The Canyons
Monday 19 February 2001

Weather

Heavy snow in morning, clearing with a mixture of sun and clouds in the afternnon.

Conditions

Fresh powder and packed powder.

The Story of the Day

When we left the condo to go for breakfast, it was just beginning to snow. As we were having breakfast it started to snow quite heavily and by the time we got to The Canyons, Sue was not sure whether she was actually going to ski.

When we got to the Red Pine area at the top of the Flight of the Canyons gondola, she decided she was going to give it a go. Chris and I took a quick run down Snow Dancer while Sue was getting her boots on. With a couple of inches of wet snow on top of the groomed base, the top half was very smooth, the bottom section was rather "sticky".

We spent the time up to the coffee break skiing three nice easy runs from the High Meadow lift.

Sue soon got her confidence; when we left, she was going back for more.





After a drink, Chris and I headed for the far North of the resort. When we started, the weather was pretty foul. We were skiing through fog along Chicane to the bottom of Tombstone and visibility on the lift was not much better.

From Peak 5 we did one run through very heavy wet snow down to the bottom of the lift and then headed across to Dreamscape.

The sun was trying to break through, but the snow persisted on both of our trips up Dreamscape. The way down was through fresh powder in Snow Meadow and on the second run, even through the aspen trees.

The long run back to Tombstone lift, along Harmony, was very slow, with poling in places, and one spectacular face plant as I tried to take a short cut to gain speed.

A high speed cruise down Sidewinder got us back to Red Pine Lodge for lunch.
After lunch, the sun came out. Sue decided to do a couple more runs. Chris and I headed up Lookout towards the Southern end of the resort and did three runs from the long Super Condor Express.
  • The first was down the double-blue Aplande, relatively steep with piles of fresh snow
  • The second took us down the moguls of Twister and Snow Draw
  • The third was straight down the top of Apex Ridge



It was now approaching finishing time and we needed to get back to Red Pine, which proved to be quite a trek. First of all we needed to take the long and slow Golden Eagle lift, then ski down to Snow Canyon and finally ski across Meadow Run back to the lodge.

Sue tool the gondola down. Chris and I did one last run down Doc's Run and Badlands and finally the Cabriolet gondola back to the parking lot.

Runs

Lift Vertical Easy Runs Intermediate Runs Top Intermediate Runs Advanced Runs
Cabriolet 198
Flight of the Canyons 1189
Saddleback 1101 Snow Dancer
High Meadow 300 The Meadows
High Meadow 300 The Meadows
High Meadow 300 Meadow Way
Coffee
Chicane
Tombstone 1731 Another World, Riptide
Peak 5 1020 Crowning Glory, Power Alley
Peak 5 1020 Painted Horse, Harmony, Crowning Glory
Dreamscape 878 Panorama Snow Meadow
Dreamscape 878 Dreamscape, Harmony Snow Meadow
Tombstone 1731 Sidewinder
Lunch
Lookout 350 Snow Canyon, Flume Grizly
Super Condor 1791 Lower Boa Arlande, Apex Ridge
Super Condor 1791 Lower Boa Apex Ridge Twister, Snow Draw
Super Condor 1791 Willow Draw, Spur Lower Boa Apex Ridge Snow Draw
Golden Eagle 1400 Boomer, Zap
Snow Canyon 1086 Meadow Way
Lookout 350 Doc's Run Doc's Run, Bad Lands
Download
Total vertical 19007

Last updated: 19/02/2001