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I had worried in yesterday's report about what would happen if the wet snow were to freeze and today I got my answer. It wasn't as bad as I feared, for it was accompanied by some additional snow and the loose stuff did not freeze completely solid. Still on all but the highest parts of the mountain it was crunchy or icy or both.

The top half of White Pass was the exception and folks who were there when most of it opened reported great skiing as they got to cut new tracks for a few runs. When we happened upon it later though, it was thoroughly chopped and in fact generally mogulled. It was still very nice skiing down to about the flats below Knot Chutes, but there were rather a lot of folks in a pretty small area. It was the only place we saw any lines, although even here they were modest.

Currie, Easter, Lizard beyond Arrow and Cedar above the Boom traverse were all still closed this afternoon and I heard that Currie at least, never opened.

Looking up towards the top of Bear from upper Cedar Ridge. This is about the limit of the good snow, for the crust and ugly bits began about this point. Cedar was closed above the traverse from Boomerang.

The Great North Ridge Ice Sheet. Many runs had broad bands of ice with fluffy islands.

The top of White Pass chair is up there somewhere in the fog. It was only about a three chair day in the visibility department at the top.

While this looks nice, the crusty snow and semi frozen lumps made it less than ideal.

March 05, 2000

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