Craig's Report - December 06, 2006Just About ThereWith the hill opening in less than three days and nothing disastrous in the forecast, things continue to look good for a smooth start to the season. While there has been no significant snow this week and the temperature is ominously creeping past the freezing mark down at the base, it seems likely that the groomed runs at least will be in very good shape when the lifts start. Off piste will of course be what it will be, but at the moment a mild wind crust seems common. When I broke down and lugged my alpine skis up a couple of days ago, this crust was quite manageable and sheltered spots were still delightful. Memories of clomping uphill in those cinder blocks masquerading as boots encouraged me to use my XC stuff today on a final trip up to check out the new Lost Boy�s Cafe. As a result I did not venture off of the groomed, but from what I could see, the conditions still seemed similar. While the start of season base looks quite good, you won�t mistake it for one in February of a good year. There are still lots of alders and other weedy things loitering about and I am sure the snow snake crowd is waiting in eager anticipation. However things like Cedar Ridge, Linda�s run etc. look quite tempting and generally easily passable with a bit of route picking. The new restaurant at the top of Timber is looking rather attractive, but is still alive with workers trying to get the last bits done. Some folks have commented that they think it is rather small and certainly it isn�t huge, but it isn�t tiny either and would be considered enormous in a place like downtown London. It would definitely be too small to serve as a supplementary daylodge cafeteria. but I believe it is supposed to be more of an up market niche place and for that it would appear appropriate. Of course it will all depend on how much traffic it ends up attracting, so I guess time will tell. At 16:30 it is 0 C at the house and overcast.
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