Jay's Report - December 30, 2004

The Griz Came Back the Very Next Day

It never snows in Fernie. It just dumps. But that�s only part of it. After it dumps, you sometimes need to be on the right side of divine intervention to be at the right place at the right time and be fully blessed by the Fernie experience. You need to arrive at the top of the Bear Chair, for instance, at the very moment the Cedar Bowl is opened. Like we did on the 27th. Behold the telling of the pictures. True, it was a bit of an exertion to traverse over to the Cedar Bowl, but having done that, the reward was plentiful. I heard tell that Snake Ridge, Redtree and Steep and Deep were equally gratifying. We managed four circuits in that area before anyone else showed up to the party. Timing is everything.

That was the 27th. Powder stashes were more scarce on the 28th but softies could be found on the shaded areas like King Fir and One, Two, Three. The sunny areas like Snake Ridge and Concussion were a tad inconsistent. There was a temperature inversion the last couple of days that made the White Pass side sunny and the Boom side cloud covered. Temperatures have been in the 2 to 7 below range. Perfect really.

There was a fluffy but brief dump on the 29th. And so we skied on powder packed slopes and sunny skies and awaited the return of the local snow God, the Griz. And then the Griz came back the very next day. The Griz came back, he never went away; making today a great ski day, particularly on the Cedar side. Even Linda�s run was sufficiently dusted for fresh turns. King Fir, Sunny Side and even Boomerang Ridge offered it up well. At the house it�s about 5 below and it�s dumping. Hard.

Dump or no dump, there is an odd serenity to simply being in the mountains these days, on higher ground.