Arrived 9am, parked up close, walked the sketchy icy ALot and walked right onto the gondola which proceeded to stop 5x on the way to the top where the mountain was out in blue skies. Pic. But about those clouds blowing in from south of 3Way? 1st run down ProCourse --eh -- the grooming was eh with uneven passes that were ready to knock me off my 35 MPH four turns and a tuck up to the top of Middle Ferks, which was closed. eh. So down to GV chair where the lineup was building. Up and out to Snort, down the lake (6 turns) and up the runout back to bigger GV lineup. So up and left to Lucky Shot -- not too bad coverage wise.
By now we figured out that Tuesday's warm temps followed by 10F overnight freeze had transformed what was supposed to be a powder day into a frozen slop mess. So we did our best with our Enforcers (93, 100, 110) and decided to ride up FQ and take TLC out to the Elizabeth Creek environs. The coverage on the trail through the trees was almost back to normal with the creek crossing being judged to be acceptable. We skied out to top of the ol' C4 line and laid down 1st tracks on the corduroy and zipped down to an empty Chinook, up the new REX and ran into the rest of our crew who arrived late for some whatever reason. A trip out to near Willy's in Snort and sniffed out the snow under the GV cliffs -- eh. The path up to gates 5/6/7 all closed. No Right Angle, prolly cause the groomed GAP road never opened (prolly a good thing).
So back up Gondy, down LS and then trees left of Rolling Knolls -- eh -- so we bailed and enjoyed the freshly winched RK (very nice btw) down to an empty REX. Up, LS, FQ, back through TLC and then into upper Boondoogle - eh eh eh (i.e. very bad, thick, heavy, hard to turn -- eh eh eh). Then up Chinook and FQ to lunch at Campbell Lodge. What is up with the "stand here to get in the food line" and noticed new carpet? So we found a double table next to the 'no brown bagging' sign and enjoyed our brown bag. One laddie bought a serving of garlic fries -- more eh.
So Downhill was next up and the bottom section had been mostly groomed out and remaining bumps were light years better than the frozen mess of a few weeks ago. So down to gondy and back to top. By now the fog was rolling in and out here and there. In the sun, below the fog, over the fog -- eh -- and then a drop in temp with some wind.
Another lap down PC and we noticed that patrol had cut a gate into Middle Ferks. What a eh of a mess. Prolly only open because the sun was beating on it a tad. Pretty sure that MF had yet to be groomed this year (prolly because winching is a pain). At the bottom, patrol cut a gate into Lower Ferks. Half our crew wanted no part of that mess, but the other half tried their luck -- their Report was an unturnable mess so straight lining was attempted until the skis came off, got lost, etc. So we waited at the gondy and up 1x last time for a final top to bottom run.
2:30 pm now and we were all grateful that everyone was still in one piece, having given off-piste MUCH MORE ATTENTION that it deserved. Oh well, we always run the hill in this mode, constantly hunting, probing and hitting/missing (although today was mostly a hot mess of a miss). Reports from C6 was, ready for it, more eh eh eh. Kudos to ops and patrol for smiling all day. My boards survived my fresh tune and are ready for more what the eh happened to winter. Cheers.
