Craig's Report - February 15, 2007

Weather Report Roulette

The snow that was promised for last night didn�t start until this morning, but by noon it was up to about 4 or 5 cms and close to 10 by the end of the day. This may not sound like all that much, but the high density creamy powder was just what was needed to tame the remaining crunchies and the result was probably the best skiing in two or three weeks. Day time dumps are my favorite, for almost everything stays open (the Face Lift closed around noon and late in the day so did the Cedar high traverse) and there rarely are enough folks to consume all that falls. So it was today, with my still being able to get a nice line of new freshies right down Cornice Chute on my last run of the day.

Minor niggles might be that visibility was often rather limited and the occasional crunch could still be heard, but neither put much of a dent in my enjoyment. The only real concern was the temperature, which hovered around the freezing point at the base. While the snow stayed creamy down to the last lift tower or two above the bottom before starting to get sticky, there are rather conflicting forecasts about what is to come.

The Environment Canada forecast for Sparwood (about 30 km away and normally a tad cooler) calls for a high on Saturday of a blistering 9 C. On the other hand the ski hill forecast, which is usually better than average, is forecasting a high of -1 C, but that is probably at the snow plot level and so would agree with Snow-Forecast.com�s prediction of +1 C at the bottom. The Weather Network takes a middle ground with a high of +5 C. One can only hope that the ski hill forecast is the correct one.

At the house at 17:30 it is +1 C and is now raining. :-(


There were sweet turns in and around Cornice Chute. Yes the picture is straight, but not all of the trees are.

The trees beside Bow with computer enhanced visibility.

The glades in the center of Ceder were, like almost everything, very nice.

This shot was taken from the same spot zooming in on a gaggle of folks on Cruiser who seemed to be making up for their lack of experience in soft snow with lots of enthusiasm and laughter.

Looking down Freeway with Giggly Gully and Lizard Trail below.

Same spot, but slightly different angle, with the Bears Den at the very top and left.