Day 71 a horrible ugly mess

Today after the all night and all day rain the only possible description of the hill was as above - a horrible ugly mess. I got to the hill a little late today as I had to drop the truck off at Fernie Ford for a couple of small jobs to be done. I was in no great hurry as it had rained all night and was still raining as I got to the hill. The temp was +4 and as I looked up the hill hoping to see a snow line all I could see through the mist was rain affected terrain.

Overnight the hill was claiming 7 cms of new snow but to be quite honest even at the snow plot which is quite near the top of the hill it must have been heavy elephant snot and by the time we got to the hill the precip was coming down as rain all the way to the top so any new snow would have been washed away. It rained all day with plus temps all the way to the top of the hill and even by late afternoon we only saw one ore two flurries of ice storms which were short lived before going back to solid rain.

We went to the New Side in the hope that the higher we went the more chance we had of getting some good snow but we were disappointed. Currie bowl was closed and stayed that way all day as was Anaconda and Big Bang so all we really had was the White Pass core. At the very top of White Pass and for the first couple of turns in to the Gun Bowl the snow was just about acceptable but very heavy although this didn't matter as the viz was so poor that you couldn't ski it to any great effect. Below that is was just heavy elephant snot away from the groomers.

We looped White Pass several times and just about had an ok run down Surprise Trees with the rest of the runs slow motion slush. Late morning White Pass chair broke down so we headed across to the Old Side. I spent the rest of the morning looping Cruiser (ungroomed slush) Cedar Centre ( slush on a firm base) Kangaroo (actually the best run of day with the bumps soft and taking an edge) Boom Ridge (soft mushy slow bumps) and Boomerang which was pure elephant snot.

After a late lunch it was more Old Side stuff as with Currie closed Skydive was never going to be an option. Nothing had changed and as the rain just got harder the snow got softer and slushier It became super slow motion ACL ripping skiing anywhere away from the groomers which were still firm enough to support skier traffic.

I was off the hill slightly early to pick up the truck from Fernie Ford but to be quite honest I wasn't that sorry. The hill had become a soggy mess with no good ungroomed skiing and with the threat that if the temps drop we will have a crust situation that will make last weeks crust look like a stroll in the park. There is also the promise of the rain turning to snow so perhaps we may see improving conditions, as it is things couldn't get much uglier or wetter.