As on Wednesday at Fernie, high temps at Castle’s base were around freezing but the snow remained packed powder. The morning was completely overcast. There were sunny breaks after lunch but erratic winds swirled around the upper mountain, often in your face regardless of the direction you were going.
The 9 inches or so of new snow early in the week was mostly packed irregularly by the wind. The less smooth surface was not great for tseeb’s back so as at Fernie Wednesday he spent most of the day Thursday on groomers. We warmed up with one run on the Haig chair, then groomed Bandito and ungroomed Tamarack Bowl. I then skied Drifter, view about 2/3 of the way down.
The snow below me became more chopped so I skied in the skier packed gully to the Cinch Traverse.
I rejoined Tseeb and the next run up top was Showboat.
Then we tested the north side where Tseeb skied groomed High Noon and I skied Siwash, ungroomed for its upper half. Siwash snow was soft chopped powder but had less wind effect than on the center and south sides.
After lunch with the wind picking up I decided to push into the south chutes to see if the wind was smoothing out the snow. The traverse into the wind was tough, and I was happy to try the first chute Lone Star, somewhat tilted leeward of that wind. Windbuff development was in process so the steep upper 2/3 of Lone Star was the smoothest snow I skied Thursday. Lower down it was chunky, so it was easier at the very bottom to ski mellow untracked even though it was dense.
After a cruise under the blue chair I took my last run out far to the north boundary. View down the valley towards Beaver Mines.
View down Double Exposure, the run I skied up high to North Bowl lower down.
View south across the ski area, with base and parking lot at center left:
The hotel is on the far side of the parking lot. I finished with 21,400 vertical.
Friday morning both Tseeb and I woke up with back pain. His loosened up more, allowing him to return to ungroomed skiing. Mine was a minor annoyance but not enough to interfere with skiing. The wind up top had continued all night and smoothed out the snow in many places with some deposition as well. We took two easy groomers on Haig to ease into the day. From Haig there is a good view of the south side of the main mountain.
Drifter is at center right with south chutes at far left. The center area tends to get wind stripped.
At the top of the Haig lift, Powder Stagecoach cat skiers were being briefed.
The cat terrain is skier’s right of Haig with the chair servicing the lower half of vertical and the cat the upper half. This enables a typical ski day averaging 14K, high for a day operation.
Some of the terrain visible from the red chair looked smoothed out by the wind so we tested Outlaw and Tamarack. With this enhancement I was confident Lone Star would be even better, so Tseeb followed me out there with his improving condition.
The wind on the south traverse was not as bad as Thursday, but it must have picked up because when got off the next blue chair at 11AM the top red chair was on wind hold. I decided to cruise down Centre and take an early lunch. Tseeb went back up, found the top lift reopened and skied the north side groomed High Noon/Lower Siwash.
Friday was the day the predicted warm weather finally arrived, with high temps at the base of about 45F. Tseeb noted that the lower groomed runs were in spring mode with their few flat sections getting a bit sticky.
Up top with the wind midday it was still winter snow. Riding the red chair we saw some big smooth turns on Sheriff.
So we took a couple of laps there.
We then did another traverse south to High Rustler, upper sunny section here.
A cloud was overhead during the midsection.
Lower down we bailed into flattish untracked which skied similarly to Thursday, but it was sun softened and thus likely to be crusty the next morning.
Next I skied the groomed High Noon/Lower Siwash Tseeb had done before lunch, avoiding low sticky spots by skiing the edge in afternoon shade. Our final run was Drifter, which had some smoothing but was less consistent than the south chutes. Tseeb found more consistent snow near the right rope line. As we approached the Easy Out traverse we hit snow that had been sun softened in the morning but was starting to firm up a bit. So I believe this is the first time I’ve ever bailed out of the lower ¼ of Drifter via Easy Out.
I finished with 23,500 vertical for a well timed last day at Castle. About 40% of the mountain turned to spring conditions. Skiing should still be manageable with groomed options on the lower mountain, though it was probably difficult on Saturday with heavy overcast and likely wind.
The 9 inches or so of new snow early in the week was mostly packed irregularly by the wind. The less smooth surface was not great for tseeb’s back so as at Fernie Wednesday he spent most of the day Thursday on groomers. We warmed up with one run on the Haig chair, then groomed Bandito and ungroomed Tamarack Bowl. I then skied Drifter, view about 2/3 of the way down.
The snow below me became more chopped so I skied in the skier packed gully to the Cinch Traverse.
I rejoined Tseeb and the next run up top was Showboat.
Then we tested the north side where Tseeb skied groomed High Noon and I skied Siwash, ungroomed for its upper half. Siwash snow was soft chopped powder but had less wind effect than on the center and south sides.
After lunch with the wind picking up I decided to push into the south chutes to see if the wind was smoothing out the snow. The traverse into the wind was tough, and I was happy to try the first chute Lone Star, somewhat tilted leeward of that wind. Windbuff development was in process so the steep upper 2/3 of Lone Star was the smoothest snow I skied Thursday. Lower down it was chunky, so it was easier at the very bottom to ski mellow untracked even though it was dense.
After a cruise under the blue chair I took my last run out far to the north boundary. View down the valley towards Beaver Mines.
View down Double Exposure, the run I skied up high to North Bowl lower down.
View south across the ski area, with base and parking lot at center left:
The hotel is on the far side of the parking lot. I finished with 21,400 vertical.
Friday morning both Tseeb and I woke up with back pain. His loosened up more, allowing him to return to ungroomed skiing. Mine was a minor annoyance but not enough to interfere with skiing. The wind up top had continued all night and smoothed out the snow in many places with some deposition as well. We took two easy groomers on Haig to ease into the day. From Haig there is a good view of the south side of the main mountain.
Drifter is at center right with south chutes at far left. The center area tends to get wind stripped.
At the top of the Haig lift, Powder Stagecoach cat skiers were being briefed.
The cat terrain is skier’s right of Haig with the chair servicing the lower half of vertical and the cat the upper half. This enables a typical ski day averaging 14K, high for a day operation.
Some of the terrain visible from the red chair looked smoothed out by the wind so we tested Outlaw and Tamarack. With this enhancement I was confident Lone Star would be even better, so Tseeb followed me out there with his improving condition.
The wind on the south traverse was not as bad as Thursday, but it must have picked up because when got off the next blue chair at 11AM the top red chair was on wind hold. I decided to cruise down Centre and take an early lunch. Tseeb went back up, found the top lift reopened and skied the north side groomed High Noon/Lower Siwash.
Friday was the day the predicted warm weather finally arrived, with high temps at the base of about 45F. Tseeb noted that the lower groomed runs were in spring mode with their few flat sections getting a bit sticky.
Up top with the wind midday it was still winter snow. Riding the red chair we saw some big smooth turns on Sheriff.
So we took a couple of laps there.
We then did another traverse south to High Rustler, upper sunny section here.
A cloud was overhead during the midsection.
Lower down we bailed into flattish untracked which skied similarly to Thursday, but it was sun softened and thus likely to be crusty the next morning.
Next I skied the groomed High Noon/Lower Siwash Tseeb had done before lunch, avoiding low sticky spots by skiing the edge in afternoon shade. Our final run was Drifter, which had some smoothing but was less consistent than the south chutes. Tseeb found more consistent snow near the right rope line. As we approached the Easy Out traverse we hit snow that had been sun softened in the morning but was starting to firm up a bit. So I believe this is the first time I’ve ever bailed out of the lower ¼ of Drifter via Easy Out.
I finished with 23,500 vertical for a well timed last day at Castle. About 40% of the mountain turned to spring conditions. Skiing should still be manageable with groomed options on the lower mountain, though it was probably difficult on Saturday with heavy overcast and likely wind.
