Jay's Report - January 12, 2004

Of Moose and Men

The most noticeable event of the week was the change in weather from minus 33C to minus 3C in the span of 5 days. Snow coverage remained complete with a fresh 8 to 10 cm on Thursday night. Perfect weather for Avalanche Awareness Week.

Without a warm up, we went up Timber on Friday and leaped into Big Bang on our way over to White Pass. The snow was new, fresh and luring but a tad on the heavy side. It wasn't snot, nor paper mache but just a little on the heavy side compared to what we've had so far this year. Run selection was key. Corner Pocket looked like the perfect call, but it wasn't. Corner Pocket, even on a good day, is a little tricky getting into. It's a drag when you go to the effort of accessing it only to find snow that skis like saturated toilet paper. Our friend Tony from New York was beginning to wonder what these local boys were getting him into. We didn't panic. We found plenty of untouched lines with lighter snow on Surprize Trees. The trees seemed to keep the snow a little drier. So stay in the trees we did.

Entertaining us along the way was Kevin from Calgary whose insatiable appetite for big air down steep, bump riddled runs was a spectators' delight. Of course, yours truly and the other 40 somethings along for the ride also flaunted the best of our air to less graceful but equally entertaining landings (read crashes). Men. But the bumps were soft, impact absorbing, and sufficiently forgiving to leave us physically intact; and, though emotionally wounded, we didn't have to call for the yellow taxi this time. Stagleap was superb on the weekend, as were Decline and Skydive. Diamond Back remained outstanding all day Saturday down the mainly untracked sides. Over the weekend the temperatures warmed to plus 3C. But it didn't rain and the snow, though a little heavy, remained light enough for good turns and good times. All and all, great skiing all weekend. I would mention the crowds but there weren't any, so I won't. But I will mention the moose. There are two large moose that are making a name for themselves at the hill. We literally staggered into them after an evening of dinner and wine at Lizard Creek. The one pictured on the right was the better looking one. It followed us for a while and from time to time indicated a eagerness to mate with Kevin. They always go for the athletic ones.

Jay - jay@far.redtree.com