Super Sift, Morrisey Ridge and A Different Kind of Sliding

The Griz has taken a few days off it appears, allowing the skies to clear for the first time in weeks. The snow is deeper than I’ve seen ever it. Residents are coping by shoveling off their roofs, digging trenches to their front doors and even boarding up their windows so that the snow banks don’t push through. I’ve only been skiing sporadically the last few weeks, having suffered a broken foot from a ski related incident. More about that later.

Super sift made the Boomerang side rather tasty the last few days. An odd directional wind swept the Boomerang side, moving sift around and filling in tracks like a drywaller’s tool. It also made Boomerang strangely flat – no bumps. It was awesome; especially when you carved hard and the sift you kicked up would sweep around and run up your back. Very cool. Snake Ridge was tons of fun in the sun and soft packed powder. There’s so much snow even the entry to Gorbys is Blueish. Crowds have been skittish. Lineups appear out of nowhere and then suddenly vanish.

In an effort to avoid the Family Day crowds, a few of us went CAT skiing with Fernie Wilderness Adventures for a day. Fernie Wilderness Adventures operates on Morrisey Ridge. If you are standing on the top of White Pass and look East, that is Morrissey Ridge you see across the landscape. It’s a good operation and a fine way to soak up some powder and avoid ski hill crowds. Often it’s possible to book in for a day on relatively short notice. The skiing was great, knee top powder on a sunny, blue backdrop. Good fun. Highly recommended.

About the broken foot. A patented Fernie activity at a local bar is a thing called table sliding. It involves foolishly hurling yourself across a beer ridden table of an approximate length of 30 feet or so. If you get to the end and slap the post at the end you get a round of applause and possibly a free pint. Here’s the thing - the table is shockingly slippery. You will accelerate faster than the speed you started with once you make contact with the table. Here’s the other thing – the table is also concave; so unless you nail it just right, you will slide off at a startling speed. If you try this and fall off, don’t stick your foot out.