Craig's Report - February 2, 1999


Oooh that was good; Two Hours in Paradise

Picture 1
(Trees in the center of Currie)

You can probably already guess that I had a good day. There were probably lots of reasons not to. It was very windy at times and the top of the Timber Chair was a good simulation of riding through a sand blasting chamber; the visibility approached nil in places; the new snow wasn't all that deep and was perhaps a bit heavy. Who cares! It just ripped out there!

The first surprise was when I headed up the Timber lift a little before noon and discovered that Currie Bowl was open. I am so used to new snow meaning that Currie is closed, the possibility of it being open hadn't crossed my mind. The second surprise was how few folks there seemed to be on the hill.

I of course made a bee line over to Currie and was greeted by near white out conditions at the top. I felt my way down through the center trees for a bit before traversing over onto Currie ridge, where to my amazement I was greeted with acres of untracked snow.

 


(On Currie Ridge)

As I cruised down this velvety wonderland, it suddenly occurred to me that I should stop to take a picture. As soon as I stopped I realized how ludicrous it was to interrupt such a lovely set of turns for what would surely be a crummy picture. This report stuff is getting out of hand. <g>

For some reason I rarely ever ski the same run twice in a row, but I scurried back up for another shot at that ridge. This time I traversed in higher and eventually started down in the untracked right under the saddles and apart from crossing a couple of traverse tracks got fresh trackless chutes right to the alder field at the bottom. No pictures or stops this time. <g>

 


(Between Snake Main and Blueberry
)

It is hard to say why the skiing was so good. The snow was certainly good, but not outrageous brochure style fluff. It certainly wasn't the fine scenery. Perhaps it was the ability to get so much untracked along with the ultra smooth silkiness. Certainly this was cruising powder which inspired the confidence to make those big high speed swoops down the steeps. You might say I rather enjoyed it.

The Currie stuff had been so good that I decided to see if my favorites on the old side could match up. Everything except the Face Lift was open, so I decided to try Steep and Deep which is about as favorite as they come. It was a little more work to get there than in Currie, but at least the traverse from the T-Bar had been laid in properly (it has had a tendency to be low this year).

 


(Bottom of Steep & Deep)

There appeared to be a few more tracks at the top, but once I headed down it was largely freshies all the way. Even the exit chute on the skiers right was untracked and smooth. What's more the weed field at the bottom, where the snow often becomes snarly and the alders amorous, was just a delightful little powder slalom course today.

A big factor in all this untracked was undoubtedly the way tracks were rapidly filling in with the combination of heavy snowfall and wind. The relative lack of people sure didn't hurt either.

 


(Easter Bowl)

It just didn't quit. The top of Bear Chutes was mogulled, but once you got into the sticks, there were plenty of fresh turns despite the previous tracks. Easter Bowl was almost completely free of tracks and I got so carried away I almost missed the traverse to the Windows Chutes. That would have been a mistake as they were sweet indeed. I usually cast a schoolmarmish frown at yahoos whooping and wailing on the hill, but I must confess that a little hoot even escaped me as I hit the cat track at the bottom.

 

All this goes to show just how subjective my reports are. If I have a great day, the conditions will undoubtedly sound very good regardless of reality. In my defense though, everyone I spoke to on the lifts seemed to be grinning just as much as me.

At 4:00 PM it is about -3 C at the house and it is just puking out there.

(Click on any picture for a larger version)

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