December 29, 1999

Update Dec 31, 1999 - Have a Happy New Year

It is still pretty much the same. There is some blow in in places in the trees, but generally conditions haven't changed. The clouds were higher on the mountain today and the top of the Face Lift was pretty foggy, but things were clear from the top of Bear down. I wasn't over on the new side, but I assume that White Pass might have been in White Out Pass mode today.

It is a bit warmer today with the porch thermometer reporting -3 C under the clouds.

Same old Stuff

Sorry if this is getting monotonous, but there still is no real change in the conditions that have prevailed for the last couple of weeks. The snow is still well used, generally very good on the groomed and variable but not awful off piste. There have been larger crowds the last couple of days and some longer (5 minutes?) line ups on the Deer and Elk chairs, but nothing to really complain about. My wife just came in and said there is a line up of cars leaving the hill from the highway up past Gabriella's, so obviously there must have been quite a few folks here, but the new chairs are absorbing them well.

It was quite a bit windier today and there were banks of clouds swirling about with the result that visibility could go from excellent to nonexistent in seconds. Fortunately good visibility seemed to have the upper hand while we were skiing this afternoon. Perhaps these more unsettled conditions suggest some break in the weather that might mean new snow.

Reading over this, it probably is much more negative in tone than it should be. There may not have been any new snow (some blow in though), but skiing was most definitely fun and I suspect most folks had a very good day - perhaps even the guys who provided us with entertainment by cartwheeling down the south ridge of Currie bowl trying to navigate the tight and choked little chutes from the top. Now if only I had been bright enough to get the camera out. :-)

At 5 PM it is -7 at the house under a partially cloudy sky.