Checked out the Chickadee slide paths today. Despite a LOT of previous traffic there are still a few decent turns to be had.

Morning temperature was only minus 12 but moderate to strong westerly gap winds at the Continental Divide parking lot made it feel more like minus 20 until the protection of the trees was reached. Odd valley cloud in the morning dropped 1cm of new snow but this did not extend up to the slide paths. Upper winds were moderate to strong out of the NW but seemed to leave most of the ski lines untouched today. Only felt light downflow during the day. Temperature began to spike midday but some cloud rolled in to keep things cool. Saw minus 7 as a high temp today.

Ski quality was bordering on excellent on low density, soft faceted grains. Skied like powder! Some previous wind affected features were faceted out to make for some generally uniform ski conditions. It appeared that the higher you went up many of the slide paths the less likely you are to get untracked snow but lower in the fans the tracks spread out to allow for freshies. Didn’t experience any cracking or whumpfing today.

Spoke to a couple of lads who made their way well up one of the first slide paths and they reported sketchier skiing on what they described as some hidden old debris. Lower down this issue disappeared. The boys vowed to be back tomorrow so don’t wait…

The trail in is pretty well beaten with the odd open creek hole to watch out for.