Unofficial Fernie Report for 2007/01/20

[craig at redtree.com]

Unofficial Fernie Report - 2007/01/20

Bernie's Report - January 20, 2007

A Wonderfully White Weekend


 
It doesn’t get much better than this, thanks to almost ½ a metre of the white stuff in the last 2 days!  Due to the avalanche risk, limited terrain was available but the early risers were treated to some the best skiing this season…. and on the weekend too! Have the Calafernians been bribing the Griz? 



 
The new snow was much like Craig described yesterday… light but with some substance. Truly delightful powder. Except for a few portions on steeper slopes there was no indication of the harder base below. I did get a few surprises on the lower parts of King Fir where it appeared that the fresh snow had slid and exposed a significant (and unexpected) area of hard pack.  This was definitely the exception. 



 
After and hour or so on the old side, the Boom Chair queue convinced me to check out Timber Bowl. 	 Although it was significantly cooler on the new side the snow conditions were much the same as earlier described. The top of the White Pass chair was in the clouds (almost on top, but not quite). Hence the visibility on Shakey’s Acres was quite limited. I bumped into some friends at the top of the White Pass. They asked me to show them the way through the Surprise Trees. 



 
The traverse below the Knots Chutes is always an interesting test of balance and flexibility. Today with limited vis and disguised bumps it was the most challenging part of the descent.  Surprise Trees were a good choice (although to be honest I don’t thing you could make a bad choice in run selection today).  When I left the hill it was shaping up to be a busy day. Hopefully more terrain would be opening in the afternoon. 



 
Just a reminder... Tomorrow (Sunday Jan. 21) is "Treat a Friend Day". Season's Pass holders can bring a friend to ski free of charge(you need to present the voucher booklet that you received with your season's pass). 



 



Picture - <http://redtree.shawbiz.ca/2007/medium/bernie20070120_0.jpg>
Skier on Boomerang 

Picture - <http://redtree.shawbiz.ca/2007/medium/bernie20070120_1.jpg>
Puff from the White Pass Chair 

Picture - <http://redtree.shawbiz.ca/2007/medium/bernie20070120_2.jpg>
Coming out of the clouds on Surprise 

Picture - <http://redtree.shawbiz.ca/2007/medium/bernie20070120_3.jpg>
The Base Area 


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