And for me day 76 on the hill. After a bit of confusion over daylight saving time starting we headed off to the hill in temps of -12 and a forecast for a high of -2 and more flurries. In the event we did hit -2 around noon but then the temps started falling and by late afternoon the readings over most of the hill were around -10 plus windchill.
The official site said 6 cms in the last 24 hours and again I think they sold themselves a bit short as there certainly seemed to be much more than that in the places we looked. The bad news was that the flurries never materialised so we spent all day trashing yesterday's snow but in a thin season that was still pretty good.
Dave's rib appeared to have recovered but the rest of him hadn't so he had a quiet morning on the groomers and took the afternoon off. Lynda's leg goes from strength to strength and it was half past 2 before she had to leave the hill.
Crowds weren't too bad but made worse by the continued closure of Whitepass chair (no reduction in ticket prices to reflect this) despite promises that it would open around noon. The true story on the problem is that it was a rat but it didn't gnaw through the cable, it got into the works and for a few short seconds it shorted out the system. Sadly the rat was not tested to 800 amps and the result was one very fried rat and a power surge which has damaged so much of the system that the chair may not even open on Monday.
We skied the old side all morning kicking out to Snake Ridge doing Steep and Deep, Redtree, Gorby Bowl, etc. Each time back we looped through Kangaroo making 6 runs down there in all - the roo was as always tricky icey bumps but great fun even allowing for the vandalism undertaken in the summer of cutting a cat track across the middle of the run making a steep drop off half way down. Around lunch we checked out the new side to see if Whitepass was open ( it wasn't) but had a great time in Mitchy Chutes where the summer glading has worked real well. After watching the Dummy Downhill spent the rest of the afternoon hitting out again across Cedar bowl and majoring on Steep and Deep which even late in the day lived up to it's name. In all a pretty good days skiing in powder which got more tracked as the day went on but with plenty of good stuff if you were prepared to go looking for it. When they open Whitepass and Currie bowl it should be awesome.
In the Griz bar the entertainment for us was an RCR employee having a real go at Ruth over who had reserved a chair ( Ruth had taken it for Lynda) No names but the employee concerned would do well to remember that Ruth, Dan, Lynda and I are customers ( with our personal spend and that of our visitors Lynda and I are worth an income stream of $25k alone) and the role of an employee is to make sure we are happy rather than insult us - nice one RCR.
Final word on the hockey. After 2 games in Fernie the Roders and the Nitros are tied at one game all as the series moves to Kimberly, watch this space.
Temp on the deck is -9 and due to go a lot lower with a chance of snow so time for a hot tub and a quiet night in.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
7th March
So,first day back in Fernie and what a day - thank you Griz. For me this was day 75 of the season and it proved to be the best so far.
Obviously since I have been away for the week things have been happening. The base has increased to 225 cms, still about 150cms short of what we see this time of year but a big improvement. There has also been some sun and/or rain as there is a very hard scratchy base particlarly on the south facing slopes so I guess that suggests sun.
The overnight report on the hill claimed 5cms of fresh but it seemed to me to be nearer to 10 so everywhere was nice but with a hard base not too far away. The forecast called for a daytime high of -2 which was about right at the base but much colder up the hill and a wind chill well down into the minus teens. The good news was that they called for flurries and it actually puked snow all day - at least 15 cms and probably more.
Crowds were pretty bad for a Saturday although that was at the Boom chair and it never really got busy anywhere else. Things weren't helped by the Whitepass chair being closed all day. The official line is that a squirrel chewed through an electrical cable but anyone who knows anything about squirrels knows that they wouldn't do that. Most likely it was a pack rat but as squirrel sound better on the official websit than rat then squirrel it is. Fingers crossed that they don't get Whitepass repaired tomorrow so that when they do we will be able to trash tons of fresh snow in Currie Bowl on Monday with the weekend warriors safely back at work.
Skiied the old side all morning and had some great runs off Cedar Ridge, King Fir, Linda's and the Bear Chutes, Of course skied Kangaroo 6 times which despite what people say is a real nice ice bump run. Lynda skied with me as did Dave ( my wife's cousin's wife's brother)- I always say when you have a house in Fernie you have lots of friends.
In the afternoon drifted over to the new side and worked out ways down the hill not involving Whitepass. Skiing was nice in Siberia ridge, Black Cloud and Diamond Back and particularly nice in Mitchy Chutes which no one was skiing for some reason.
Broke my usual rule and went to the Griz bar as it was my first day back and saw friends Dan and Ruth. I don't usually go in on a Saturday as it is too noisy to talk and too crowded to sit down and today was no exception.
Just getting ready for a hot tub to find out if Dave real has broken a rib as he claims.It is currently -4 0n the deck with flurries continuing. A good day to come back.
Obviously since I have been away for the week things have been happening. The base has increased to 225 cms, still about 150cms short of what we see this time of year but a big improvement. There has also been some sun and/or rain as there is a very hard scratchy base particlarly on the south facing slopes so I guess that suggests sun.
The overnight report on the hill claimed 5cms of fresh but it seemed to me to be nearer to 10 so everywhere was nice but with a hard base not too far away. The forecast called for a daytime high of -2 which was about right at the base but much colder up the hill and a wind chill well down into the minus teens. The good news was that they called for flurries and it actually puked snow all day - at least 15 cms and probably more.
Crowds were pretty bad for a Saturday although that was at the Boom chair and it never really got busy anywhere else. Things weren't helped by the Whitepass chair being closed all day. The official line is that a squirrel chewed through an electrical cable but anyone who knows anything about squirrels knows that they wouldn't do that. Most likely it was a pack rat but as squirrel sound better on the official websit than rat then squirrel it is. Fingers crossed that they don't get Whitepass repaired tomorrow so that when they do we will be able to trash tons of fresh snow in Currie Bowl on Monday with the weekend warriors safely back at work.
Skiied the old side all morning and had some great runs off Cedar Ridge, King Fir, Linda's and the Bear Chutes, Of course skied Kangaroo 6 times which despite what people say is a real nice ice bump run. Lynda skied with me as did Dave ( my wife's cousin's wife's brother)- I always say when you have a house in Fernie you have lots of friends.
In the afternoon drifted over to the new side and worked out ways down the hill not involving Whitepass. Skiing was nice in Siberia ridge, Black Cloud and Diamond Back and particularly nice in Mitchy Chutes which no one was skiing for some reason.
Broke my usual rule and went to the Griz bar as it was my first day back and saw friends Dan and Ruth. I don't usually go in on a Saturday as it is too noisy to talk and too crowded to sit down and today was no exception.
Just getting ready for a hot tub to find out if Dave real has broken a rib as he claims.It is currently -4 0n the deck with flurries continuing. A good day to come back.
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