Craig's Report - February 5, 1999


More of the same

Picture 1
(Near the top from White Pass Chair)

Another day, more boot high dense powder, yawn. :-)

There did seem to be more folks on the hill today though and consequently more tracks. I didn't go out until just before lunch though and was still able to get some freshies.

 


(The Saddles from Lizard side)

Upper Lizard Bowl was open (but not the Face Lift), so I took the opportunity to try skiing into Lizard from the saddles. The top was either wind blown or side slip scraped and snow blowing over the saddle made the surface essentially invisible for the first couple of turns. This was a bit spooky on a new slope this steep, but after those first two or three turns the visibility and soft stuff both returned. As the chute widened out to be the whole bowl, finding a fresh lane was not hard.


 

Picture 1
(Gun tower and patroller's hut at top of White Pass)

Anyone who has been to the top of White Pass in the summer has to be impressed by the amount of snow up there now. In particular I seem to recall having to climb a flight of stairs followed by a ladder to get up to the deck on that tower. While one knows that there are meters of snow up here, it is still amazing when you see something that really drives it home.

While there was plenty of dense powder and chopped powder, there were lots of moguls too. There were generally soft and I found the ones on Sunnyside in particular to be soft and nicely shaped despite being a fair size. However on one of my transfer runs from Timber to White Pass I did a cruise down Puff and found actually some spots which required using an edge. <g>

Down low on the groomed runs the snow was still soft, but rather on the sticky side, especially when compared to the silk of yesterday.

 


(Tree Chutes into Currie)

These tree chutes on the south side Currie look like they might be worth putting on my agenda. Certainly not everything on this ridge is on my to do list though as I have become rather attached to this old body.

 

Picture 1
(The center of Currie and the very tasty chutes on the North side)
Although all of these chutes on the north side of Currie are designated on the trail map as black diamonds, there is now a big double black diamond sign on the traverse in. While all of this is at least moderately steep, for the most part it doesn't seem harder than Cedar Ridge to me. However it does have some spots that are definitely in the double black category and since there isn't really much in the way of demarcation of runs (I never have a clue what 'run' I am on), perhaps folks were getting into spots where they really didn't want to be.

 

 

It seemed much warmer today at the base, but at 4:45 PM it is only 0C at the house under a gray sky.

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