Day 109 still a pretty ok day

First of all an apology. Sunday is the one night of the week that I drink so I have had a quite a few unaccustomed beers tonight which may mean that the blog is not quite as coherent as might usually be the case.

They called no new snow overnight but when we got to the hill they revised that to 1 cm but when we got to the New Side which is where we skied all day it seemed more like 3 or 4. It was zero on the deck when I woke up and headed off to the gym for my daily 10 km treadmill run and by the time I was heading for the hill about an hour later it was nearer +2.

We had no new snow during the day and although it was forecast to be sunny, for the most part it was overcast with just a few brief sunny periods to soften the south facing slopes. Temps all over the hill rose to around +3 even at the Polar load and +6 at the base which was confirmed by the temp on the truck as we drove away tonight.

The effect on the skiing surface was that we had soft snow on top from yesterday unaffected by anything but skier traffic. Below that (but quite a long way down) we had some chunky stuff that had been tracked yesterday and set up over night. Lower down still we had softening snow in the atmospheric warming which went up the hill to about the half way point as the day progressed.

As I had my usual start of doing 10 kms on the treadmill at the gym first thing our start was delayed by about 45 mins. We went to the New Side on the basis that the snow higher up would be in better condition and stay that way longer. We did loops of Knot Chutes and Surprise Trees which confirmed our view with both the chutes and the trees skiing very soft and mellow and for the most part untracked in the new snow.

We then looped Corner Pocket ( great skiing if you got that stupid rope out of the way) High Saddle (very soft and mellow) and Low Saddle - sensational skiing in the skiers right chutes. Exits were through Easter Bowl which was soft and untracked and Freeway which was a bit chunky. We also took one trip out to Spinal Tap which was actually ok in soft tracked up snow. Last run before lunch was Gotta Go which was ok in the choke and very soft, deep and untracked below. We finished our drop with Diamond Leg Trees which were good soft skiing all the way down. Somewhere in there they opened Polar Peak but on the Coaster side only so we hit the Crusty Chute before starting one of our drops but the skiing was all a bit scratchy and not that good.

After lunch I noticed that Shale Slope had opened on Polar so we went up with the intention of cutting in to Grand Pappa at Tower 8 but found this option blocked by closures. The ski down Shale was predictably scratchy and had I known of the closures I probably would not have gone up although I don't think that Grand Pappa would have been much better than Shale Slope. We dropped Low Saddle which was easy skiing and soft and deep below with no tracks in the chute immediately to the skiers right of the main drop. Easter and Freeway were as before and ok.

We dropped Gotta Go (again, about the 6th time in three days) and found the choke was ok and the skiing below was just sensational soft deep snow. Diamond Leg Trees did not disappoint and were great skiing with many untracked lines. We had time for a White Pass loop through Knot Chutes where I hit Slim which skied very nice and deep but was just starting to set up.

Last run was Skydive which just like the rest of the hill went from winter good snow to re frozen set up to spring soft as we skied down it. Not a bad end to a great day's skiing. In the Griz tonight it was a typical Sunday with some soft live music and loads of staff chilling out after the weekend. It's my favourite day of the week and not just because it's the day of the week that I drink beer.

Forecasts are all pointing in different directions so lets see what tomorrow may hold.