Thursday Report for Dec 14, 2017

Not much happened this week so I checked out some of the Alpine. Lots of sun and the temperature inversion stuck around. Considering our base, the runs have great coverage. All ski outs are open except for Creekside. The weekend wasn't as crowded as the previous weekends and midweek was nice and quiet like it should be. The conditions seem to vary day by day depending on the alpine temperatures over night. If they went below freezing, the runs were quite hard. If not they were just fine. I went into the Blackcomb Glacier on Monday to check it out. Big mistake. It was frozen natural snow which is not the easiest to ski. In some places I thought I was going to fall down as I couldn't hold an edge and others I was almost scared to turn. Anyways I made it down. Probably one of the toughest runs I have ever skied. The glacier is now closed due to the conditions. I guess they had a few complaints.
Looks like we are finally getting some snow the next 6 days and we can get back to normal. Doesn't look like a lot, so hope the forecasters are low on their projections.
I wonder if Symphony Chair will open this weekend. It is the last major lift to open.

Mountain Host Tour today.

The Red Chair Band playing at the Swedish Apres on Tuesday in the igloo at the Hilton. My Supervisor Derek is on the right playing Bass. Great band playing rockin music.

The top of 7th Heaven is a little bare.under the lift.

The Horstman T-Bar lift line has receded big time. Will be interesting to see if they can build it up this year.

Upper Hugh's Heaven with enough snow.

Upper Cloud Nine has enough snow as well but it was very hard and icy.

The hike up to the Blackcomb Glacier seems a little easier this year.

See how they have built up the Showcase Lift Line on the right. The poor Horstman Glacier is shrinking.

Blackcomb Glacier looked great until I skied it.

Lots of rock outcroppings showing on the Blackcomb Glacier.

This boulder is usually covered on the left fork mid glacier.

The ice cave still looks visable on the right fork. It is currently marked out of bounds.

Looking back up at the skiers left fork path of the Blackcomb Glacier.

The Swamp Thing on the ski out of the glacier has good coverage. I have seen much worse in other years.

The new bar and patio out the back of the Roundhouse is now open.