Day 92 yet another great powder day

Overnight they were reporting 13 cms of new snow and it is a sign of the times that this amount which would usually be cause for great excitement was in fact considered rather disappointing. On the way to the hill temps were -11 and on the way back tonight -10. Temps at the base rose to about -4 in the early afternoon but up at the White Pass load it stayed at about -8 every time I passed through. In other words the snow stayed light and dry all day.

The new snow on top of about 100 cms in the past 7 days made for a super soft deep skiing base and the few people on the hill meant that there were plenty of untracked lines to be had. The day started with hazy sunshine through a high cloud base but as the day wore on it got more overcast and cloudy so that by the afternoon we were getting the usual flurry activity with some minor accumulation. By the evening the snow had set in and it looks like we are set for another dump over night in windy conditions.

We were faced with a dilemma, as they had heli bombed last evening when it cleared so the whole hill was available. We had to choose between the Old Side where Snake Ridge and beyond had been closed from the top yesterday and the New Side where the slide at the top of Currie Bowl had close the top of that bowl all of yesterday afternoon and the Saddles had been closed all day - yes, I know, real first world problems. In the end the New Side won.

We hit Low Saddle which was skiing easy and the right hand cut into the chutes found the snow super deep and untracked. Next loop up we went up Polar Peak and that set the pattern for the day - we did a series of Currie loops but always first hitting Polar Peak - Papa, Grand Papa, Mama and Spirit Bear were all good in the top and very deep lower down.

The rest of the morning was spent in Concussion, Cougar Glades, Low Saddle (again), Spinal Tap, Decline, Window Chutes and Stag Leap, all with a hitch up Polar. The snow was soft and deep everywhere we went and lightly tracked and so we had some great skiing as a result.

After a late lunch I went back to the New Side with only time for a couple of full loops. I tried The Brain which was good in the top and untracked by the time I got to the final pitch which I held all the way to the cat track at the foot of Skydive. As the trees were so good I tried Nameless Trees which if anything were better than The Brain and despite a board slide down the middle of the creek it skied fantastically well with about 20 edge to edge jumps to get through the creek to where the deadfall produced a whole new set of challenges. A really good deep powder run.

We had time for a quick White Pass loop and so dropped a very deep and soft Tight Knot before hitting Anaconda Glades about half way along which were very lightly tracked and deep. The long skate back round Trespass Trail almost made us late for last chair but we just made it and headed for Skydive. The final rip down Skydive was predictably awesome getting better and softer as we went down

With the base having risen to 302 cms we were ready for the 3 metre party and so had a few drinks (OJs and sodas) to celebrate in the Griz Bar. The snow is still falling outside and the wind is starting to move things towards blizzard conditions. We are hoping for another 20 cms tonight with more to come tomorrow, fingers crossed.