February 02, 2002

Adjective Quandary

The English languages needs a better range of upper end adjectives, for while the conditions were very good today, perhaps even great, they were not quite so great as we have been enjoying. I heard excellent reports about yesterday, not surprising given the snow depth in my beleaguered driveway, but I did not get out until after noon today and by then the weekend warrior mogul making machine had expertly fulfilled its task. Now these were about the nicest soft packed moguls you could imagine, but there were still moguls after all. :-)

I did manage to find some uncut in the hinterlands and while it was still delightful, it was somewhat denser than it has been, perhaps due to warmer temperatures. While lovely to ski, one did have to pay at least a bit of attention as compared to that wonderful swizzle stick feeling in true fluff. As is often the case, the bits in the trees seemed rather nicer than the more exposed stuff.

The upper parts of both Lizard and Cedar Bowls were closed today, apparently as a result of a slide in Cedar yesterday that crossed into open terrain. I only have chairlift gossip on this, but the word from there was that no one had been hurt, but this is certain to make the patrol even more nervous.

It is a little after five and the temperature at the house is now -1 C (it had been +1 when I went skiing) and the sky is lightly overcast.



Cedar bowl viewed from North Ridge. I believe yesterday's slide probably came down about in the center of this picture.

A steady stream of warriors heads off to the Currie Chutes.

But if you picked the right place, it was pretty quiet. That is probably Barracuda out there.

Downhill shots always look flat, but you might notice that those close branches at the top of the picture belong to the more distant trunk at the bottom. Still in the Currie Chutes (well between them really).

Griz Peak looks down on the top of Cedar Center.

In the Windows Chutes.

It was cardboard downhill day and while I missed the race I came across this monster at the base of the hill (those are full sized folks walking by).

A friend navigates Elk on his first day snowboarding. He did remarkably well, making turns both ways and generally flirting with control - particularly amazing given that his native Mexico is rather short on the white slippery stuff.