Day 6 my favourite day of the year

Yes, every year my favourite day of the year is always the Monday after opening weekend. Why - because there is no one, and I mean pretty well no one on the hill, plus the season is new and everyone is optimistic, Christmas songs are on the radio, Christmas lights are up in town and everything is just buzzing.

Today started with temps of -15 in the Elk Valley according to the radio but not in the part where I was where it stuck firmly to -10. A little colder at the top of the hill and a warm up at the base during the day to about -5 but not much on top. The base was still recorded as 123 cms which either means that with no snow there was no settlement in the last 24 hours or no one could be arsed to change the signs - make your own mind up.

The ridge line cloud spread into the valley during the day. This meant cold overcast conditions and strangely mountain snow pretty well all day which whilst never enough to give any accumulation was enough to make sure the base didn't start to fall away.

The under foot conditions were pretty tough with yesterday's tracked powder sitting fairly chunky on the uneven firm base. Overall with the exception of Cougar Glades (of which more later) the conditions were no better than ok. That having been said, when you see the reports from Europe fence to fence skiing looks pretty awesome so it's just as well to bear in mind the Fernie's ok is probably one hell of a lot better than some other places awesome.

Having been on the New Side for two days we decided to try the Old Side. After a quick rip down the Bear we headed out across Cedar bowl to try Steep and Deep out beyond Snake Ridge. The wind sift had pretty well covered the traverse so it was hard work and when we got there the conditions were no better than ok so in summary the juice didn't really justify the squeeze.

After that we spent the morning looping Cedar off the Boom chair with Linda's, Boom Ridge, Boom bowl, New lift line, Cedar ridge, King Fir, Cedar Centre Glades etc. Everything was ok if a bit chunky but where you had to do some bush whacking (King Fir and Bear Chutes to name but two) there was still some great soft powder in between for a few turns. Best of all we managed the first two runs down Kangaroo of the season (bottom half only ast the top half was closed) which was very twiggy, bushy, stumpy, rocky, etc in fact just the same as usual - great fun.

Lynda took the afternoon off and I headed to the New Side. Just like the Old Side it was hard chunky powder on a tough base. I looped Anaconda Glades, Concussion (twice) and Currie Creek, all of which were ok. For the record I had my first major stack of the season in the top of Mitchy Chutes when I hit a submerged "early season hazard" blowing both skis off and going head first into the chute. Lucky for me no real damage which condisering what could happen (and has happened) in there is another reason to consider it a good day.

Ended with two rips through Cougar Glades going in just under the sign lines. Still great soft mostly untracked powder and great tree skiing. Only down side on the day was to find Timber Chair down when I got there for a final run timed to get me to White Pass in time for last lift - not a happy bunny to miss out on a final run due to mechanical failure.

Beer, hot tub, more beer, time for bed.

Day 5 fresh powder and more New Side

Overnight we had an unexpected 8 cms of fresh powder which as it came down well below -10 was champagne light with virtually no moisture content. The mid mountain base came up to 123 cms (still some way short of the 2 metres when we abandon our rock skies each year) but a very respectable base for this time of the season. We had hoped that the new snow would have sat on top of the old tracked up powder and given us a double whamy effect of increasing the powder depth but actually the base firmed up underneath so that what we ended up with was the new powder on a firm base, not quite so good but still pretty impressive.

It was -9 on the deck this morning and a few degrees colder on the top of the hill. Today there was no wind chill or ridgeline wind just a fantastic bluebird day to rip up the new powder. Temps did get up a bit in the sun but for the most part stayed down around the -10 mark on the upper New side. I was amused to see the number of skiers/riders with hot bags in the gloves and face masks - I wonder what they will do when the temps get down to something serious like -30 ! We hit the New side and stayed there all day.

Lift line has now become the standard drop from Timber to White Pass and it was in pretty good shape all day with just the usual hazards (rocks, stumps, etc) to avoid. Just once I took Lazy Locals out to Big Bang and found it cut a bit higher than usual and a little scratchy but ok - Big Bang was good between the hazards.

Gun bowl and Highline trees provided some good untracked powder mostly because of the lack of skier traffic. I'll say it again - I have never seen such a quiet opening weekend with no line ups at any stage over the three days. We moved out to Surprise Trees which weren't as good as we thought they would be, being a bit chunky under the powder.

Top of Triple Trees was still mostly untracked powder and just as good as yesterday afternoon. Moving into Currie bowl, Concussion was a bit skied out but Easter had great untracked snow all the way down. Corner Pocket had a couple more tires showing in the chute but there just seemed to be more room (perhaps I was getting better - no) so the edge to edge jumps down the chute seemed to come easy. The bowl underneath was great untracked deep powder ( what do you expect when the access is a bit tough) and when I cut into Easter nearside the powder was again deep and untracked.

Finished the morning with a traverse across the Reverse Traverse and then dropped into Currie Creek which was awesome powder in some places and rocks and avi derise in others - a real mixed bag. Oh, somewhere during the morning we hit out Anaconda lades which were not quite as spectacular as yesterday but still pretty good untracked steep tree skiing. And another thing, Lynda had rip down 1-2-3s while i was doing something else and said it was just downright enjoyable.

In the afternoon which due to a long morning was pretty short we hung out in Surprise Trees and Triple Trees (top only) finding new lines down having to cut the trees a bit closer each time and also having a few spectacular drops on to Trespass trail when navigation proved a bit faulty. We did try one run through Currie Glades taking us near to the loading area of the new Polar Peak lift which looks well on the way to being ready. The run through the glades left us both with the impression that the trees had been thinned but I will be looking for confirmation on that.

Last run of the day flirted with the illegal. I went out to Currie Creek and dropped in but after two turns hit left into the trees. I eneded up in Cougar Glades which were closed but as I came in well below the sign I think I was just on the sunny side of the law. As it was it was the most awesome run of the season so far - deep untracked gladed skiing all the way down with regular face shots. The ski out was a bit technical but well worth the effort.

So a great days powder skiing, beers in bar afterwards then back home to a hot tub under the stars drinking beer surrounded by snow covered trees that looked like something from a Hollywood set. Early night.