The reason to celebrate today is that when I was working (over 10 years ago now) 29 was the most number of days I ever managed to ski in a year by way of vacation. Today I have passed that number with about 6 good powder days (more than I ever got in a year when working) under my belt to boot. By my estimate there is well over 100 days of skiing yet to come - I love being retired.
Overnight the reports said that we had 4 cms of fresh which seemed about right but there was some increased build up in the wind affected areas. Forecasts were calling for some form of Armageddon with mercury temps of -15, a wind chill of -32 which could only mean a massive wind storm and a winter storm warning for the whole of the Elk Valley, in the event it was cold but nowhere near the conflagration forecast for the day.
On the way to the hill it was -14 as it was on the way back and up the top of Bear during the day I noticed a temp of -17. It was light snow/flurries all day which at that temp didn't give any great accumulation but the wind remained low so that the forecast wind chills never really came about. The exception to this was Polar Peak where the conditions were predictably brutal with no viz, howling wind, crusty icy snow and wind chill that did probably get to around -30.
We went to the Old Side and found that yesterday's wind had packed the snow in to a nice firm flatish base and the new 4 cms gave a pretty nice skiing surface everywhere went. We toured around New Lift Line and then for the first time this season dropped into the Gulch which was technically closed but we entered from the side and it was tight and technical with a very interesting exit where the stream wasn't covered. I did the obligatory lower Kangaroo which was the best deep soft snow on the hill but very very twiggy and not for the faint hearted.
We spent the rest of the morning in Cedar Ridge, King Fir, Linda's, Boom Ridge and Boomerang guts. In fact we were all over and it was all good light soft snow on a firm base with remarkably little traffic considering it was a Saturday.
This took us through to a late lunch after which it was a New Side afternoon.
Decline - just as good as ever getting even better in the lower section as the snow filled in.
Polar Peak - see earlier remarks, brutal, poor viz, icy and one good powder turn just above the Reverse Traverse.
Lone Fir - not bad soft snow in the chute but surprisingly hard pack in the fan with just a thin covering of fluff.
Spinal Tap - good, tough creek bed skiing in some nice accumulating soft snow but with early season hazards as they say.
Cougar Glades - really nice soft snow starting to accumulate.
Stag Leap - more good soft snow but the new fall in the lower section was just enough to cover the alder roots but were not enough to give you protection, result - a quick trip up, roll over and ski on.
Siberia Ridge - as before, wind affected in the top, sketchy in the choke and great soft free riding below.
It's worth mentioning the Reverse Traverse out to Skydive which has had some work done on it so it is way better than a few days ago but still no stroll in the park. So we got to 4 for the Skydive rip and with 4 of us there, it was great skiing in the top two sections but a bit twiggy in the last. Snow was still accumulating and on the upper sections of the run which were starting to give the effect of powder (sort of) skiing.
It's still snowing and we are still being threatened with all sorts of extreme weather. Temps are now -16 so who knows what tomorrow will hold.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
Day 29 warmer but still pretty brutal
Yes, today the long awaited warm up started (and lets be honest we are not actually talking that warm) but conditions on the hill remained brutal due to the very high winds which close a lot of the hill for a considerable part of the day.
We got to the hill on time today but were delayed because Lynda needed to go to Quest to discuss a problem with the heel bindings on her skis that she bought there at the close of the season last year. They were fantastic, they replaced the binding straight away with no fuss and we were heading for the hill within 20 minutes of walking in the door. This is an outstanding example of excellent customer service and needless to say we will be buying loads more gear there as a result - judge for yourselves.
On the way to the hill it had warmed up to -8 and on the way home tonight it was -7 so it looks like the big freeze is over. We noticed that the Elk Chair was not running as we went to Quest and found out that the whole of the Old Side was closed due to 80 kph winds. The surprising thing was that the New Side was open as there is usually more wind over there and both Timber and White Pass chairs were running albeit in some very high winds.
During the day we had flurries off and on although it was difficult to tell what was coming down from above and what was coming in sideways on the wind. Viz was challenging to put it mildly and sometimes off White Pass you could hardly see the track into Currie bowl which didn't matter much as the wind held you back to not much more than a walking pace - get the picture ?
With only the New Side open we just did Currie loops -
Decline - wind affected but some ok sift in between the bumps on top but getting very soft in the lower section.
Skydive - as the wind had been left to right on Decline we figured that it would be better in Skydive and we were right, rather more sift in the run.
Stag Leap - using the same logic as before we tried Stag Leap and scored a bulls eye in the top with some great soft snow. Lower down it was just as twiggy and sketchy as it has been all season but then that's the price you pay for good skiing.
Cougar Glades - loads of sift dropped in between the trees as anticipated. Because we didn't need to shred close to the trees to get fresh snow we tried the more open right hand lines for the first time this season which were soft and mellow. For the first time this year I dropped the bottom section which was twiggy and just about on the right side of ok.
It is worth mentioning that even though only half of the hill was open this morning and there were some minor hold ups at the lifts, the places we were skiing were deserted. I may have seen a couple of people on the Reverse Traverse but on the actual runs I didn't see a sole all day except the buddies that I was skiing with.
In the afternoon we got word that some, and then all of the Old Side was open but we decided to stick with the New Side -
Decline/Window Chutes - Decline was filling in even more. Window chutes are now best accessed from the drop off down Megasaurus trail and then a cut right into the creek bed, some great soft blow in snow.
Not so Secret Chutes/Spinal Tap - a straight drop off the top of Skydive into some great soft snow which got a bit tighter and a bit steeper as you went down. The right cut into Spinal Tap is still hard to find but worth it as the chute is getting more filled in with soft snow every day. even the creek bed is almost full of snow.
Siberia Ridge - just like before, wind affected in the top, crappy in the choke and wonderful soft terrain free skiing lower down.
The final rip was Skydive with 4 of us showing up for the party. Even more snow had blown in and it was predictably good in the top two sections but distinctly twiggy in the bottom third. One of the best rips of the season followed by beer.
On the way back from the hill it had started to snow quite hard and it is still coming down on the deck as I type this - a sign of things to come I hope.
We got to the hill on time today but were delayed because Lynda needed to go to Quest to discuss a problem with the heel bindings on her skis that she bought there at the close of the season last year. They were fantastic, they replaced the binding straight away with no fuss and we were heading for the hill within 20 minutes of walking in the door. This is an outstanding example of excellent customer service and needless to say we will be buying loads more gear there as a result - judge for yourselves.
On the way to the hill it had warmed up to -8 and on the way home tonight it was -7 so it looks like the big freeze is over. We noticed that the Elk Chair was not running as we went to Quest and found out that the whole of the Old Side was closed due to 80 kph winds. The surprising thing was that the New Side was open as there is usually more wind over there and both Timber and White Pass chairs were running albeit in some very high winds.
During the day we had flurries off and on although it was difficult to tell what was coming down from above and what was coming in sideways on the wind. Viz was challenging to put it mildly and sometimes off White Pass you could hardly see the track into Currie bowl which didn't matter much as the wind held you back to not much more than a walking pace - get the picture ?
With only the New Side open we just did Currie loops -
Decline - wind affected but some ok sift in between the bumps on top but getting very soft in the lower section.
Skydive - as the wind had been left to right on Decline we figured that it would be better in Skydive and we were right, rather more sift in the run.
Stag Leap - using the same logic as before we tried Stag Leap and scored a bulls eye in the top with some great soft snow. Lower down it was just as twiggy and sketchy as it has been all season but then that's the price you pay for good skiing.
Cougar Glades - loads of sift dropped in between the trees as anticipated. Because we didn't need to shred close to the trees to get fresh snow we tried the more open right hand lines for the first time this season which were soft and mellow. For the first time this year I dropped the bottom section which was twiggy and just about on the right side of ok.
It is worth mentioning that even though only half of the hill was open this morning and there were some minor hold ups at the lifts, the places we were skiing were deserted. I may have seen a couple of people on the Reverse Traverse but on the actual runs I didn't see a sole all day except the buddies that I was skiing with.
In the afternoon we got word that some, and then all of the Old Side was open but we decided to stick with the New Side -
Decline/Window Chutes - Decline was filling in even more. Window chutes are now best accessed from the drop off down Megasaurus trail and then a cut right into the creek bed, some great soft blow in snow.
Not so Secret Chutes/Spinal Tap - a straight drop off the top of Skydive into some great soft snow which got a bit tighter and a bit steeper as you went down. The right cut into Spinal Tap is still hard to find but worth it as the chute is getting more filled in with soft snow every day. even the creek bed is almost full of snow.
Siberia Ridge - just like before, wind affected in the top, crappy in the choke and wonderful soft terrain free skiing lower down.
The final rip was Skydive with 4 of us showing up for the party. Even more snow had blown in and it was predictably good in the top two sections but distinctly twiggy in the bottom third. One of the best rips of the season followed by beer.
On the way back from the hill it had started to snow quite hard and it is still coming down on the deck as I type this - a sign of things to come I hope.
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