Craig's Report - January 19, 1999

Limited Terrain

(Above Gully between Cedar Ridge and Cruiser)

My sole goal today was to try and finally grab some runs off of White Pass into Currie Bowl, but I wasn't even close. The Timber Chair ground to a halt two chairs before I was to load and it appeared they would have to use the auxiliary to slowly wind the poor dangling sods trapped on the chair up to the top.

(Widened lower Boom Ridge)

Over at the Elk Chair a sign reported that the White Pass chair had been closed in any event and up top it turned out that Upper Lizard beyond Arrow and Upper Cedar and all points beyond were closed due to avalanche hazard. :-(

(Top of Bear Chutes)

Since I had other things I had to get done, this had the making of a very short day. The snow wasn't bad, especially since the light drizzle at the house last night had been less than promising. There was a blanket of new dense snow that was still quite carvable, but I didn't find it nearly as pleasant as yesterday's offering.

There were exceptions though. In this section of the Bear Chutes the old ice had been quite evident under the powder, but today's denser snow almost completely masked it.

(Tele in the Trees - Bear Chutes)

When you got down to just above the traverse to Bear the that grating sound reappeared, but the skiing was still fairly good. Hmmm, it might have been better than that and perhaps I should start including a grumpy factor for use in interpreting my comments. ;-)

The skiing on groomed was good, although almost a bit slushy lower down.

At 2:10 PM it is a disgusting 2C at the house with what appears to be snow falling.

(Click on any picture for a larger version)