Jay's Report - February 21, 2005

Paying Homage

The big four - sun, snow, ski and suds were in abundance the last few days. Like many, I over indulged on all four. The sky was in your face blue. Conditions, though a bit icy in spots, were grand. If you hiked above Face or Snake, you were rewarded with softies abound. I�ve even forgotten about sitting on the Elk Chair for half an hour while the hill sorted out an apparent power outage. For some spooky reason, this always seems to happen on Family Day weekend.

There were many romping spots to hit, on and off the hill. Starting with the Northern Pub on Friday, where a herd of 40 somethings pretended it was the 80�s again with a rockin band. On the hill, it didn�t matter where you were, the skiing was all too good. I found Diamond Back to be particularly scrumptious. Even Stag Leap offered up great powd on the upper two-thirds. You still had to respect your alders on runs like Redtree, lower Snake and the lower third of Stag Leap, but the general blend of conditions kept the mood good. One, two, three also deserves honorable mention.

So let us pay homage to the Griz, for flanking us with another 6 inches on Sunday. And let us pay homage to the ski patrol, who have been busting their rumps doing painstaking avalanche safety procedures without the assistance of an avalancher. Let us also pay homage for the 40 somethings that tried to prove they were in their 20�s again only to awake in quakes of regret the following morning with enough shrapnel to punish the soul.