Craig's Report - January 30, 1997 - 4:30 PM

Griz Get's His Powder Wet

A light rain started last night and it was pouring when the kids went to school this morning. It stopped before noon though and the trees on the upper mountain were still white, so I decided to do some damage reconnaissance late this afternoon. The sign at the bottom of the Quad informed me that there was powder on top, but it was a tad wet down below. Powder on top eh? The large number of folks skiing in baggies and the runoff tracks in the snow made me think who ever wrote this probably also had a nice selection of bridges for sale.

Everything was closed except for the Boomerang runs and Cedar Ridge, so I hopped into Cedar and sure enough that powder was Cedar Cement. Still it was quite manageable, particularly where undisturbed, but having "Centered" written on the inside of your goggle wouldn't have hurt. On the way up the Haul Back I met a fellow who had just arrived from the Maritimes for the rest of the season and he commented that it was a pretty good day. This struck me as rather unbridled enthusiasm, but in a way he was right on several counts. Despite the limited open terrain there were still lots of spots where you could find snow that was not yet chopped up and as long as you played with it nicely it gave you a pretty nice ride down. It also provided lots of negative reinforcement to help you get over any niggling little technique problems and there was a definite sense of accomplishment at arriving at the bottom slippery side down. <g> In fact the snow was a carving delight everywhere, it was just heavy and unforgiving.

Some folks, like this guy on Bear, didn't seem to see these good points. <g> (Note the closed sign beside the Bear T-Bar). In fact I saw several people walking down Bear, but there seemed to be a large school group at the hill, apparently brought in to entertain the rest of us. <G>

The bottom line was that I actually had quite a bit of fun and interesting skiing was certainly possible. Unfortunately I overheard a ski patrol on a liftie's radio say they were expecting it to clear up and get colder tonight. If that happens I don't think too many folks will want to venture off of whatever is groomed.