Craig's Report - December 18, 1998


A Pretty, but Cold, Hard Day

It snowed pretty hard for a while last night, but petered out much too soon.  This morning found only a centimeter or so of snow down by the house and only a few more up on the hill.  It was however the first sunny day in a while and quite pretty.

(Blueberry and upper Snake Ridge are the sunny bits in this shot).

 

Off trail stuff was still brutal with rock hard frozen moguls and lumps hidden under a light dusting of new snow.  It was probably survivable, but a few turns was enough to convince me that sane people would be skiing the groomed today. A few folks did give it a try though, like these boarders on the punji chutes.  Looks nice, but when I asked how it was, the reply was 'Pretty (expletive deleted) actually'.

 

Many of the groomed runs had improved considerably with the little bit of new snow and Bear in particular was pretty nice.  Of the few others I tried, most ran to firm corduroy but the one lower run I did, Holo Hike, was down right hard and unpleasant.  Even there you could keep an edge, but the ride was not smooth.

(Looking across Lizard Bowl from just before Cascade.  The top of Bear is at the upper left).

It was -9 C this morning, but it seemed much colder on the mountain.  Perhaps the long run of warm weather has left us unacclimatized to the cold, but it seemed much colder up on the mountain and by the time I got back the house the temperature had dropped 2 C there.

It wasn't long before both my toes and my enthusiasm cooled significantly.  It was probably a good day for well dressed cruisers, but not for your truly.

(This is taken on the lower Lizard traverse looking South from just before Cascade, with the Currie notches visible at the top.)

The pictures today don't really add to the narrative much and are just included as fluff.  If anyone would like me to cut back on these or restrict them to something relevant, please let me know.

At noon it is -11 C with a few clouds moving in.

(Click on any picture for a larger version)

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