Saturday was a brilliant sunny day that, after the family bailed, allowed a great run on Ruby Bowl and another on a variation of the Blackcomb glacier proper - stay high and left, and eventually there is a steep pitch back down to the right, that is great when it is in condition. It was a little rocky but the snow present was great. It's been pretty cold, and the new is all powder.
On Sunday they opened Symphony for the first time of the season, even in the afternoon there were plenty of fresh tracks through the woods in the lower half of the run. But - the paradox. You could scoot along on a track, enviously admiring the sparkling powder on all sides of you, or you could divert into the pillowy fluffiness, and settle to a stop. It is not all that way, but so much of it is. The glades are just not steep enough. [BTW a solution, which I did not want to do alone, is walk up Flute and, instead of going down the steep into the bowl, go along the ridge farther and then angle down through the woods, keeping enough gradient for good turns in the woods.]
In other news; my daughter, who is now 7, is tearing through 1500+ vf runs and rapidly gaining velocity. No steeps yet but it's only a matter of time and not much of that. The transition is amazingly quick between "Katie, you can do it" and "Don't worry daddy, I can do it."
