Saved by snow and cool weather

After hearing that it was raining at Pocaterra hut yesterday, I had to go look for myself. To my shock and delight, things were looking pretty good!

Pocaterra had received 3-4 cm of snow, and a lot of people had been skiing, so the tracks were in nice shape. I didn’t even bother to drive further and check any other trailheads, I was so happy to see new snow here.

It’s obvious there was some rain yesterday, because the first 2K leading out from the hut are a bit crusty, but thereafter it only gets better. By the time I reached the Packers junction, the snow was closer to 10 cm deep and totally powdery. I can only imagine what they received at Elk Pass, probably 15 cm or more.

A group of skiers converged at the Pocaterra-Packers junction

Although the tracks near the hut were a bit slick, my Swix VR45 wax worked well in all conditions today. I descended Packers, then took Wheeler, Amos and Lynx back to Pocaterra. I had a good skier-set track on all the trails. As I left the hut around 6 pm, the temperature was -4. It should be cold enough for some grooming and tracksetting work tonight. I was told by the Barrier Info Centre that some grooming was attempted last night, but was stopped because the temperature was too warm. The weather forecast for the weekend looks good, so  there should be some decent skiing in PLPP.

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Mt Shark

Bikepirate obviously does more than bike. He skis through some mighty deep snow. Take a look at the amount of snow he encountered at Mt Shark. Read the details on  the Trip Reports page.  

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