Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Day 131 So long and thanks for all the fish

Those fans of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will recognise tonight's quote as being what the dolphins said just before they left the earth as it was about to be destroyed. Well in my case it is what I say on my last day of skiing this season.

On the way back from the gym today it was +4 and was +3 as I turned into parking lot 2. The hill claimed 2 cms of fresh snow overnight but the they claimed a reduction in the snow base of over 100 cms at 277 cms so I guess we can could take both of those figures with a pinch of salt. In truth the base hadn't reduced and we hadn't had any new snow as far as I could see. It was +8 as we drove away from the hill so it looked like things just got warmer as the day wore on.

The weather today was the biggest mixed bag of the season. We started with some sun which became cloudy the we got snow/grauppel showers late morning. After lunch we came out to find that it was raining on the lower mountain and so we came down to change into water proof gear. Predictably as soon as we changed so did the weather and we ended the day with sun but occasional grauppel showers - it was hard to find a description for today's weather.

We went to The Old Side (that's a joke by the way) and even though it was plus temps the skiing surfaces were quite firm and just down right icy in places. After a while thing started to soften and we got to thinking about getting away from the Groomers on Bear, Arrow, China Wall and Lower Ballet and tried Sun Up which was a hard crusty experience.

Cruiser was good skiing and Lower Cedar Centre had been groomed after a fashion. It was at this stage we tried our first run down Kangaroo and found it better than expected with a softening surface on a hard base. The rest of the morning we spent looping Boom Ridge, Boomerang, Cedar Ridge and Kangaroo which all were variable crust but got better at the surfaces softened.

After an awesome final visit to Big Bang Bagels for lunch we spent the afternoon doing pretty much what we had been doing all morning. The soft snow in Boomerang and Lower Kangaroo were particularly good fun as you could just throw down slow motion GS turns in the mush and let things run. The only new experience was dropping Bear Cave Chutes which were very heavy and untracked but huge fun.

By the end of the day we found ourselves at the top of the Bear in pleasant sunshine and had a gentle swing down to base as our final run of an awesome season. A few friends joined me in the Griz for beers (today was an honorary Sunday) and we had a great final session.

And so that ended an awesome season with 4 days still to go. The full season report will follow in a few days time with some thoughts of my own on the circumstances which interrupted the blog early in the season so watch this space.

13 comments:

  1. Thanks for doing the blog again this season Bill. So helpful and informative!

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  2. Thanks for a season of great reporting, Bill!

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  3. Eskimos had over two hundred different words for snow, without which their conversation would probably have got very monotonous. So they would distinguish between thin snow and thick snow, light snow and heavy snow, sludgy snow, brittle snow, snow that came in flurries, snow that came in drifts, snow that came in on the bottom of your neighbour’s boots all over your nice clean igloo floor, the snows of winter, the snows of spring, the snows you remember from your childhood that were so much better than any of your modern snow, fine snow, feathery snow, hill snow, valley snow, snow that falls in the morning, snow that falls at night, snow that falls all of a sudden just when you were going out fishing, and snow that despite all your efforts to train them, the huskies have pissed on.

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  4. Not unnaturally, many elevators (i.e. skiers) imbued with intelligence and precognition became terribly frustrated with the mindless business of going up and down, up and down, experimented briefly with the notion of going sideways (i.e. snowboarding), as a sort of existential protest, demanded participation in the decision-making process and finally took to squatting in basements sulking.
    Thanks for the blog Bill!

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  5. Thanks for keeping RCR honest and telling the truth. May you have many honorary Sundays during the off season, all in moderation of course. SKI YA LATER!

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  6. Thanks very much for the blog again this season Bill. Enjoyed as ever from afar. Looking forward to next year already. Enjoy your summer in Cornwall. We were there briefly at the weekend and the sun was shining and warm enough for some outdoor beers!

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  7. Thanks for keeping us updated down here in the Southern Hemisphere, wishing we could be up on the hill. Read your updates everyday, even when you disappeared for a while.
    Have a great summer, hope you get plenty of sailing in.
    Regards, Tony

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  8. Dear Bill, the pay for powder clan appreciates your candor regarding the ski conditions. It allows us to know what powder skiis are required to make sure we slay the old side appropriately. Yours truly Wolfeyes

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  9. Top comment Wolfeyes! The Breakfast Club concurs!

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  10. Thanks for blog, Bill! Made for some interesting and fun reading over the winter. See you and Lynda again next season!

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  11. Thanks for the blog. It's not only impressive that you can ski everyday it's impressive that you then write a blog every night. I will be there in February next year so look out for a group of old Australians.

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  12. I'm keen to read your season report thoughts, Bill!

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