Day 91 have I died and gone to heaven

The only explanation I can think of for the awesome conditions that we are getting here day after day is that I have died without realising it just like in the movie (spoiler alert) 6th Sense and I am now in heaven getting my just reward for a life spent in clean living. On the other hand it may just be the Fernie factor which is producing some of the best ski days I have ever had and when strung together what certainly makes the best ski week ever.

Last night they were reporting 14 cms of fresh snow and between the reading and us getting to the hill I guess the figure rose to nearer 20 cms. It was -7 on the way to the hill and overcast with light snow. That soon changed as the snow went from light to very very heavy and stayed that way all morning. At times it was difficult to see more than about 20 metres in front of you because the snow was so thick. Things brightened up in the afternoon and by close it was almost a bluebird day and temps as we drove away were -3. Throughout the day the snow was just awesome with tracks filling in faster than you could ski them and not a particularly large number of people on the hill.

We went to the New Side and were amazed to find Currie bowl open straight away and the Reverse Traverse was also available although the Saddles were closed - they opened and then closed pretty quickly during the day. We worked our way out to the Big 3 and Lynda and I put first tracks down Skydive and then looped back for untracked lines in Cougar Glades, this was all super deep powder, on powder, on powder. We hit Knot Chutes and Anaconda before looping back for Knots chutes and Triple Trees, all good and deep.

Polar Peak opened in very poor viz but as the light came and went we dived in for runs on Papa and Grand Papa Bear where the snow was good and the top and totally awesome in the lower sections with continuous face shots. We continued to loop out along the Reverse Traverse hitting The Brain, Window Chutes, Decline, Touque Chutes, Spinal Tap, Cougar Glades (again) and Easter Bowl. On what proved to be our last loop the guy in front of me was taken out by a slide crossing the traverse just above Down Right and I miss the slide but blew a ski off in the debris it created. After that Currie was closed for the rest of the day at White Pass Top.

We started to alternate Gotta Go/Diamond Leg trees with Knot Chutes/Triple Trees. the snow was all deep with tracks filled in but the best and deepest snow was in Gotta Go (or at least just below the chute) which we hit three times. It was soon time for last run and with Currie closed Skydive wasn't and option. Actually it turns out it was as The Niche was open and you could have traversed hard under that and got to the Big 3, it was just that I didn't think of it at the time. This is the problem when someone switches off the auto pilot on the hill.

I decided to have White Rabbit as the last run and this was a good call. The snow was unbelievably deep all the way down the creek bed a the few tracks that there were drifted off to the left and right so from half way down there was only one other track in there. As this was my third time in there in 4 days I was starting to get some feel of where I was going and managed to put together a fairly well linked run which was way better than the first time I tried it a few days ago. A great way to finish.

In the bar we had unofficial word that the base had passed the 3 metre level and all we need now is official confirmation for the party to begin. More snow forecast tonight, yes, perhaps this is heaven.