riverc0il
New member
in hind sight, i really really should have dawn patrolled this one. but the storm went by faster than i had anticipated, not dropping anything at all today, so my timing was all out of whack. i left work early to go earn some turns down the road at closed burke mountain. this was originally suppose to be a bi-weekly routine at a minimum, except with lifts, but that didn't work out this season. but who needs lifts? so much harder to get top to bottom untracked fresh with lifts! \
/ YEA, BABY!okay, it wasn't exactly powdery. it seemed like i was in a race against the time of consolidation and packing of snow when i first got there, but no worries, untracked is untracked
snow was moist but not completely wet and packed down. wet with a little fluff, an odd combination. it looked like fun as it proved to be. i tracked up lower warren's to bear den to willoughby on the skin up. as i approached mid-mountain, i noticed the wet snow was slightly slabbed on the surface on the open slope with more powdery lighter snow conditions on skier's left under the trees. duely noted for the descent! 4" of the thick consistancy stuff was the rule, deeper in places occasionally. i suspect burke actually picked up 6" at mid-mountain before it started consolidating.three important items i was trying out today. first, i was trying out my freerides for the first time since the accident. rationally and reasonablly, i knew the problem that caused the accident was a bad DIN setting. but still, i wanted an easy run to regain some of that unconscious trust before tackling the tougher stuff. next up, just bought a patagonia ready mix jacket which rocks my world, just what i was missing. works really well for skiing, my only complaint is the sizing runs small so even with an XL, i felt slightly constrictive with a fleece underneath. no big deal though, otherwise, definite thumbs up for a light weight wind jacket. finally, i was trying out my elbow which held up admirably during the ascent. finally able to stabilize most of, if not my entire, body weight on my right arm with a pole.
first turns off the summit were, um... interesting! skis were not going where i was requesting the legs to turn them to say the least. it was wind blown slab that was definitely NOT edgible, but didn't ski like powder completely either, but adjusting my powder technique worked better than adjusting an edging technique, so i worked my way down to the goods. just above the jungle entrance, i found sweet sweet sweet powder on skier's left and i rocked it. felt soooooo nice. by the time i got to the birches entrance, even skier's left was kinda "wet fluff" if you would... so i looked at the entire trail of beautifully untracked white and decided to put some big half eights into the snow, sah-weet!!! tightened up the turns as i approached bear den and ripped some great turns as i neared the quad. nearly doubled over laughing so hard that i had the entire place to myself. might have only been +4" of moderately "wet fluff," but it was all mine on a beautiful april afternoon with not a soul in sight.
the way this season has gone, i think it might only be getting started...
