December 27, 1999

Vista's for Holiday Visitors

It was a truly gorgeous day up on the mountain and while it featured the same old snow, the views alone made the skiing. In fact the snow is holding up pretty well and there was lots of good, albeit firm pack, skiing. There are rocks to watch out for in places, particularly in Timber Bowl below the top of the Timber Chair, but there was lots of good cruising and nice (and some not so nice) moguls.

There were a lot more folks here today and I heard rumours that they pressed the parking lot by the highway into service, but if so it sure wasn't obvious on the hill. For the most part line ups consisted of a few folks skiing up before you and probably the longest I waited was two or three minutes at the Bear T-Bar. We even got a table in the day lodge bar at the end of the day!

This is of course the first Christmas that the Timber and White Pass chairs have been running and the lack of lineups might well have been due to their hauling ability rather than a lack of numbers. There certainly were folks on the hill, but it didn't seem congested except in a few places. Even Heartland was usually free flowing, presumably helped by the new bypass that leads to Highline. Still one of our skiing companions managed to have a snow boarder run into her from behind on that trail and while he at least stopped and asked if she was all right, I for one did not hear any apology. Stuff happens, but a little courtesy and common sense would go a long ways to avoiding problems in these crowed areas.

That brings to mind the suggestion that the ski hill put some sort of fencing up where the trail from lower Silver Fox cuts through below where they store snow making equipment and over to the base of the Timber Chair. This trail is narrow at its exit and folks coming from Timber Bowl often cut right by it at speed and at right angles to the exiting skiers. A bit of fencing to keep these folks out a bit would give the emerging skiers a chance to see what is coming and avoid it.

At 6:45 PM it is -7 C and cloudy at the house.

The Elk Valley from the top of the Face Lift. The top of the Bear lift is in the lower right.

Tara and friends motor down Sun Up.

Mt. Fernie, the Three Sisters and Mt Proctor from the top of the Timber Express.

A river of cloud seems to flow South down the Elk Valley. The top of the Timber Express chair is in the sun at the lower center with Timber Bowl in front of it and Siberia Bowl behind it.

Looking South East again from high in the Concussion Chute, with the sun just catching the tree tops on the ridges.

Lizard Bowl is in the foreground in this shot taken from the ridge separating it from Currie Bowl.