Sorry for the late post but today did require some fairly special celebrations which only now are starting to subside. When we left off yesterday it was wet snow on the upper mountain, rain at the base and a promise of the snow line coming down the hill overnight. Well, things worked out better than expected and we found the whole of the valley covered in about 15 cms of fresh snow. The figures showed that we got about 65 cms of snow out of the current weather cycle on the hill from when it started yesterday to when it finished around midday today.
On the way to the hill today it was -1 which meant that the snow at the base was quite heavy but good skiing. Up top it was fantastic hero powder on a high moister base from yesterday which gave the most amazing bottomless powder skiing all over the hill. During the morning temps stayed below zero keeping the snow in good condition but by mid afternoon temps were a degree or two above zero so the snow was becoming heavier.
When we arrived at the hill we found that Timber was not running due to an unfortunate incident which I do not intend to elaborate upon here. We lined up at 9 o'clock at Elk and got up to Bear just as it opened. We ran down Bear in knee deep untracked powder which was so sweet. Next we hit out to Cedar Ridge and got there just after the fence dropped. Cedar Ridge was the most awesome deep powder all the way down - I have said it before but when you are skiing on skis like the DPS Wailers in those conditions you can just point your skis anywhere you want to go and fly off anything - it just feels like you have super powers.
We looped back through Boom which was soft and easy powder skiing and still plenty of untracked lines. That was the morning for us, just dropping Cedar Ridge in one of the dozens of available untracked lines and then coming back to Bear via Boom or Bear Chutes which all had great untracked deep powder in various lines and chutes. Somewhere in there I did ski Lower Kangaroo just for the craic (I was told off today for my spelling yesterday - actually I am well aware of the correct spelling but I was not sure my readership would be) and it was great snow but the bushes to snow ratio was rather wrong. I only got out after some fairly serious bushwhacking - and I noticed mine were the only tracks in there and guess likely to remain so.
After huge amounts of fun, powder and face shots on the Old Side we got word that the New Side had opened so over we went. We arrived at Timber top just after they had opened Lift Line and had a mega powder rip down, pretty well straight lining it all the way to White Pass load. After about a 20 minute wait White Pass opened and although we only had the core with the zig zag closed we had great untracked powder. First run down the Gun Bowl was good and straight lining Quite Right by the left fence was powder free riding at it's best, crazy fast with big air on the rollers.
After that we just looped White Pass with variations of the Gun Bowl and Quite Right/ Heartland/ Highline Trees etc. Although some of the lines were quite tight you could always find untracked snow between the trees if you were prepared to put your skis in the fall line and that is what we did. Just one time we pushed out as far as Milky Way Trees which were ok but with big windrows and so much snow that you more or less had to straight line it to keep going. The good news was that this got us back to the top of Puff which was big soft powder bumps and very mellow skiing.
They dropped the fence on the zig zag quite late in the afternoon and we cut into Knot Chutes which was our only bad call of the day. The chutes had no snow left after the blasting and cutting and we skied and icy avi debris trail most of the way through the Tight Knot. Surprise Trees made up for all with some great untracked powder which was a little heavy in places but giving good face shots. For the rest of the afternoon we looped mostly the Gun Bowl through various lines many of which held deep powder, particularly in the more challenging lines. Surprise Trees, always looking for, and often finding, untracked lines in between the tight trees. Just once we hit Pillow Talk to do some jumps off under the lift and had some very fast and spectacular lines.
Last run and we took a run out to Triple Trees which was untouched in the top but very ugly lower down and we had to work hard to get back onto Trespass Trail. One on the joys of a big powder day like today is that many of the runs that had previously been closed suddenly become very skiable and we took full advantage of this on our run off. We even found snow in Power Line which saved us going all the way out to Lower Sib Ridge.
Obviously loads of beer while watching the heli bombing of the Lizard head wall and everyone making plans for a big day tomorrow. At one time it did look like things were going to warm up today but we dodged the bullet and it was zero temp as we drove away from the hill quite late after the excellent beer and burger for 10 bucks at the Rusty Edge. Totally knackered after skiing from first bell to last without any kind of break whatsoever - must get to bed ready for tomorrow.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Day 101 if you don't go you don't know
Tonight's blog is dedicated to all those people who could have skied today but didn't - by my estimation about 99.9% of the potential Fernie skiing community. Based on yesterday's report (rain) and today's forecast (more rain) I can't say that I blame anyone for not coming to the hill today but as we have said so many times you should always go and check things out as they may prove to be way better than you expected and today proved this in spades. Today we had a great day's skiing in some new snow which fell all day and although there was no way you could describe the heavy wet snow as power it was ok and we were able to leave fresh tracks all over the hill.
It rained all night in the valley and was raining on the way to the hill. the clue that we were in for a rather different day lay in the temps where we had +4 on the way to the hill - a good 4 degrees cooler than yesterday. I was also way better prepared with my boot gloves (neoprene keeps water out) new rubber gloves ( totally water proof and warm and dry) rubber dungarees ( again totally water proof and warm) and plastic yellow rain jacket which was as water proof as you would expect. I was able to ski all day while keeping warm, dry and toastie, and that is exactly what I did.
During the day it stayed cold on the hill with temps at the Bear load maybe making +1 early on but back to zero or below by the afternoon. The temps I saw at White Pass load were very similar. We went to the Old Side and found the Snow line (it rained/ snowed all over the hill all day) was just above the Bear's Den although it drifted down to the base during the day but had lifted a little by the time we left tonight. Above the snow line it just puked snow all day. Ok, it wasn't champagne powder but it was white and although it was rather heavy and wet it was new snow to track up which this year has been about as rare as hen's teeth. By the close the Griz cam was showing 20 cms today which felt about right and the forecast is for at least that again overnight,
In my super dry plastic/rubber rain gear we arrived at the hill and went to the Old Side. We had expected a day like yesterday with rain all over the hill but it was snowing hard from the Bear's Den and up and as the snow line dropped during the day we just got more soft snow where ever we went. We looped Bear, and Arrow expecting the new snow to be skiing soft and we weren't disappointed. There were so few people on the hill we were getting fresh tracks everywhere we went and the snow was getting deeper all the time. Two patroller buddies told us that they had just opened Cedar Ridge and it was good. We went there and found it closed but with the info we had we skied it anyway (twice) and it was great. We later found out that it was open but they had just forgotten to flip the signs.
We then took another Cedar loop through New Lift Line from the chutes at the top of Bear and these all skied soft and deep in not very good viz. Returns were always to Boom Chair which was getting to be a bit of a nightmare to get to with most of lower Cedar Bowl unskiable and then through Boom bowl which was skiing just fine, All the skiing at this stage was soft snow where you pushed a million wet snow balls down the hill as you skied it. We went to lunch with it snowing on top, raining below and the ski off the hill was very sticky as a result.
After lunch we skied the New Side and had a lovely soft run down through Puff as the new snow started to build. We had been told that Corner Pocket was open and this proved to be right - it was just 4 big edge to edge jumps through the chute with no tires showing and we had some great untracked soft snow skiing all the way down under the saddles and then cut right into Easter for some more untracked skiing, It was wet and heavy but fresh snow by any definition.
Next time up the New Side we took Puff trees cutting into Lift Line as soon as we were allowed and although heavy and sticky it was good untracked skiing. We hit out to Surprise Trees and found everything untracked and great skiing although you did had to work to beat out the wet snow slough that you created. Perhaps unsurprisingly the traverse out was closed almost as soon as we had skied it, We then hit out to Easter and as we were crossing Cornice chute with patrol watching we were almost hit by a natural wet snow slide out of Cornice chute which would have bowled us over, carried us down and maybe buried us. We got out fast to Easter after the slide had passed and left it to Patrol to close yet another area just after we had skied it - perhaps we should be getting kudos for getting last tracks rather than first tracks when the snow is falling like it did today. Easter was run of the day in smooth deep soft untracked snow - just great.
We decided that the New Side held no attractions as we would have to down load so we stayed on the Old Side and had a spectacular run down New Lift line which was now filled in and deep. The ski out was difficult even with the new snow so we then just stayed on the Bear Chair looping Boomerang and as last run taking Bear Chutes which skied fantastically well although you had to watch the deadfall on the ski out.
Usual Sunday night crowd in the Griz which made for great crack. My new regime of plastic and rubber proved most successful and I was dry-ish on my body and super dry everywhere else at the end of the day which on a day as wet as this was a fantastic result. As we drove away from the hill it was +1 and raining hard. This means to me that it is snowing (maybe a bit moist) up the hill and should get better overnight as the temp drops - getting quite excited about tomorrow. Sorry about you guys who didn't go today and as result missed a day which was very good by this season's standards.
It rained all night in the valley and was raining on the way to the hill. the clue that we were in for a rather different day lay in the temps where we had +4 on the way to the hill - a good 4 degrees cooler than yesterday. I was also way better prepared with my boot gloves (neoprene keeps water out) new rubber gloves ( totally water proof and warm and dry) rubber dungarees ( again totally water proof and warm) and plastic yellow rain jacket which was as water proof as you would expect. I was able to ski all day while keeping warm, dry and toastie, and that is exactly what I did.
During the day it stayed cold on the hill with temps at the Bear load maybe making +1 early on but back to zero or below by the afternoon. The temps I saw at White Pass load were very similar. We went to the Old Side and found the Snow line (it rained/ snowed all over the hill all day) was just above the Bear's Den although it drifted down to the base during the day but had lifted a little by the time we left tonight. Above the snow line it just puked snow all day. Ok, it wasn't champagne powder but it was white and although it was rather heavy and wet it was new snow to track up which this year has been about as rare as hen's teeth. By the close the Griz cam was showing 20 cms today which felt about right and the forecast is for at least that again overnight,
In my super dry plastic/rubber rain gear we arrived at the hill and went to the Old Side. We had expected a day like yesterday with rain all over the hill but it was snowing hard from the Bear's Den and up and as the snow line dropped during the day we just got more soft snow where ever we went. We looped Bear, and Arrow expecting the new snow to be skiing soft and we weren't disappointed. There were so few people on the hill we were getting fresh tracks everywhere we went and the snow was getting deeper all the time. Two patroller buddies told us that they had just opened Cedar Ridge and it was good. We went there and found it closed but with the info we had we skied it anyway (twice) and it was great. We later found out that it was open but they had just forgotten to flip the signs.
We then took another Cedar loop through New Lift Line from the chutes at the top of Bear and these all skied soft and deep in not very good viz. Returns were always to Boom Chair which was getting to be a bit of a nightmare to get to with most of lower Cedar Bowl unskiable and then through Boom bowl which was skiing just fine, All the skiing at this stage was soft snow where you pushed a million wet snow balls down the hill as you skied it. We went to lunch with it snowing on top, raining below and the ski off the hill was very sticky as a result.
After lunch we skied the New Side and had a lovely soft run down through Puff as the new snow started to build. We had been told that Corner Pocket was open and this proved to be right - it was just 4 big edge to edge jumps through the chute with no tires showing and we had some great untracked soft snow skiing all the way down under the saddles and then cut right into Easter for some more untracked skiing, It was wet and heavy but fresh snow by any definition.
Next time up the New Side we took Puff trees cutting into Lift Line as soon as we were allowed and although heavy and sticky it was good untracked skiing. We hit out to Surprise Trees and found everything untracked and great skiing although you did had to work to beat out the wet snow slough that you created. Perhaps unsurprisingly the traverse out was closed almost as soon as we had skied it, We then hit out to Easter and as we were crossing Cornice chute with patrol watching we were almost hit by a natural wet snow slide out of Cornice chute which would have bowled us over, carried us down and maybe buried us. We got out fast to Easter after the slide had passed and left it to Patrol to close yet another area just after we had skied it - perhaps we should be getting kudos for getting last tracks rather than first tracks when the snow is falling like it did today. Easter was run of the day in smooth deep soft untracked snow - just great.
We decided that the New Side held no attractions as we would have to down load so we stayed on the Old Side and had a spectacular run down New Lift line which was now filled in and deep. The ski out was difficult even with the new snow so we then just stayed on the Bear Chair looping Boomerang and as last run taking Bear Chutes which skied fantastically well although you had to watch the deadfall on the ski out.
Usual Sunday night crowd in the Griz which made for great crack. My new regime of plastic and rubber proved most successful and I was dry-ish on my body and super dry everywhere else at the end of the day which on a day as wet as this was a fantastic result. As we drove away from the hill it was +1 and raining hard. This means to me that it is snowing (maybe a bit moist) up the hill and should get better overnight as the temp drops - getting quite excited about tomorrow. Sorry about you guys who didn't go today and as result missed a day which was very good by this season's standards.
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