Ski Day 31: Has Spring Sprung?

Vert: 6,400 m;   YTD: 258,415 m
Runs: 12;   YTD Cum Runs: 497


A late posting for Thursday's conditions, as I spent the day riding with my friend Steve, and had to run back to Calgary for the evening.


Thursday started off almost sunny, and the viz just got better and better all day as the clouds broke and the sky turned blue by noon. It was a little chilly in the AM (-9° in the parking lot, -12° at Goat's Eye base) but there was an inversion and it was only about -3° at the top first thing.


No new snow fell overnight; this disappointed Steve, who likes riding the pow. Fortunately, I still know where to find some stashes, and he seemed to like them.

There was obviously some sun after I left yesterday, as I found evidence in the morning of sun crust on places with no crust yesterday, like Wildfire.


As I mentioned, the sun came out in earnest in the afternoon.

This was good and bad. The sun and the viz were great. However, the sun was quite warm, and the temp quickly rose, and hit +5° at the base of Divide by 2 PM. This temp plus the direct sunshine turned the snow in fully exposed places like Bye Bye Bowl...

...Hill 205, Viking Ridge and others kinda soupy. This does not bode well for tomorrow, as if the temp doesn't rise or the sun doesn't come out in force, it will be kinda tough sledding. Welcome to the the first blasts of spring skiing.


By the way, you may have noticed from the photos that Steve's a boarder. The stats on my blog tell me the number one most popular post I have ever written (with over 800 hits, compared to about 100 for the next most popular) is from 2008 called I Hate Snowboarders. I reminded him as I remind you that boarders individually are fine; I've never ridden with a solo on a chair who wasn't a nice person. Collectively, they ignore the Alpine Responsibility Code far more often than skiers. In this context, I think Steve agreed.