerang (really good but bumpy) and then headed out again. This time I hit the top of Gorby Bowl which was deep and untracked down to the closed sign and then there was an ok traverse out into the clear area of Steep and Deep which skied nicely. A couple of drops of Boom Ridge which was firm bumps taking a nice edge and it was time for a late lunch.

After lunch I just had time for a Gorby loop which was just as good as before and then headed to the New Side for a Currie Creek loop where there was deep soft snow particularly in the top. After that it was time for the final Skydive rip which just like yesterday was hard and bumpy in the top, great in the mid section and a bit scrappy on the final pitch.

Not a bad day but the hill is showing signs of ware and the forecast snow for the weekend is really needed. They are calling temps of -20 for the next 24 hours then a warming trend, lets see.

No comments:

Post a Comment