Ski day 52: Skiing my age

Vert: 11,500 m;   YTD cum vert: 450,835 m
Runs: 18;   YTD cum runs: 833


Sunshine has gone from winter on Wednesday to spring on Saturday. Gone is the fresh powder in my powder fields, replaced with a 4-6 cm thick sun crust on what looked like powder, which until it softened (which took until 2 PM high up) was tough sledding. Gone are the super soft bits, replaced by the freeze/thaw crunchies of spring skiing.


So it was a day to cruise the groomers...

Fresh cord on Old Chute

...at least until things started to get soft. Despite this, we ventured into the south side chutes as the powder looked inviting. "Looked" is the operative word here. Control blasted off the cornices above Saddledome yesterday morning and loosed a 1.0 avi, seen here in the distance...

Avalanche on Saddledome in centre

...and here from right below it.

TV-sized avi debris

The high stuff in the chutes was kinda nice, firm but carvable, with little evidence of sun effects, for the first 50 turns anyway.

Manageable snow in the chutes

It was down lower that it got less lovely.

Looks nice. Not nice, at least not at 11 AM

It was chilly up top; I was told it only got to -8° yesterday, and it prbably only got to 0° today, though at one point, the thermometer at Divide base said +34° C. Right.

Assiniboine from the top of South 205

In typical Sunshine fashion, it was busy today, with cars parked 2.7 km down the road, but lift lines never exceeded 5 min.


Today marked ski day 52 for me this season, and given that I'm 52 years old, I think that's pretty decent.