Woke this morning to find that light snow was just starting in a temp of about -5. There had not been any significant accumulation and by the time the snow fizzled out around lunch time there probably hadn't been much more than 3 or 4 cms even at the deepest point.
Today was a short day as Lynda was due in at Calgary about 4 ( actually the plane arrived about 40 minutes early !!) so I had to leave the hill around midday in order to make it on time - 10 minutes late actually but who's counting.
I decided to try the Old Side if for no other reason that I couldn't remember the last time I skied there and found that it was pretty much ok. Spent the morning alternating dropping off various parts of Cedar Ridge ( Gully and Gulch, King Fir, ridge right, ridge left etc,) and coming back direct to Boomerang via Boom bowl or Lynda's or Bear chutes. The snow was nice and soft most of the way down and with a light new covering the skiing was very good without ever getting up to the level of awesome.
From the top of Haul Back T bar went down to Boom chair every time ( 5 in all ) via Kangaroo which predictably was icey, bumpy, stumpy and rutted which was excellent challenging skiing. At the top on one run I heard a woman telling her group that Kangaroo was the worse run on the hill and had to intervene to defend on of my favourite runs. The truth is that if you find yourself at the top of the Haul Back what are your choices, Lower North Ridge ( wide open boring groomer) Lower Lynda's ( less boring but still an easy groomer) Wallaby ( ok ish groomer with boring ski out) or the Roo ( tough, challenging, technical and physically demanding) in my view it's a no brainer.
Picked up Lynda but was 10 minutes late due to Air Canada coming in 40 minutes early, what's that all about ? Long journey back due to the Deerfoot trail southbound being blocked by a pretty ugly crash. Things getting back to normal and of course preparing for Australia Day tomorrow.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Day 53 hard to remember
And the reason that it is hard to remember, having had a few beers in the Griz followed by several more beers in the hot tub at home, followed by a few more beers it's all a bit hazy. That having been said I will try and get my act together and remember what happened today.
Going to the hill it was overcast and -7 and to be fair it probably only got up to about -3 at base all day long and colder on top. Amazingly there was some very light flurrie activity that came and went all day maybe giving up 2 or 3 coms of fresh but however you looked at it then it was good old fashioned dust on crust.
New side remained the choice and later reports from the Old side just confirmed that this was a good call. A few loops up White Pass including Surprise Trees a couple of times and some of the drop offs under the lift got the legs warm and with the light fairly socked in the fresh ( such as it was) was mostly unskied.
Linked up with some weekend buddies from Calgary who were interested in seeing my world so we hit hard out into Surprise still finding freshish snow before dropping Anaconda the hard way which was nicely refreshed and the trees before Bootleg which they had never tried. A final run through Cougar Glades which are still ok in many places then went for an early lunch.
In the afternoon started hitting the County Line and found exactly what we have found since I can remember - good snow on top with untracked in trees and very scratchy down the bottom although getting better with the dust on crust. Did the Brain twice which verged on the awesome at the top although sliding through the trees at the bottom on sheet ice was a bit technical. Secret Chutes and Spinal Tap fitted the pattern with the lower part of Spinal Tap very icey but this was nothing compared Decline and Window chutes where the skiing in the trees off to the left of Decline was untracked and perfect, the log drop off getting on for 7 ft at the steepest point and the ski out through the stream bed sheet ice and ugly as a bears ass.
Some where in there hiked Lazy Locals and had nice runs through Big Bang, Mitchy Chutes and numerous links to White Pass via lift line. Finished the day with a drop into Stag Leap which (wait for it) was great free riding for about three quarters then refrozen crud - actually quite an enjoyable challenge. Must have skied more runs than just those listed but nothing sticks in the mind, I guess they are right and beer does kill brain cells.
In summary much better than we are entitled to expect considering the snow drought we have been suffering. No significant snow in the out look but I am driving to Calgary Airport tomorrow afternoon to pick up Lynda and whenever I drive to Calgary it always snows so fingers crossed.
Going to the hill it was overcast and -7 and to be fair it probably only got up to about -3 at base all day long and colder on top. Amazingly there was some very light flurrie activity that came and went all day maybe giving up 2 or 3 coms of fresh but however you looked at it then it was good old fashioned dust on crust.
New side remained the choice and later reports from the Old side just confirmed that this was a good call. A few loops up White Pass including Surprise Trees a couple of times and some of the drop offs under the lift got the legs warm and with the light fairly socked in the fresh ( such as it was) was mostly unskied.
Linked up with some weekend buddies from Calgary who were interested in seeing my world so we hit hard out into Surprise still finding freshish snow before dropping Anaconda the hard way which was nicely refreshed and the trees before Bootleg which they had never tried. A final run through Cougar Glades which are still ok in many places then went for an early lunch.
In the afternoon started hitting the County Line and found exactly what we have found since I can remember - good snow on top with untracked in trees and very scratchy down the bottom although getting better with the dust on crust. Did the Brain twice which verged on the awesome at the top although sliding through the trees at the bottom on sheet ice was a bit technical. Secret Chutes and Spinal Tap fitted the pattern with the lower part of Spinal Tap very icey but this was nothing compared Decline and Window chutes where the skiing in the trees off to the left of Decline was untracked and perfect, the log drop off getting on for 7 ft at the steepest point and the ski out through the stream bed sheet ice and ugly as a bears ass.
Some where in there hiked Lazy Locals and had nice runs through Big Bang, Mitchy Chutes and numerous links to White Pass via lift line. Finished the day with a drop into Stag Leap which (wait for it) was great free riding for about three quarters then refrozen crud - actually quite an enjoyable challenge. Must have skied more runs than just those listed but nothing sticks in the mind, I guess they are right and beer does kill brain cells.
In summary much better than we are entitled to expect considering the snow drought we have been suffering. No significant snow in the out look but I am driving to Calgary Airport tomorrow afternoon to pick up Lynda and whenever I drive to Calgary it always snows so fingers crossed.
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