30th March

Day 98 was a day when, inspired by yesterdays efforts in Fish bowl, I had thought to hit out into the back country. Unfortunately some overnight snow and and a change in temperature meant that the avi risk was raised from high to extreme and with 24 deaths due to avies alone in BC so far this season I decided not to risk raising the total to 25 and skied in bounds.
The Meat Hook opened early and with no one on the hill and therefore no line ups it was worth a couple of trips up into upper Lizard bowl to ski the powder ( sort of) which was left over from the Sunday traffic. The old side seemed pretty scratchy under the base so with flurries falling (which they did off and on all day) it seemed a good bet to head over to the new side.
It felt a bit like Groundhog day with good soft snow in Skydive, Sib Ridge, Mitchy Chutes and Anaconda Glades. I was just getting ready for lunch when I got a radio call from my buddy Rob so we linked up and did the Brain - still lots of untracked snow but very technical in the trees. Last run before lunch was in Decline which again had soft semi tracked snow and was only a little crunchy in the final section.
After lunch Rob and I linked up again and started with a rip down Secret Chutes which were soft and hardly tracked followed by Spinal Tap which was well tracked out and varied from soft to an ice base. Highlights were Sib ridge which still had loads of soft snow and Surprise trees which after about a week of disappointing results actually was a lot better under the new snow. As always final run down Skydive was excellent with new snow at the top and the chunky under base at the bottom actually starting to soften.
In summary a much better day than we expected with not very much new powder doing wonders to repair the hill and despite many signs on the boards by the lifts suggesting that the best skiing was on the groomers, actually the best skiing is on the new side north facing slopes, assuming that you like steep ungroomed tree runs. More snow called for tonight which may just about be enough to tempt me back onto the old side, or even into Cougar Glades where the lower sections are still very crunchy as a result of two day old sun damage.

29th March

Day 97 was another good day. We didn't get the 20cms we were promised over night, in fact we we only got a dusting. We did wake up and find that near blizzard conditions which just got heavier as we drove to the hill and built up snow all morning. Hitting the new side we went as high as we could in Whitepass and found it was a two chair day - that is we could only see two chairs in front of us as we reached the top.
A couple of runs down Whitepass confirmed that seeing any further than your own skis was a bit of a challenge. We then kicked out on the County Line a few times to try Skydive and Decline which were untracked, wind blown and really nice. Lynda ran through Currie Glades and found much the same. First tracks (again) in Sib Ridge was good but the wind affected snow was from ice to knee deep and back again all the way down.
We worked out the North facing slopes would be best both from the point of view of no sun damage from yesterday and wind sift from today. This led to a couple of good results in Sykdive and Easter bowl ( the traverse out is getting very easy these days) and a final run before lunch through Stag leap was good in deep snow but with the now usual header from me when the down hill ski hit a death cookie - seems to be happening quite a lot these days.
In the afternoon I was invited by some buddies to join them in Fish bowl for some out of bounds skiing. Just to get it straight there is nothing wrong with going out of bound as long as you do it properly equipped and in an experienced group who are not going to take stupid risks. Un equipped idiots who go into Fish not understanding the risks ( and there are plenty of them) are just accidents waiting to happen.
Twice through Fish with the hike in and hike out was enough to finish me but the thigh deep untracked real powder made it all worth while - perhaps the best runs of the season. Just time for a quick trip back onto the new side to try Sib Ridge and the traditional final rip down Skydive both of which were covered in deep if tracked snow.
Forecasts varie so much I don't have any clue what to expect for the next few days but who cares if we can still keep skiing the hill as we are.