Craig's Report - December 10, 1998

Christmas Chairs?

I heard yesterday that the hill has now officially announced that the new chairs won't be opening on the 18th of Dec.  The new word, and they were quite insistent on the wording, is "Leitner Lifts anticipates the new lifts will be open Dec 25".   Hmmm.

While it isn't obvious from a casual glance, I have heard the lift installation company is pulling folks in from all over to get this done.

There has been no new snow in the last couple of days and all the main runs are well packed out, which is a bit anticlimactic after our initial powder frenzy.  The skiing is still very good though with nicely carvable snow everywhere and soft stuff still waiting just a ways off of the beaten track in places like Snake Ridge (in the background of this shot from the centre of Cedar Bowl) and Easter Bowl.

On my way to Snake I encountered this group of snowboarders enjoying a traditional Aussie game of body divoting. <g>  Actually I don't think they were Australian, but it sounds better that way.

Once on Snake it wasn't hard to find places to make your own tracks.  Out in the open there was something of a wind slab, which meant paying a bit more attention to detail in the turns, but in more sheltered areas like the skiers left of Red Tree, the snow was still soft and plentiful.  I did a run down to left of Snake Main and into lower Extreme Hazard and in the process discovered that the alders seemed much denser up close and personal than they appeared from across the valley.  Good route picking skills or a machete are recommended. Alas I had neither.

Easter Bowl also sported lots of soft stuff, although again it was a bit wind packed out in the open. My run out on Incline found nicely groomed and carvable stuff down to almost the very bottom where a few dark flecks started to appear here and there.  Not a problem, but esthetically unpleasing. <g>

At 2:40  PM it is about -1 C at the house and overcast.

(Click on any picture for a larger version)