Really - it was. At least until we drove past Sayward. Then, all of a sudden, the rain stopped and the road was dry and we made pretty good time up to Mount Cain. No getting stuck this week as I had my new chains (which are awesome).
Saturday dawned cloudy and snowy, but we were still able to sneak into the West Bowl for some pretty nice snow. Not deep powder, but enough to make the turns very nice.
Pete at the end of another great West Bowl run!
Saturday night,the sky cleared and the moon came out. Too bad I was so tired after jamming on my Sax at Pete's cabin that I couldn't take a decent picture...
The moon and the Mount Cain lodge...there are some mountains in there too...
Sunday was blue bird! There was even still snow around, even if it did take a bit of hunting. The sunlight also revealed a massive slide that came down over on Abel. A group of locals toured up the bowl and reported a debris pile at least 30 feet deep with fractures 6-8 feet deep all along the crown!
Look carefully - that line running below the centre peak is the crown of a really big avalanche...
I'd say most everyone at the hill was a little subdued after looking at the evidence of the power of nature, but not so much that there weren't the usual impromptu gatherings at the top of the T-bar!
Typical Mt Cain mini party!
With stable snow, unlimited visibility and good skiing conditions, we decided it was time to try one of the bigger lines at the mountain. While the name "Death Chute" sounds intimidating, we joked after that "sprained ankle chute" or "mild cold chute" would be more appropriate. Oh well, I am sure that skiing it on skinny 200 cm + skis made it feel more deathly!
Tree drops the "Death Chute" at Mt. Cain. First tracks!!
Pete at the top - making it look easy.
Good snow aside, I still managed to throw a pretty nice shoulder roll 3/4's of the way down...I'm just sticking to my story that I meant to do it. Fortunately my skis stayed on and I was able to ski out of it with a little bit of style!
Mt Cain at the end of the day. Note that at least two parking lot parties are happening here. Yes - people camp in the parking lot over night.
Tobogganing + balloons = AWESOME!
You remeber Rob right? Well, he was back, and so was his hair!!!
Mt Abel with the setting sun turning it pink. I snapped about 20 photos while the sun set, and this was the best.
Sunday dawned to more blue-bird, no fresh snow and lots of frozen nastiness. Tree was down for the count with a nasty cold, so I headed out to find Pete for some more bowl laps (where the snow was still nice). After a few groomers, we finally hooked up and I got one more killer bowl run before heading home to get Tree checked out. She'll live!
On a closing note, I have observed a great proliferation of Gnar lately. The amount of "I'm better than you" and "I'm the best skier on this mountain" call outs were of a very high frequency all weekend. Pole whacking, making fun of people in fart bags and even a just missed pro skier call-out were all highlights. Shane would be proud!