March 27, 2002

It isn't pretty skiing when a spring day forgets to thaw. A couple of centimeters of new and a bit of blow in did help and some off piste stuff like Cedar Ridge was tolerable, although the persistent raucous scrapes and frozen lumps kept it well outside of the enjoyable zone. I was lucky enough to get a couple of nice quiet and soft turns, but they really weren't worth the price of admission.

A trip down North Ridge below the haul back brought an opportunity to go for high score while ricocheting off the small fluffy bumpers on its frozen pinball surface and Sunny Side was just plain evil with snowballs frozen so firmly in place you wouldn't have been able dislodge them with a sand wedge.

It was pretty clear that these conditions were unlikely to get many juices flowing in my aging powder brat soul, but I did stoically head up to the top of White Pass for a quick look around. After the delights on Sunny Side I decided to indulge in a rare bit of sanity and stick to the groomed. Even snoozy Currie Powder was able to dish up a bit of interest though, for in a short stretch a near white out of wind driven snow made it all but impossible to see the polished ice surface. Below this was a herd of nervous looking intermediates doing such excellent deer in the head lights routines, that I felt obliged to slip over to the ungroomed for fear of startling them. As it turned out the frozen lumps were probably better skiing than the frozen flat anyway.

I should point out most groomed runs were actually not too bad, although hardly outstanding. Also the very bottom of the hill and I do mean very bottom, did melt sufficiently to lure the unsuspecting.

At 15:40 it is 3 C at the house and overcast.