Day 8 Hebrews 13:8

And for those of you who do not know the biblical text quoted in the title it is "Jesus Christ - the same yesterday, today and tomorrow" - this best sums up my feelings about sking here in Fernie at the moment.

As I predicted yesterday the conditions were no change with double figure minus temps over night, low single figure minus temps during the day, no new snow, no melt and no traffic. The only thing I got wrong was that it did not remain as overcast as I thought and we actually had a sun/cloud mix today but apart from that everything was as anticipated and is anticipated for quite a few days to come.

The resulting conditions were equally predicable, steadily deteriorating surfaces becoming tougher and more chunky. As with every night there had been upper mountain wind and the surfaces were wind affected either being swept down to ice or with some rather slabby grabby wind sift which tried to take control of your skis. All in all not conditions for the faint hearted.

We went to the Old Side and hit out across Snake ridge before dropping KC chutes with conditions as described. After that we just worked our way all over Cedar and Boomerang trying Boom ridge, Boom bowl, King Fir, Cedar Ridge, New Lift Line, Linda's, some more than once. Probably the best of the bunch was either Linda's or Boom ridge which had quite a lot of blow in which was not too slabby.

For the first time this year we managed Kangaroo a couple of times top to bottom. It was bushy, rocky, stumpy, icey and the drop onto the cat track half way down was pretty sparse but just about ok. Probably won't try it again until we get abit more snow but the roo has been christened for the season.

In the afternoon we went to the New Side and after a nice drop through Anaconda Glades spent the rest of the time just looping (many times) out into the Currie chutes through various tracks down to the top of Gilmar Trail. On one drop to White Pass from Timber top we decided to have another go at Mitchy Chutes as that was where I had my major stack a few days ago and I felt there was unfinished business. Good skiing and a some tight edge to edge jumping to get through the tight chutes half way down.

For the final run we decided to try Skydive for the first time this season. It was awsome at the top with deep untracked snow if a bit tight between the obstructions (rock, root and alder). About half way down it got so tight that we had to cut across to Stag Leap which was a bit more open but in all honesty the final pitch was just tough and only seemed to have been attempted by a couple of snow boards this season to date - yet another one to try after the next snow cycle but again the first Skydive finish has been recorded.

After 8 days of skiing the body is starting to feel the strain ( should start to get better some time after day 14) so a long hot tub under the stars was needed to soak away the pain. Early night.

Day 7 Same old, same old

This is the first (but certainly not the last) attempt to post an entry after having drunk far too much at the pub on wings night so apologies in advance for poor spelling and other assorted cock ups.

As often happens at this time of year a south westerly air flow sets in which brings moist overcast conditions which never get as far as snow but hangs around all day as overcast gloom with occasional mountain snow (not enough to be of interest) or ( as we had today) a little freezing drizzle out of the cloud base which hangs around at about the top of White Pass. This looks set to continue until the early part of next week when there at least looks like the possibility of some disturbed conditions bringing a change either for good or ill.

The effect is overnight temps in double figure minus' and day time highs of around -3. The ski conditions don't improve as there is no new snow but then on the other hand they don't get much worse as there is no warm up melt or skier traffic (if anything today was even quieter than yesterday) so we get the same old conditions which just deteriorate a little each day until the new snow arrives. The only hope of improvement is the chance of some blow in from wind sifted snow which did come in to play a little today.

Everything was tougher with the surface chunky and every turn requiring some sort of correction after it was made. We went to the New Side which was much the same as yesterday in the Timber bowl with even Surprise Trees and the surrounding chutes proving tough. Hoping to play the wind sift card we moved into Currie bowl trying Anaconda Glades, 1-2-3s and Concussion chutes all of which had got some wind sift but which proved a bit slabby and grabby but in places nice soft powder.

Moved out to Cougar Glades and the top of Stag Leap which was truely awesome untracked powder between the many early season hazards and obstructions. At one stage did cut back and try Morning Glory Trees in the hope that an up slope wind would have given some good snow but again it was rather tracked out and no better than ok.

In the afternoon we went to the Old Side and a first loop out the Snake Ridge followed by KC chutes showed that things over there were just like the New Side - rather tough with a variable surface and plenty of obstructions. We whiled away the time in King Fir (bushy at the top but nice and soft below) Linda's (some good wind sift) Cedar Ridge ( the good stuff starting to get elusive in there) Boom ridge ( seemed very nice perhaps because it had not deteriorated and was still ok chunky skiing) Boom Bowl ( actually the best on the hill with wind groomimg starting to build up).

A good couple of beers in the bar then a spectacular wing night at the pub. Quick up date on the Polar peak lift - the towers are in place but still seem to need final fixing and aligning. Both the cable and the chairs are sitting at the base station waiting for something to happen. I am not an expert at lift construction but to me an opening this year looks optimistic but I am willing to bow to anyone with superior engineering knowledge.