December 11, 1999

Update Dec 12, 1999 - Rain :-(

Yeah, it has rained all day today at the base and that certainly dampened enthusiasm in our family. Still I went out for a few runs (sans camera) and it wasn't too bad, albeit rather humid. The rain turned to wet snow before almost before you were clear of the Highline subdivision and at the top there was some nice new stuff. It was hardly fluff, but it was not too bad. It did get pretty heavy somewhere around the top of the Haul Back, but still seemed to ski pretty well to me. Avalanche closures had much of the hill shut and when I was leaving I heard that all of Lizard was being closed. Not surprisingly the hill was almost deserted, despite the rather good conditions up top. The base area is starting to look pretty rough though as there wasn't much snow there to begin with.

At quarter to five it is 1 C at the house and still raining.

Griz performs an encore

Apparently Griz is now in the spirit of the game, for he followed up yesterdays 22 cm opening dump with another 24 cm for this morning. While it did get a little heavier down low later in the day, it started off pretty light, so needless to say the conditions were excellent. Already more twigs were covered, although as my son and I can attest, places like parts (most?) of the Bear Chutes were essentially impassable without benefit of a machete.

The additional snow also meant lots of avalanche closures, but such tasty spots as Cedar Ridge and lower Cedar Bowl were open and like yesterday, the crowds were light.

This is really just an old side report, for we simply avoided the new side altogether, partly in deference to the pristine demo skis I was trying but also because with lots of excellent skiing available on the old side, no one was in a hurry to dodge the hazards in the new areas. If Griz keeps up the good work though, that consideration should disappear pretty soon.

At six fifteen it is 2 C :-( at the house and overcast with a bit of wind (there were occasional big wind gusts up on the hill during the day).