Heinz's Report - February 02, 2004

Groomers, Cruisers and Bruisers

The great snow conditions that we experienced last week when it snowed over 1 meter of new snow in 5 or 6 days came to an abrupt end this past Friday when the R word occurred and basically capped the festivities. Hence, the only real skiing left since then has been the groomed runs. Off-piste was variable to say the least.

The grooming has kept the skiing tolerable but after a number of fast ripping runs on very hard and firm conditions, one tends to start sniffing around on the mountain to see what, if anything, soft can be found. For the young and hardy there is always the hike up Polar or upper Cedar Bowl which is getting a fair bit of traffic this year. Of course, one can always hike up to the top of the �open� face lift. It�s hardly been running this year and FAR has seen fit to call it open this year when one can hike up, even though the lift is not running. A whole new concept in lift serviced terrain, eh?

I tried various lines and came to the following personal conclusions:

  • Cedar ridge - pass.
  • Sunnyside � pass.
  • Concussion � ok if you can stand the constant flow of chunky cookies going past you. The fact that it is well skied out makes it skiable, thanks to the hardy souls who broke up the crust before me.
  • Boomerang � pass.
  • 1-2-3 � ok, soft but quite slabby in parts, will get better with traffic.
  • Diamond Back � definitely a pass � I think I saw some bodies off in the trees who gave up trying to exit it after making the wrong call. Going back to Surprise wasn�t any better. Hang on to your edges mates!
  • Snake � very nice up top. The crust was solid and you didn�t break through much, but getting out was a real chore. Looks tempting, but how the hell do you get out of it?
  • Mike took us into Fish which was nice but well skied out and the drop was so short for all that effort.
  • The only good things I can say about this current state of affairs is that the groomers have been opening up a fair bit of new territory. There is a new line off to skier�s left of Gilmar�s trail in Currie which takes a lot of traffic off Gilmar and actually makes for a very nice ski down from the top of Concussion all the way down the left side of Currie Bowl. Also, the meter or so of new snow last week with the hard cap of frozen crust on top of it has really packed down the alders in Snake. I have finally managed to find a complete line down from the top of Gorby Bowl, even with the death crust at the bottom.

    And oh yah, it�s nice to see the sun for a change.

    At 4:30 it�s sunny outside, minus 8 Celsius outside. There�s no new snow in the foreseeable future, maybe Saturday. Maybe it�s a good time to go away for a few days�.

    Heinz - heinzr@far.redtree.com



    Smoothly groomed North Ridge. A great run to let loose and feel the air rush by you.

    Widely groomed Bear. This run has been excellent all year and continues to be a great cruiser.

    The many faceted cookies on Sunnyside. I can pass on this one.

    The top of Snake Main. Actually not bad. Some light loose stuff on a very firm crust that you won�t break through much.

    The top of Gorby Bowl. The alders are gone, the alders are gone, the alders are gone, but�

    The bottom of Gorby Bowl is a death trap!

    Dave in Fish. Is that some fluff kicking up over his boots?

    Mike in Fish. I think he skied it for three days in a row and has taken up all of the good lines!