Heavy snow

That's heavy not in terms of the amount (only six inches of new snow) but the consistency. Our weather is currently being dominated by the same system dumping lots of rain on California and that always means warmer than average temperatures and heavier snow.

It was still quite cool when I started out this morning, and a little windy at the top, but by 12.30 the sun was out and it warmed up quite quickly, turning into a beautiful day.

I skied today with Vicki an Aussie friend who winters in Steamboat and her friend Chuck. We started out on the Sundown Express and went looking for some shelter from the wind in the trees of Twilight followed by "Vicki's Line" (to remain secret under pain of death).

It was heavy going and we quickly got quite warm so after riding the Sundown Express again we decided to cruise down High Noon and One O'Clock which was quite sweet (even if it wasn't groomed as it said it was on today's grooming report).

Once more up Sundown Express where we warmed our insides with a small bottle of Grand Marnier that Chuck pulled from his jacket (thanks Chuck!) and then Hot Cakes to the Morningside Chair to access The Ridge and Buddy's followed by Drop Out which had been nicely groomed last night.

The Storm Peak Express took us to Storm Peak (duh) and Rainbow followed by the BC Chair, by which time my stomach was well and truly rumbling so I took the bumps of Norther and then across Rudi's to Vagabond (which was wonderfully uncrowded) and then BC Skiway. While I waited for my lovely wife to pick me up I did a final circuit on the Christie Chair, Sitz and See Me to finish day 21 of my 2005-06 season.

It was much quieter on the mountain today than last Thursday (and I'm not even going to try to imagine what the crowds were like on the weekend.) Now that the bulk of the tourists have left all we need is for the weather to shift to the north bringing some of that cold Canadian air and more of Steamboat's famous champagne powder!

Update: I removed details on the location of "Vicki's Line" - she said it was too much information even though I'd used an old KGB trick (disinformation) and described its location incorrectly!