February 11, 2000

Soft on Top, Hard on the Bottom

The pattern left by the snow and rain earlier in the week continues. The upper part of the mountain, that is pretty much all of White Pass and Face Lift and the upper two thirds of Bear, remains quite pleasant, although it is of course getting more skied out and it seems to me the snow is getting a bit denser. Below this line ice and crust persist, although the action of groomers and traffic is helping. Still there are signs saying Boomerang is not recommended and Boomerang Ridge and presumably other places are closed due to ice.

The official report was pretty accurate today, reporting dense powder in the upper bowls and hard packed on the groomed. If one were to try and read between these lines this time though, you would probably come away with the impression that it was awful out there, when in fact there was some pretty good skiing in that 'dense powder'. The bright light helped cheer things up too, making a pretty decent day possible. It was far from ideal for sure though and a good dose of snow for the lower slopes is very much needed.

At ten to seven this evening, it is -8 C under a partially cloudy sky.