Feb 7: Zoomin' the Groomin'

Note: The Powderwatch.com site is down again, so my ski report is here.

It has been a bitterly cold week. My plans for skiing Monday and Wednesday were dashed by -30° or lower temps up at Sunshine each morning -- though amazingly, I went out and volunteered servicing grizzly bear monitoring cameras on Tuesday down in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park where the temperature started at -28° and never got above -22°.

The Galatea Bridge. Not Sunshine. Suffer.

But since we're working tomorrow, and I want to be prepped for guests, we braved the cold and headed out today. It was in the low -20°'s in the morning in the village, and warmed up to to -14°. Riding Goat's Eye before noon though was quite chilling -- but pretty. It started a bit overcast, then cleared by about 11.

Sunshine has not reported any snow this week but I can prove some fell, though not much.

A couple of cm's on the grooming on Wildfire

And this snow fell overnight, since in many places it was on top of the grooming.

And the grooming was awesome. Given that there has been no snow since, oh, forever ago, the hill has had a chance to groom, well, nearly everything. On Goat's Eye, they have recently groomed everything EXCEPT Freefall, Silver Afterburner and Hell's Kitchen. So the cruising is just fantastic, and that tickle of powder on top made for hero turns.

 
In the afternoon, the sky was clear, the wind low, and it felt a bit warmer. The snow that fell overnight was readily visible but no deeper on the upper mountain.

That's fresh snow on Assiniboine Trail

Looking back from the same spot

We tried a trip in Bye Bye Bowl. The new snow helps, but is just not quite deep enough to cover the freeze-thaw chunks that are still there from our warm patch two weeks ago.

Freshies in the Bowl

So it was a day to rocket up and down in the grooming -- and on the upper mountain, they have once again obliged by grooming nearly everything, including Boundary Bowl.

So if you're coming this weekend, bring along your racing/carving skis, dress warm, and come prepare to zoom (safely, I hope).