It’s On

The Merritts area was opened on Friday and the locals took advantage of the empty slopes. There were many a cobweb swept aside under the clear blue sky.

Saturday saw High Noon open initially under cloud while a few more people hits the slopes and the rails competition.

Sunday was quieter, warmer and another clear blue-sky day with hardly a breath of wind.

For this time of year, the snow cover was very good. There had been a technical glitch with snow making resulting in slicker conditions than the snow makers had hoped for but all in all, as far as I was concerned, the conditions were fine with the exception of the gravel patch at the entrance to High Noon. It was regrettable but the remainder of High Noon was good - actually, considering how slick it can sometimes get, the steep section was very good.

The lack of snow making opportunities over the weekend plus the fact that the snow showers forecast for late Saturday into Sunday did not occur meant the cover was thinning by Sunday in some areas but it shouldn’t take long to patch that up once temperatures drop again.

First tracks on Merritts, number 1 chair on Cruiser and first breakdown

Cruiser chair opened on Friday

View of Stanley’s

Walkabout on Friday

Freshly painted pipe installed for rails comp

It didn’t stay freshly painted for long

You don’t want to know how this ended

High Noon on Saturday

Merritts on Sunday

Annie kicks up some powder on Ballroom

There's not a lot forecast at the moment.

I won’t name the two ski instructors who double ejected off piste on Friday. They are very lucky I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough.

Congratulations to pro-patroller Ben who got to take away the first injury on Merritts for 2009.

Grump: I spoke too soon about last weekend's fireworks. There weren't any this weekend. Oops.