Richard's Report - Tuesday, 13 August 2013 2:14:00 PM

One Of The Top Five Days

It snowed overnight and more than replaced the damage done during yesterday's 28mm of rain.

The weekend had been very windy and the snow pack super hard packed despite the sunshine. Having found my best turns on Saturday just out of the resort I decided go venture further on Sunday. I didn't need skins as the snow pack was so firm. The 70+kph winds limited how far I went and even late in the morning the snow pack was firmer than on Saturday. Coming back early and skiing the Supertrail I found it deep in sugar on skiers' left and polished concrete to skiers' right. There was a narrow but more enjoyable line between both.

Monday was a shocker as it rained most of the day. I don't do rain.

This morning the village was covered in white once more. The wind up top was running up to 90kph driving the wind-chill down to -21C but you wouldn't have known it standing in line this morning awaiting the opening of Kosi chair.

Awesome wind drifts and evil ice sheets. I popped both skis on turn 5 (first run) under the top of Kosi chair. I couldn't see the ice sheet between to nice deep wind blown. I had another indiscretion in the Basin where again I could not see the ice sheet at the end of the wind drift. As the visibility improved my navigation also improved. The wind drifts were great and in some surprising places. I had some of my best turns in the Basin this morning before being blown off. Rim Run provided nice powder as did Sponars after its late start. Crews were still working to get Karels de-iced when I left the area. Wiamea was sweet but the best I had all morning was Marion's Mistake - the upper section of Little Merritts above Eagle Way.

View east from top of the North Face on Sunday
View east from top of the North Face on Sunday

The very top of Signature Hill from behind
The very top of Signature Hill from behind

Wide empty slopes of the main range but too windy for me
Wide empty slopes of the main range but too windy for me

Sundance & High Noon yesterday after the rain
Sundance & High Noon yesterday after the rain

Sundance & High Noon today after the snow fall
Sundance & High Noon today after the snow fall

Meadows: Looking up and back down
Meadows: Looking up and back down

Upper World Cup on my first ride up
Upper World Cup on my first ride up

Same on my third ride up. It only took 2 runs to ski it out
Same on my third ride up. It only took 2 runs to ski it out

Ski races moved to skiers' left of High Noon<BR>World Cup was still too thin
Ski races moved to skiers' left of High Noon
World Cup was still too thin

Sponars T-bar, Exhibition and Q5 with a tonne of wind blown snow<BR>You can see some of the ice top right
Sponars T-bar, Exhibition and Q5 with a tonne of wind blown snow
You can see some of the ice top right

I did not even attempt to take any photos up higher today. Between the blowing snow and extreme cold there was no point.

I see a lot more snow coming in the next week - and about time.

I still haven't decided what approach to take over last Saturday night's dome event. I'm hoping discussions with management might prove more fruitful if I refrain from more comments for the moment. My only comment here is 'Not Happy Jan Jordan'.

Disclaimer: 
The views and opinions expressed on this page are my own personal observations and in no way represent the views or opinions of the resort or any other person.

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