The similarity to yesterday was in the sense that it was very good powder up on top and some very ugly heavy snow low down, but different in the way it came about.
It rained in town overnight and even in the small hours of the morning it was hardly coming down white. When we woke up we were surprised to find how low down the snow line was on the trees ( only a hundred metres or so above the base) and even more surprised to see the figures from the hill which were 39 cms of fresh at the snow plot (seemed true to us) and a base of 280 cms.
When we got to the hill we found everything was closed except the Deer and Mighty Moose lifts so as far as I am concerned that is the hill closed. We got the word that the first thing to open would be the Bear Chair which was right. Boom chair wasn't open and the one lap into Boom bowl proved that the snow there was heavy and strangely already tracked up - could it be that one of the pay for powder groups had been there before us ? We heard that the higher terrain on the New Side had opened so headed in that direction.
The New Side was a rolling opening so we had a couple of runs straight back down to the White Pass chair in very poor viz that was a problem all day. The snow was deep but quite heavy with a hero quality anywhere on top. After a while the Knot chutes opened so for the first time but not the last were traversed in to Tight Knot to get some amazing deep untracked skiing. We spent the next few loops tracking further into the Knot Chutes eventually geting as far as Jim all of which were lightly skied and very deep.
As we hoped they opened Anaconda Glades so the next couple of loops were Knot Chutes (various ways down) Anaconda Glades (untracked chutes) and then Bootleg Glades (trees to the left with only a couple of tracks ahead.) Then Currie bowl opened but with only the traverse at the Polar Sink open it was hard work to get across but some great skiing when you got to the far chutes.
Cougar Glades - Untracked, awesome 39 cms of fresh amd an exit above the rain line.
Stag leap - only three tracks ahead and great powder all the way down to the last section which was jusy heavy wet snow.
Decline - great again at the top but getting really ugly at the bottom.
Cougar Glades - one more time and just as good.
As the viz had improved I decided to hike the top of Knot Chutes. As I got to the top it started to sock in and by the time I had got to the tight entrance to the Tight Knot it was totally socked it. It was hard drop but great deep snow skiing. Turned left into A 4 (or was it 5) which is about the tightest Anaconda chute then the early chutes in Bootleg Glades - just about the toughest run off the hill you can get.
A final Knot chute traverse and the Surprise trees drop in some ok tracked powder to kill time before going out to Skydive for the final run. Skydive was just like all the big three runs ( note these are not and never will be called the fingers) fantastic on top and ugly soft melt down low. The last run was much enlivened by the soft snow starting to set up in the cooling conditions which may point the way to some rather tough conditions in the days to come.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Day 60 awesome on top, ugly down below
After yesterday's break it was time to get out on the hill and trash whatever we could find. As far as I can work out, despite various buddies trying to wind me up about yesterday's skiing, it was, as I predicted pretty poor with Polar Peak closed most of the time.
Today was supposed to be the peak warm up of a wet front moving through and to judge from conditions this was probably right. On the way to the hill it was +2 and got up to +4 during the day whilst on top it struggled to stay at or below zero. It was raining low down and during the morning the rain line rose to about one third of the way up the hill before the precip stopped around 1 0'clock. Late afternoon it restarted with rain on the very bottom but some ice pellets further up. Total overnight accumulation at the snow plot was 16 cms and the base was up at 250 cms.
The result was awsome if rather heavy untracked new snow on the top 75/80% of the hill and a rain line low down which gave some of the stickiest snow yet this year. A patrol buddy of mind emerged onto the lower hill in Fall Out only to find about 20 people face down in the snow from the effects of the rain glue.
For obvious reasons we decided to go high and stay high and in the upper reaches of the hill conditions were as good as I have ever seen them with this amount snow. The top of the hill was very socked in with hardly any viz at the top of White Pass (although it did get a bit better in the afternoon) and no chance of Polar Peak being opened today - all the more for us when it does.
We had a rolling opening so the first few runs were just back to White Pass through Quite Right and the trees around that area. As soon as they dropped the fence above the I bowl we traversed out towards Surprise Trees but the snow was so deep we couldn't make the traverse and had to drop into the I bowl for deep fresh tracks just to get down.
Next time round we hit the Knot chutes (tight knot) to get height and made it out on the traverse only to find that Anaconda Glades had opened. We hiked the hump and hit the first chute which was untouched deep powder. From there it was a drop into the untracked near chutes of Bootleg Glades which were equally awesome. It was after that we hit the glue pot at the bottom of Gilmar Trail which stayed that way until a little skier traffic chopped it up.
We did a repeat run Knot Chutes, Anaconda (one chute further) Bootleg Glades which was just as good as before. Each drop from Timber was an alternation of Lift Line and Mitchy Chutes and every time it was good wind sifted powder.
After that it was loops out into Currie bowl which had just opened and yet again an immediate opening of the Reverse Traverse which I now am sure is going to be open more often because of the stabalizing effect of skier traffic in the Polar Chutes.
We hit Cougar Glades (mostly untracked), Stag Leap (even less untracked), Decline top/Widow chutes (only two tracks but one a board that had side slipped, hanging is too good for them) The Brain (untracked on the right) Knot Chutes/Surprise, Knot chutes Anaconda (A3 mostly untracked).
Late in the afternoon I tracked across the top of the Knot chutes for the first time this year to get to Gotta Go and was amazed to find only one track in the great steep and deep chute in front of me. I later discovered that this was because patrol had forgotten to open Gotta Go after they had cleared 3's and as a result it had only been opened a few minutes before I got there - works for me.
A final Tight Knot/Surprise loop to kill time both of which were still good deep snow and then the final rip down Skydive. This rip was just like all the others, 75% awesome and 25% ugly wet snow, still an acceptable price to pay in my view.
It has ben raining all evening but as I am writing this the rain is changing to snow even down here in town so maybe tomorrow may be interesting.
Today was supposed to be the peak warm up of a wet front moving through and to judge from conditions this was probably right. On the way to the hill it was +2 and got up to +4 during the day whilst on top it struggled to stay at or below zero. It was raining low down and during the morning the rain line rose to about one third of the way up the hill before the precip stopped around 1 0'clock. Late afternoon it restarted with rain on the very bottom but some ice pellets further up. Total overnight accumulation at the snow plot was 16 cms and the base was up at 250 cms.
The result was awsome if rather heavy untracked new snow on the top 75/80% of the hill and a rain line low down which gave some of the stickiest snow yet this year. A patrol buddy of mind emerged onto the lower hill in Fall Out only to find about 20 people face down in the snow from the effects of the rain glue.
For obvious reasons we decided to go high and stay high and in the upper reaches of the hill conditions were as good as I have ever seen them with this amount snow. The top of the hill was very socked in with hardly any viz at the top of White Pass (although it did get a bit better in the afternoon) and no chance of Polar Peak being opened today - all the more for us when it does.
We had a rolling opening so the first few runs were just back to White Pass through Quite Right and the trees around that area. As soon as they dropped the fence above the I bowl we traversed out towards Surprise Trees but the snow was so deep we couldn't make the traverse and had to drop into the I bowl for deep fresh tracks just to get down.
Next time round we hit the Knot chutes (tight knot) to get height and made it out on the traverse only to find that Anaconda Glades had opened. We hiked the hump and hit the first chute which was untouched deep powder. From there it was a drop into the untracked near chutes of Bootleg Glades which were equally awesome. It was after that we hit the glue pot at the bottom of Gilmar Trail which stayed that way until a little skier traffic chopped it up.
We did a repeat run Knot Chutes, Anaconda (one chute further) Bootleg Glades which was just as good as before. Each drop from Timber was an alternation of Lift Line and Mitchy Chutes and every time it was good wind sifted powder.
After that it was loops out into Currie bowl which had just opened and yet again an immediate opening of the Reverse Traverse which I now am sure is going to be open more often because of the stabalizing effect of skier traffic in the Polar Chutes.
We hit Cougar Glades (mostly untracked), Stag Leap (even less untracked), Decline top/Widow chutes (only two tracks but one a board that had side slipped, hanging is too good for them) The Brain (untracked on the right) Knot Chutes/Surprise, Knot chutes Anaconda (A3 mostly untracked).
Late in the afternoon I tracked across the top of the Knot chutes for the first time this year to get to Gotta Go and was amazed to find only one track in the great steep and deep chute in front of me. I later discovered that this was because patrol had forgotten to open Gotta Go after they had cleared 3's and as a result it had only been opened a few minutes before I got there - works for me.
A final Tight Knot/Surprise loop to kill time both of which were still good deep snow and then the final rip down Skydive. This rip was just like all the others, 75% awesome and 25% ugly wet snow, still an acceptable price to pay in my view.
It has ben raining all evening but as I am writing this the rain is changing to snow even down here in town so maybe tomorrow may be interesting.
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