Feb 6 – ? (The problem with not writing the e-mail entry every day is that I forget what happened. I’m sure it was delightful.)
Feb 7 – Woke to 25cm of snow that fell overnight. Although this amount of snow gets the locals excited and attracts a line-up for the first chair, we usually find this too much if it is not light fluffy snow. It is ok when you are first through it – which explains the line-up for the first chair – by the time a few people have been down, it can be very difficult. (HB – I was amazed how soft the snow stayed today even though the temperatures rose close to zero by lunch. I was still enjoying my self up to lunch time.) Many people just have one or two runs, then call it a day. Helen skied until midday and came in after a great morning. (HB - The snow was so deep that when I fell having negotiated a black run (steep)
I fell backwards and disappeared under the snow. I knew I was lying on my back but when I opened my eyes all I could see was white. My head was below snow line and my goggles were covered. A little strange having to dig yourself out upwards. Getting vertical again was the next problem, then shaking the snow off before too much of it got down my back under my jacket.
I could have hired myself out as a decorative snowman. The official report said 23cm but in some areas I could not see my knees while skiing. Wheeeeeeee!) Helen also report someone calling out from the chair when she was taking a breather half way down Cariboo – ‘You’ll have to go a bit faster that that’. Geoff stayed in. We went for a walk this afternoon. The village has spent the day with shovels, frontend loaders and tractors removing snow from roads, walkways, cars etc. Out to dinner this evening to say goodbye to Jill Cooper who leaves tomorrow. Had to call in at the chocolate shop on the way home to get some concentrated energy for tomorrow.
Feb 8 – Jill Cooper caught the 8am shuttle to the airport. We woke to more snow falling. It continued to fall until about 3pm. Helen went out but was a little tired from the big day yesterday, and so came in early. Geoff did not go out. Because of the falling snow, we put the planned x-country trial on hold. We hear on the news that avalanches have blocked all the major roads in the area. The main pass between here and Vancouver (the Coquahala pass) is closed. That will probably mean that the yanks who would normally come here for this weekend (Presidents week) will not be able to get here. A bad thing for the resort which relies on the income from Presidents Week.
Feb 9 – Woke to another 6 cm overnight. It is now a week since Geoff’s prang at the bottom of Sting. We went for a little trial x-country in the afternoon to see if Geoff could do it. OK. The trails were soft and had about 5 cm of fresh snow on top of the grooming. We skated out about 3 km then returned. All ok.
Feb 10 – A beautiful sunny day with temps about 0C. Perfect for a little x-country. We went down Holy Cow from the top of Morrissey. The tracks were perfectly groomed – though a little soft. We got round alright. Just a little aerobically challenged at times.
Feb 11 – Woke to steady snow, very fine and dry snow that formed a light powder. We decided we would try x-country again. A mistake, the snow on the track was too much for us and we abandoned the trip after about 2 km.
Feb 12 – Woke to a beautiful sunny day with temps of about 0C. Geoff’s first day of downhill since his crash. We were on the second chair – the usual crowd had the first chair. Delightful snow, soft and beautifully groomed. We had a couple of runs on Sundance then over to Morrissey to do all that was groomed there. We went in for a hot chocolate about 10:30 and decided to go x-country. So a very quick change back at the condo and out off the top of Morrissey – Holy Cow. It turned out to bit a bit much for us. The snow was quite soft and it was difficult to maintain good skating form. It took us about 1 ¼ hour to do the 12 km loop – a quick trip. We arrived back at the condo exhausted. Skating was made very difficult by a fault in the grooming that left a deep soft rut in the centre of the skating path. Very tricky. Exhausted, but the tests worked. Geoff’s head appears ok – well, back to what passes for normal.