January 1, 2004
Lifts/Runs
Lifts Open: 9/10
Runs open: 105/107
Snowfall
24 Hour: 24cm (10in)
48 Hour: 45cm (18in)
7 Day: 79cm (32in)
Year to date: 376cm (150in)
Snow Pack: 220cm (88in)
Photos and text by Gerry George
Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a good Christmas and have had a safe holiday season.
 So here we are on the first day of 2004. A few friends from Portland Oregon drove up yesterday to do some skiing and snowboarding and had, what sounded like, a hell drive. Snow from Portland all the way to Fernie. What should have taken them maybe eleven or twelve hours turned into an agonizing sixteen. Ugh. The things you do for snow.
But, after we dropped into Cedar bowl on our first run, I had a sinking suspicion that they thought it was worth it. I haven't been up for the past five days (work and all) and was shocked when I made that first turn into cedar bowl. The snow was up around my thighs! Where did that come from? In town we have been getting flurries but is sure accumulated at the top of the mountain. Super dry as well so it was like turning in down.
I don't think they had ever skied snow that light, being more used to the coastal snow of Whistler and Bachelor.
 While the snow was pretty darned amazing, it is getting chewed very rapidly with the crowds that came between Boxing day and today. Lines are tolerable mind you and still shorter than they were ten years ago before all the new lifts were put in. Everything is relative. I remember almost getting ill when I would come around the corner on the old Bear T-Bar and see just this huge mass of people. Now you just see them all over the mountain instead.
The new side is taking a beating in the high traffic areas near the bottom of the White Pass Chair. Avoid it for now or go slow your first trip through so you can see where the sketchy spots are. It needs a good wet dump to cover some of the sticks and gravel poking through now.
The deep freeze from Northern Alberta is going to settle into the region in the next few days bringing clear blue skies and mind numbing temperatures. Dress warmly if you venture outside cause it is going to get chilly. Frost bite could be an issue so make sure you cover up.
See you on the slopes!
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