Yup. no new snow overnight so we had just what we had yesterday but affected by falling temps and bit of skier traffic. Actually there was very little skier traffic as except for few kids on the lower hill there was hardly anyone on the hill. In the bar tonight I was speaking to buddies and they had hit out into to the side country as far as Outer Mongolia on one side and Ridge 2000 on the other. If the lack of new snow keeps up I can see myself joining them sometime this week.
On the way to the hill it was -7 and on the way back tonight about -3. It was a sun cloud mix all day but with temps as low as they were there was no sun damage even in the direct sunlight. Up on top it remained cold and I noticed at the White Pass load in the afternoon it was still -7. On one of my many trips up Polar Peak (of which more later) I was told that the temp at the top was -10 on the mercury but with 25 klick winds and 100% humidity which by my calculations gave us something south of -20 allowing for windchill - it certainly felt like it around tower 8 on the Polar chair.
I went to the New Side as I didn't think there would be much worth trashing on the Old Side. Reports from buddies who started over there and ended up pretty quickly on the New Side tended to confirm this was a good call. It was immediately apparent that even with no new snow there had been a bit of wind sift that continued throughout the day. First drop of many down Lift Line to the White Pass load confirmed that we had a bit of sifted dust on chunky skied up snow mixed with a slick icy base. I could almost end here and now as that was more or less the story of the day everywhere we went.
We did a few loops in White Pass through Gun Bowl, Quite Right, Knot Chutes and Surprise Trees all of which skied ok on a hard icy base. Our day then proceeded as -
Decline - really good soft skiing in the top two sections but hard icy bumps under and inadequate layer of soft snow in the lower part. We now appear to have reversal of fortunes in that the the lower part of Decline which was the best of the Big 3 is now the worst and Stag Leap which was the worst is now the best although still not very good. Skydive remains as somewhere between the other two both geographically and in terms of how easy the the skiing is low down.
Cougar Glades/ Stag Leap - Cougar was tracked and so bit technical in the tight sections but Stag skied well down to the final pitch and then didn't completely suck even there.
Polar Peak - next time up I found Polar Peak was open with lots of condition warnings. These were totally justified as the chutes were crusty hard snow which at least did take and edge and patches of quite severe ice in between. Just as with yesterday the Clown Chutes were the best skiing with soft deep snow and the entrance just about as mellow as I can remember it. After several loops of the chutes and Clown Chutes I headed for lunch.
Lone Fir - the lunch run was Lone Fir which is getting decidedly scratchy in the chute. Underneath of course it was soft and mellow and this held all the way down to Freeway with some great soft bump skiing.
After lunch I was back up Polar for more loops. the viz in the afternoon was just as it had been in the morning. Rolling cloud came and went so some runs were fantastic clear viz and other were really groping down in thick fog - the joys of alpine skiing in Fernie.
After a few loops I just had to run to base because it was so cold on top. I did so throughbCougar Glades and Stag Leap which skied just like before. After another Polar loop in deteriorating light I ran down Decline which again was fantastic and then dropped into Window Chutes which were very mellow if a bit firm but got very icy in the final choke getting out.
I dropped down Siberia Ridge and as anticipated found good lightly track snow down to the grooming in lower Sib Ridge which started just about where the icy crap line would have begun. Just time for one last run up Polar and drop of Papa Bear in what was now very flat light but with the surface still firm in places and icy in others. We looped to base through Currie Glades and Gilmar Trail where the light was very flat due to the reflected sunlight from the far side of the valley.
Last run was Skydive and just two of us had a rather gentle run down (by our standards) after a pretty tough day. A couple of beers in the bar as I am under restrictions with Lynda in the UK and me driving. I went down town to the ever helpful Straight Line to fix a demo on the DPS Wailer RP2 112s Pures. I currently have the Hybrids that are 200 days old and could do with being retired and I want to see if the Pures are worth the extra money before I buy. See tomorrow's blog for a full report, or my totally biased opinion if you prefer. Some people are surprised I should be demoing big skies in the current conditions. My answer is that these are exactly the conditions you have to demo them in. No point in trying skis on a big powder day, you could strap two planks of wood to your feet and have a good time then. The real test is how they work in these marginal conditions and that is what I intend to find out.
Monday, February 1, 2016
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Day 52 a short day for me
First of all an apology for yesterday's blog. To make it clear I am not apologising for the sentiments expressed regarding the lift break downs, I still back my views there 100%. No, I am apologising (stupid spell check on this lap top should realise that apologise is spelled with and s an not a z - as indeed is realise) for the drunken and rambling nature of the post. This was caused by the celebrations of Lynda's last day in Canada for about 10 days as she had to head back to the UK today to attend to some family stuff and we all felt we should send her on her way in style. Unfortunately the result was a less than coherent post last night.
The reason for today being a short one for me was that I had to run Lynda to Cranbrook for her flight and missed the middle of the day. As it was I skied until 11 and then ran her to the airport and was back on the hill by 1:30. This meant that I only had a four and a half hour day today but as a buddy pointed out to me many people (perhaps the majority) would look on that as full day's skiing.
Overnight there was only 1 cm of snow but actually there appeared to be bit of wind sift to make the most of the dusting. Temps on the way to the hill were -5 and driving back tonight they were -3. During the day base temps did rise to just below zero but up the hill things stayed well below that and I noticed about -6 at the Polar load late afternoon. It was cloudy and a little socked in on top but during the day the cloud broke a bit and we even had some short periods of sunshine but luckily not enough to do any damage to the snow. I am always amazed at the number of (well you pick a name for them) who go on about how nice it is when the sun comes out. Fact - the direct sunlight creates a crust on the snow that doesn't go away and out of the direct sunlight you get flat light that makes skiing very tough - sun is the enemy of good skiing in Fernie.
We went to the New Side in the hope of getting Polar Peak but had to make do with a few loops of Knot Chutes and Surprise Trees which were soft snow on an icy base and ok skiing. We ran to base through Anaconda (nice fresh blow in to be had in the chutes) and Bootleg which was bit chunkier than yesterday but still ok. It was time to leave the hill and as I was skiing off I heard that Polar was just about to open, well that's how things go. I took the exit down Skydive which just like yesterday was great in the top and pretty challenging mixed snow and ice bumps in the bottom.
The drive to Cranbrook was uneventful and temps got up to +1 but I suspect that was due to getting in the direct sunlight on the tarmac surface of Highway 3. By the time I got back to Fernie it was -1 at the base and things were in good shape.
Polar Peak was open so up I went. I have to say I will never understand people who get to the top of White Pass, see Polar open and then don't go up. No one knows the conditions without testing them so why wouldn't you do that ? If they suck you don't go up again and if they are awesome you can loop them having great skiing. As it turned out today the conditions varied from awesome to really sucking and that could be in the space of a couple of turns.
I ran 3 or 4 loops of Papa Bear and found the best snow in the lee of the ridge on skiers right. Skiers left was bit icy in places. I decided to give Grandpapa Bear ago and it was untracked and awesome deep snow in the top. Two turns later I was on breakable ice crust which wouldn't take an edge. I just manged to bail into Papa although I was told that if I had persisted things did get better. On the next lift a patroller buddy told me that they had just opened the Clown Chutes and they were good. At the entrance I thought that maybe he was having a laugh as it was hard crusty and icy. I kept faith and jumped into Crusty Chute blind and found soft deep untracked powder in the chute. It took 4 more laps before I saw anyone else's tracks in there.
I took Mamma Bear as my final drop and it was mostly soft snow but still some icy patches to catch you out. I hiked Lone Fir and the chute skied ok but not as good as the past few days. The cushion underneath of course was soft and deep, great skiing. I tracked across to Spinal Tap and found it a whole lot tougher than yesterday - some of it was soft and other parts were hard ice and there were no obvious visual signs (at least to me) which were which.
We had time for a White Pass loop which we took as Knot Chutes (still good skiing but with the now familiar soft snow/ice mix) and then The first pitch of Triple trees which was super and deep and untracked in many places. Final run was Skydive with 4 of us and as before it was good in the top and hard icy work low down.
With Lynda gone I am having to drive myself so drinking was severely curtailed in the Griz after skiing. When I said I was looking for ways of reducing my beer costs after skiing I didn't mean by drinking less. No real snow in the outlook so I guess it will be more of the same - not entirely inappropriate considering the day after tomorrow is Ground Hog Day - not bad two movie titles in one sentence ! Head for the hills.
The reason for today being a short one for me was that I had to run Lynda to Cranbrook for her flight and missed the middle of the day. As it was I skied until 11 and then ran her to the airport and was back on the hill by 1:30. This meant that I only had a four and a half hour day today but as a buddy pointed out to me many people (perhaps the majority) would look on that as full day's skiing.
Overnight there was only 1 cm of snow but actually there appeared to be bit of wind sift to make the most of the dusting. Temps on the way to the hill were -5 and driving back tonight they were -3. During the day base temps did rise to just below zero but up the hill things stayed well below that and I noticed about -6 at the Polar load late afternoon. It was cloudy and a little socked in on top but during the day the cloud broke a bit and we even had some short periods of sunshine but luckily not enough to do any damage to the snow. I am always amazed at the number of (well you pick a name for them) who go on about how nice it is when the sun comes out. Fact - the direct sunlight creates a crust on the snow that doesn't go away and out of the direct sunlight you get flat light that makes skiing very tough - sun is the enemy of good skiing in Fernie.
We went to the New Side in the hope of getting Polar Peak but had to make do with a few loops of Knot Chutes and Surprise Trees which were soft snow on an icy base and ok skiing. We ran to base through Anaconda (nice fresh blow in to be had in the chutes) and Bootleg which was bit chunkier than yesterday but still ok. It was time to leave the hill and as I was skiing off I heard that Polar was just about to open, well that's how things go. I took the exit down Skydive which just like yesterday was great in the top and pretty challenging mixed snow and ice bumps in the bottom.
The drive to Cranbrook was uneventful and temps got up to +1 but I suspect that was due to getting in the direct sunlight on the tarmac surface of Highway 3. By the time I got back to Fernie it was -1 at the base and things were in good shape.
Polar Peak was open so up I went. I have to say I will never understand people who get to the top of White Pass, see Polar open and then don't go up. No one knows the conditions without testing them so why wouldn't you do that ? If they suck you don't go up again and if they are awesome you can loop them having great skiing. As it turned out today the conditions varied from awesome to really sucking and that could be in the space of a couple of turns.
I ran 3 or 4 loops of Papa Bear and found the best snow in the lee of the ridge on skiers right. Skiers left was bit icy in places. I decided to give Grandpapa Bear ago and it was untracked and awesome deep snow in the top. Two turns later I was on breakable ice crust which wouldn't take an edge. I just manged to bail into Papa although I was told that if I had persisted things did get better. On the next lift a patroller buddy told me that they had just opened the Clown Chutes and they were good. At the entrance I thought that maybe he was having a laugh as it was hard crusty and icy. I kept faith and jumped into Crusty Chute blind and found soft deep untracked powder in the chute. It took 4 more laps before I saw anyone else's tracks in there.
I took Mamma Bear as my final drop and it was mostly soft snow but still some icy patches to catch you out. I hiked Lone Fir and the chute skied ok but not as good as the past few days. The cushion underneath of course was soft and deep, great skiing. I tracked across to Spinal Tap and found it a whole lot tougher than yesterday - some of it was soft and other parts were hard ice and there were no obvious visual signs (at least to me) which were which.
We had time for a White Pass loop which we took as Knot Chutes (still good skiing but with the now familiar soft snow/ice mix) and then The first pitch of Triple trees which was super and deep and untracked in many places. Final run was Skydive with 4 of us and as before it was good in the top and hard icy work low down.
With Lynda gone I am having to drive myself so drinking was severely curtailed in the Griz after skiing. When I said I was looking for ways of reducing my beer costs after skiing I didn't mean by drinking less. No real snow in the outlook so I guess it will be more of the same - not entirely inappropriate considering the day after tomorrow is Ground Hog Day - not bad two movie titles in one sentence ! Head for the hills.
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