December 22, 2000

Rock Skis and the Blues

Yep, leave the good uns at home and bring the rockers if ya got em. On the way up to the hill today I was debating whether to take out my new wonder skis, on which I dance the slopes like Fred and Ginger (in my dreams) or go with my sad, bent, whapped out old rock skis where the image is more like Moe and Curly do the tango (alas this is reality). However at the locker I discovered that Wednesday's excursion had resulted in a nasty core shot on the old skis and heard talk of ski techs burning the midnight P-Tex over a flood of wounded skis (okay I exaggerated that last bit, but I hear they are quite busy). This was more than enough to convince me that my beloved Banditos would be locker lizards for a while yet.

Even clad in my "I don't give a damn" armor, I was picky about where I went and that largely meant staying on the groomed blues. Most of these are really in very good shape and I have very good rides down North Ridge, Bear, Wallaby, Holo Hike and even Cruiser, although some extra vigilance was required on the latter. I also found some pretty decent skiing in the gully on the extreme right of Sunnyside, even on upper Dancer, although it was a shrub fest.

About the only thing I tried with a significant pitch was Boom Ridge and while there was grass and mashed twigs in many of the troughs, no base shredding, edge ripping meanies seemed to be evident. The moguls are growing of course, but for now it is pretty decent.

I even ventured back to the new side, but just took the long trip down Falling Star through Siberia Bowl. The upper part of this was remarkably nice as long as one focused on the nice views and quiet surroundings rather than seeking any adrenaline rushes. Deep Sea is now open, but did not look very appealing.

A couple of runs are definitely suffering, in particular Lizard Trail which has become a main route to the new Bear Chair. Lots of rocks, lot s of traffic combined with a relatively narrow run and large speed differences could make this puppy an absolute hazard once the crowds arrive. Unfortunately the upper part of Dipsey is also quite rocky, so the best route the chair is probably down Elk.

It did snow today and the hill may have received 10 cms or so, but it was low density stuff (the powder we normally crave) and probably not all that helpful at base building. This is the lowest starting base I can recall and I spoke with a fellow who has skied here almost every day since time started and he thought only 1975, when the hill didn't open until boxing day, was comparable. :-(

At 4:00 PM it is mainly cloudy and -8 C at the house.


Bear wasn't always this busy, but it was one of the more popular runs. There were no line ups.

Cedar Center - hmmmm?

Boomerang from its name sake chair.

A boarder does the Sunnyside weeds.

Dancer was well named today.

The good strip on Boom Ridge.

Flat, but delightful. The tranquility of Falling Star.

The Morning Glory trees don't appear to be quite ripe yet.