Breakfast today looked pretty ordinary; cereal, porridge etc. That was until we were introduced to the ingenious creation that is the 'Egg Bomb', which are basically cupcakes made of eggs wrapped in bacon. Definitely one for the UK cookbook!
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| Full of win |
The snow last night didn't last very long after we retired to the Casa du Suenos (House of Dreams) so there was only a light dusting by morning. The main difference was the temperature. It was getting concerningly close to O°C and in that range the snow pack settles and becomes a lot heavier. This is exactly what happened and all 65 glorious centimetres from the last 48h had quickly bedded down into about 25cm of much heavier stuff. Snow snobs i know! The conditions were still amazing though, and just required a slightly steeper slope angle to stop us getting stuck in the deep snow. This is Marks back garden and he knows every pitch, traverse, gully and terrain trap in this place, meaning he's the perfect person to have around. His challenge was to get us into slopes with good skiing without exposing us to the ever increasing avalanche danger. For this task, he was the man, and there would have been no-one I'd have trusted more.
Again, we skied all day (except Tom who had the day off to rest), enjoying powder run after powder run. The last two of the day really stood out though. Firstly we hit a traverse to find two steep pitches with enough space for about 5 fresh tracks in each. We split up into two with myself, Will, Ruben and Matt following Ben down. Having gotten fed up with Wills powder poaching behaviour yesterday, the powder pig inside me which once lay dormant, was now alive and squealing and had been set loose all day. This however, was the run of gentlemanly conduct. It was decided that Ruben should drop in first and get a blank canvas for a change. I went in ahead of Will, having strategically positioned my powder start in a more convenient location! It was a really nice run down and the steep pitch made the skiing effortless and really fun. Turns out Wendy Mac was right: 'powder skiing is a lazy mans sport!'
It was at this point Matt had had enough and decided to head down to the hut. I probably could have joined him as hiking up mountains all day is a sure fire way to burn up some energy (i've heard the figure 8000 calories thrown around for a hard days ski touring!) but i knew that if i heard reports come back of it being an awesome run, i wouldn't be able to forgive myself! So instead, i skinned up my skis once more and went in pursuit of Mark and the others, who were headed towards City Park, and boy am i glad i did!
The final run of the day started with James offering to take some photos and of course we were grateful for him to do so. I started this run with honourable intentions. It began with Will asking me to wait and tell him when his GoPro was on, so i obliged. That was, until out of the corner of my eye i saw Leon frantically poling from mid pack to get his fix. I was having none of it and instantly bolted, putting me back on pole. It was a job well done as I got some lovely fresh turns in before gliding past James in a cloud of powder and dropping into the traverse at the bottom.
Initially we thought that was it, but Mark had other ideas. He wanted us to weave our way through the trees and pop out at a nice pitch right at the back of the hut. Sure enough after a bit of gardening we found the pitch and set off skiing down it until we popped out the bottom next to the weather plot. Some people choose to come here unguided, but with Marks level of knowledge of the local area I can't see any reason why anyone would want to. None of us would have ever found that little gem otherwise and it made for the perfect end to another great days skiing.
We arrived back at the Boulder Hut truly beat, and found Matt at the table gorging himself on one of Shirleys concoctions. To my delight it was a wheel of warm brie with chopped walnuts on top. HEAVEN. If there's one thing i'll remember about Shirleys cooking it'll be that brie...Ok and the egg bombs... Simple delights for simple beings!
There's one member of the touring group who has been widely overlooked so far, yet has been there all along and not missed a single day, or run for that matter. She goes by the name of Rosie, and she's a dog.
Rosie is as much a mountain dog as we are mountain men (and women). She is also as much a powder hound as we are powder pigs! All too often you'd be gearing up ready to drop in, only to have her walk across the front of your skis and merrily bound off after Mark and Ben. Going down the deep powder runs, she was queen of the faceshots, with every jump burying her deep into the powder before bounding back out again. The way up was no different, she would bide her time behind you, whilst getting as close as possible to the tails of your skis before slyly overtaking as you were struggling with and awkward kickturn. It's a marathon not a sprint, and she won every time! The relentless pace tired her out too though, and she would regularly dig a Rosie sized snow pit for a quick power nap whilst we were changing our skis over.
Rosie is mainly there as a guard dog for the kids, warding off any local wildlife that passes by the hut. She's also a great family pet though and took a liking to all of us...
The time for the powder pig presentation was here again and after a delicious meal of stuffed garlic chicken, Martin was crowned the new owner. There's a reason Martin hasn't been mentioned yet as a line poacher, and that is because no-one notices. He's strategic, calm, always ready and most importantly invisble. Whilst stood next to you acting out the Mr. Nice Guy routine, his inner pig is working away, figuring out ways to slip past unseen. At the top of most runs, all eyes are on Will, allowing Martin to glide off into the distance without so much as a farewell. And for that, Mr. Vaivods, you are the powder pig!
An interesting development came into effect last night. It started nukin'. Looking at the forecast, it was a huge storm from the pacific and the weather model didn't show any sign of it letting up throughout the whole of tomorrow... Our flight day...
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| Earn your turns! |
Again, we skied all day (except Tom who had the day off to rest), enjoying powder run after powder run. The last two of the day really stood out though. Firstly we hit a traverse to find two steep pitches with enough space for about 5 fresh tracks in each. We split up into two with myself, Will, Ruben and Matt following Ben down. Having gotten fed up with Wills powder poaching behaviour yesterday, the powder pig inside me which once lay dormant, was now alive and squealing and had been set loose all day. This however, was the run of gentlemanly conduct. It was decided that Ruben should drop in first and get a blank canvas for a change. I went in ahead of Will, having strategically positioned my powder start in a more convenient location! It was a really nice run down and the steep pitch made the skiing effortless and really fun. Turns out Wendy Mac was right: 'powder skiing is a lazy mans sport!'
It was at this point Matt had had enough and decided to head down to the hut. I probably could have joined him as hiking up mountains all day is a sure fire way to burn up some energy (i've heard the figure 8000 calories thrown around for a hard days ski touring!) but i knew that if i heard reports come back of it being an awesome run, i wouldn't be able to forgive myself! So instead, i skinned up my skis once more and went in pursuit of Mark and the others, who were headed towards City Park, and boy am i glad i did!
The final run of the day started with James offering to take some photos and of course we were grateful for him to do so. I started this run with honourable intentions. It began with Will asking me to wait and tell him when his GoPro was on, so i obliged. That was, until out of the corner of my eye i saw Leon frantically poling from mid pack to get his fix. I was having none of it and instantly bolted, putting me back on pole. It was a job well done as I got some lovely fresh turns in before gliding past James in a cloud of powder and dropping into the traverse at the bottom.
Initially we thought that was it, but Mark had other ideas. He wanted us to weave our way through the trees and pop out at a nice pitch right at the back of the hut. Sure enough after a bit of gardening we found the pitch and set off skiing down it until we popped out the bottom next to the weather plot. Some people choose to come here unguided, but with Marks level of knowledge of the local area I can't see any reason why anyone would want to. None of us would have ever found that little gem otherwise and it made for the perfect end to another great days skiing.
We arrived back at the Boulder Hut truly beat, and found Matt at the table gorging himself on one of Shirleys concoctions. To my delight it was a wheel of warm brie with chopped walnuts on top. HEAVEN. If there's one thing i'll remember about Shirleys cooking it'll be that brie...Ok and the egg bombs... Simple delights for simple beings!
There's one member of the touring group who has been widely overlooked so far, yet has been there all along and not missed a single day, or run for that matter. She goes by the name of Rosie, and she's a dog.
Rosie is as much a mountain dog as we are mountain men (and women). She is also as much a powder hound as we are powder pigs! All too often you'd be gearing up ready to drop in, only to have her walk across the front of your skis and merrily bound off after Mark and Ben. Going down the deep powder runs, she was queen of the faceshots, with every jump burying her deep into the powder before bounding back out again. The way up was no different, she would bide her time behind you, whilst getting as close as possible to the tails of your skis before slyly overtaking as you were struggling with and awkward kickturn. It's a marathon not a sprint, and she won every time! The relentless pace tired her out too though, and she would regularly dig a Rosie sized snow pit for a quick power nap whilst we were changing our skis over.
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| Rosie guarding my skis... |
Rosie is mainly there as a guard dog for the kids, warding off any local wildlife that passes by the hut. She's also a great family pet though and took a liking to all of us...
An interesting development came into effect last night. It started nukin'. Looking at the forecast, it was a huge storm from the pacific and the weather model didn't show any sign of it letting up throughout the whole of tomorrow... Our flight day...
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