Over the weekend with the warm daytime temperatures the whole mountain thawed out. No matter where you skied there was corn snow. Not so yesterday. The whole mountain was a solid crust except where it sloped towards the sun. It was cold enough that earlier in the winter the snow would not have softened up at all anywhere on the mountain. But these days the sun is too strong. Strong enough to turn the snow into corn even if the temperature is below freezing.
Still, with the colder temperatures, the slope has to face south and be on the steep side for the sun to work its magic. Skiing into the south bowl was a bit of an act of faith. It was all icy before you entered and you had to have faith it would get soft on the steep slope down below. And if it didn't get soft you would stuck on a super steep icy slope - no fun at all!
So scratch, scratch and a prayer at the top! But our prayers were answered and it was all good once you got onto the steep slope. All spring corn snow in the sunshine. Spectacular.
Then we climbed back up to the top and skied the crust back down to the car. We learned to avoid the frozen ruts of the ski tracks created when the snow was soft - the weekend's fossils. And whenever possible we sought out the south facing slopes.
It was a good day on the mountain.
Patrick
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| Outside of the south bowl this is what the rest of the mountain was like |
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