Craig's Report - December 28, 1997

Crowd Damage

It was a family skiing day today and I didn't really get off of the green and blue runs much.    These high traffic areas had certainly suffered from the crowds.   "Not Recommended" signs like this one at the top of Wallaby were all too common and in fact there was another one on lower North Ridge.  This apparently meant that the only recommended route down to the front from Haul Back was on View Trail.   My son and I tried this anyway and can confirm the sign was indeed accurate.   It was possible to get down with out skiing on any of the underlying mountain, but it helped if you could stick to about a three foot wide mogulled path at the side of the run.

The main green runs like Dipsey were not too bad, although there were hazards to be avoided.  Cruiser was in pretty good shape although well mogulled.  Holo hike and Lizard Trail had significant thin areas and were not that pleasant.

The crowds did not seem as large as yesterday, but there were still lots of folks on the hill.  This shot shows the bottom of the Bear T-Bar in the late afternoon and there was still a reasonable line up.

My son Davin took this picture of Freeway from the Bear's Den and it  clearly shows that it is not yet ready for prime time.  We did manage one trip down China Wall today and while skiable, it had degraded significantly since yesterday morning.

All in all it was pretty amazing how a large number of skiers could chew up a nice little dump in just over a day.  Unfortunately the snow predicted for today has not really materialized as of 5:00 PM.  It is cloudy though and just below freezing.

By the way someone told me today that they had heard a rumour that the hill gave me a free ski pass or other goodies for doing these reports.  NOT TRUE!  I only do these for the fun of it and I am not at all certain that the hill might not be more inclined to give me something if I agreed to stop. :-)