It’s melting!
The melt has been on big time over the last couple of weeks and it looks like rain and even higher temperatures are on their way to spoil the party. Boo!
If you’ve done a winter season before, you’ll know that depressing feeling as the temperatures start to rise. The big dumps disappear and your riding is funnelled into mainly designated pistes. It doesn’t take long to realise that enticing looking playground either side of the marked runs is a trap. You huck a jump into what looks like a fluffy pillow of pow only to have your legs buckle beneath you and ass plant rock hard, crusty white, boiler plate! Lesson learned. You lie awake at night gently sobbing to the sound of all that lovely white stuff turning back into water and pouring off the gutters like a racehorse taking a whizz. Being woken by the powder day alarm call of avalanche control explosions (BOOM!) is now just a fading memory.
On the plus side, there’s the spring skiing and amazing bluebird days. High speed hooning on the hard and fast groomed runs first thing, followed by mucking about in the soft slushy bumps as the sun rises and does it’s thing.
There’s been an urgency building among many of our new friends as the season starts to taper off. Everyone’s doing their best to squeeze in as much boarding and skiing as possible while the snow is still good and before many of them head home to do the things they do for the rest of the year. It was strange arriving mid-season as our excitement levels were out of sync with everybody else’s at first but we’re falling into harmony and are joining them in wringing the last bits of shred out of what remains of winter.
As their minds turn to planning for next winter and everything that needs doing in between, I’m getting more excited as the snow retreats and is starting to reveal a berm here and jump there, a loamy ribbon of single track. I’m thinking bike! Summer is going to be awesome!
I don’t think it’s over for the snow yet though, the last few years have delivered a late season temperature drop and big dump and my money’s on one last big hurrah! Fingers crossed!
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