Craig's Report - November 14, 2007

Anxious Times

It is the time of the year that we snow addicts start casting hopeful eyes on the skies and paying undo attention to weather reports. We are,of course, all anxious to learn if this is going to be a good Griz year, or one of those deadbeat Griz years. True, there are still three and a half weeks until the scheduled opening and Fernie folk know that the real action in pre season snow usually happens in late November, but we also know that occasionally it doesn't happen until late December and early and heavy deposits to the base bank go a long way towards soothing nerves.

Alas there has been little comfort for snow worriers, for as recently as three days ago there was little more than a skiff of snow up at the Bear snow plot and nothing at all down here. Then two days ago a storm blew in with lots of rain and enough wind that yesterday was spent in the backyard with scary Mr. Chainsaw dismembering tree parts like some sort of arboreal Dexter. I did get up top today though and found perhaps 15 or 20 cm of fairly dense snow that looked like it might have taken up residence for the winter.

Unfortunately by the time one got down to the Bear's Den this had dwindled to only about 2 cm, with perhaps half a centimetre of icy crust at the Bear Chair load and bare ground down at the base. Still it is a start and hopefully suggests the Griz is back on the case.

At 16:40 it is 0 C at the house and the sky is mainly clear.