Day 57 A New Side Day

Do I need to say it - there was no new snow overnight in this continuing snow drought. On the way to the hill temps were -7 and while driving home -2 so a considerable warm up. I noticed at the White Pass load it was -5 last time round so things stayed cold and firm up the hill. It was overcast when we arrived, in fact there were a few snow flakes which came and went during the day but never gave us an accumulation. Everything above White Pass top was socked in and by the end of the day the cloud was down to just below the top. Winds were blowing in some sift mainly in the Currie Chutes but apart from that things were much the same as yesterday.

I had intended to try the Old Side but was voted down and we headed for the New Side where we stayed all day. We were amazed to find Polar Peak open in the socked in conditions but when we got up there the Polar Chutes and the Clown Chutes were closed so the only way down was the Coaster in more or less zero viz - makes you wonder why they bothered to open it at all. That was our last visit to the Peak today and after that it was just New Side loops as in -

Concussion - Very nice windsift in the chutes all the way down but Gilmar Trail was slick and icy.
Lone Fir - Soft in the chute and ok on the left of the fan but the exit through Freeway was hard icy bumps.
Cougar Glades/Stag Leap - Variable but overall ok in the glades and Stag Leap was a bit crunchy but the final pitch was hard but surprisingly good.
The Brain/Window Chutes - Top of the Brain is still good in the trees and Window Chute is ok but crunchy most of the way down, the final choke is a bit technical.
Touque Chutes/Spinal Tap - Good becoming crunchy in the chutes and Spinal Tap was getting very hard and icy in the final part of the creek bed. Lunch
Decline - Just a good old fashioned drop of Decline with no whistles or strings and as expected it went soft to crunchy to rock hard as you went down.
Nameless Trees/Skydive - These are the trees between Skydive and Stag Leap which everyone tells me have no name, so I have named them. Crunchy tree skiing to the Megasauraus Trail and then the usual Skydive ribby lower sections.
Stag Leap - A quick drop through the trees which was quite soft to begin the usual three phases of soft, crunch and ice as you went down.

Of course Skydive was the final run and it skied just as all of the Big 3 had skied all day. There was a good gathering in the bar and things seemed a bit busy to me for a Friday but maybe that was just me.

Looking ahead the snow we were promised for next week has now been pushed back to the following weekend so it looks like at least another week of the snow drought. To make matters worse they are now calling for an inversion over this weekend giving plus temps at the top of the hill. This means that when the inversion clears we are likely to have refrozen crud ant the top of the hill to go with the refrozen crud we already have at the bottom - happy days.