January 08, 2002

Craig's FAR Update 2002/1/8:
Avoid the Crowds - Ski the Rain

Yes it is still raining, perhaps not as much as yesterday, but it was still pretty damp out there and lift lines were definitely not a problem. It was raining at least as high at the top of Bear (I did not even bother with the new side). On the bright side, when I was last up there at little past two, it had turned to snow at the very top.

The damage was fairly severe on some of the lower runs and in particular Dipsey and Lizard Trail below the Bear's Den were back to their rock garden form of last year. The skier's left of North Ridge below the top of the Haul Back was pretty rough too, although the left side was still okay. Many or most of the other lower runs had at least a few ugly spots, but in general they were easy to avoid.

Actually the groomed runs had some pretty nice skiing if you didn't mind the rain and the difficulty in seeing though the drops on your goggles. Off trail it was a bit of a different story. A sign at the top of Boom warned against leaving the groomed runs due to the extremely challenging conditions and smart folks would certainly have heeded the advice. However I can report that in places like Cedar Ridge and Sunnyside, it was a bit like what I imagine skiing in deep slightly crusted meringue might be like. I normally only sank about ankle deep into this wet cement, but occasionally I would punch right through a rotten mogul for a little added excitement. Getting fresh tracks was no problem though and on the very odd occasion I even made a semi respectable turn.

Except for Cedar Ridge, all of Cedar Bowl was closed as was Lizard above Tower Six road and all of Currie and from what I heard much of Timber. My knees were thankful for this.

At a quarter to four it is 2 C at the house and morbidly humid.