There were snow flurries along the road as we drove from Lake Louise to the Sunshine exit, but it was sunny when we reached the ski area. However it was noticeably colder than our previous ski days, 8F up the gondola at the village. I put on a warmer layer while getting my Mountain Collective half price ticket. We took the Angel and Continental Divide lifts and took advantage of the photo ops in the clear weather. Fortunately there was no wind, as it was more like zero F at the top of the mountain and never got much warmer all day.
The latter picture is 11,870 foot Mt. Assiniboine
Also visible in Sunshine Meadow was a huge maple leaf created by British snowshoe artist Simon Beck.
By 11AM we saw clouds and I wanted to get into Delirium Dive before visibility deteriorated as at Lake Louise yesterday. I had my avy gear with me, but unfortunately no one showed up to be a partner for 15 minutes. By that time it was overcast and I was cold so I skied down to Goat’s Eye where I thought tseeb had gone. After a thaw break I took the gondola back to the village, where tseeb had arranged to borrow avy gear from a snow host who was giving an intermediate tour at noon.
Tseeb and I went back up top where it was shaded by cloud, but since the whole sky wasn’t overcast anymore the visibility was manageable. The entries to Delirium Dive were much sketchier than my 2 previous times there in the abundant 1999 and 2002 seasons, but it was closed for snow stability on my 2004 and 2008 visits. View of Delirium Dive and the stair descent:
At the bottom of the stairs there was at least a 5 minute sidestep over rocks to get to the entrance.
View of Goat’s Eye from top of the Dive:
Tseeb skiing Delirium Dive:
After the steeps, there were traverse tracks off to the right, but we chose to ski the soft snow below, which required a short hike out. Looking back up at Delirium Dive.
We took one run on Goat’s Eye before lunch. The ungroomed skier’s left of the chair was an ugly mess of refrozen moguls with the moderately steep SW exposure. The after lunch Goat’s Eye run was strictly groomers. For the next hour we were mostly on the Standish chair, which had the best lift accessed snow on the hill. It’s only 800 vertical but has some short steep drops and interesting rolling terrain. Even the bumps were relatively soft. View from the west side across to Delirium Dive and Continental Divide.
I finished the day with 21,500 vertical. The current conditions accentuate the differences between Sunshine and Lake Louise. At Louise the backside steeps have the good snow while frontside groomers are hardpacked. At Sunshine most of the intermediate runs have the nice snow while the advanced Goat’s Eye is frozen granular.
The latter picture is 11,870 foot Mt. Assiniboine
Also visible in Sunshine Meadow was a huge maple leaf created by British snowshoe artist Simon Beck.
By 11AM we saw clouds and I wanted to get into Delirium Dive before visibility deteriorated as at Lake Louise yesterday. I had my avy gear with me, but unfortunately no one showed up to be a partner for 15 minutes. By that time it was overcast and I was cold so I skied down to Goat’s Eye where I thought tseeb had gone. After a thaw break I took the gondola back to the village, where tseeb had arranged to borrow avy gear from a snow host who was giving an intermediate tour at noon.
Tseeb and I went back up top where it was shaded by cloud, but since the whole sky wasn’t overcast anymore the visibility was manageable. The entries to Delirium Dive were much sketchier than my 2 previous times there in the abundant 1999 and 2002 seasons, but it was closed for snow stability on my 2004 and 2008 visits. View of Delirium Dive and the stair descent:
At the bottom of the stairs there was at least a 5 minute sidestep over rocks to get to the entrance.
View of Goat’s Eye from top of the Dive:
Tseeb skiing Delirium Dive:
After the steeps, there were traverse tracks off to the right, but we chose to ski the soft snow below, which required a short hike out. Looking back up at Delirium Dive.
We took one run on Goat’s Eye before lunch. The ungroomed skier’s left of the chair was an ugly mess of refrozen moguls with the moderately steep SW exposure. The after lunch Goat’s Eye run was strictly groomers. For the next hour we were mostly on the Standish chair, which had the best lift accessed snow on the hill. It’s only 800 vertical but has some short steep drops and interesting rolling terrain. Even the bumps were relatively soft. View from the west side across to Delirium Dive and Continental Divide.
I finished the day with 21,500 vertical. The current conditions accentuate the differences between Sunshine and Lake Louise. At Louise the backside steeps have the good snow while frontside groomers are hardpacked. At Sunshine most of the intermediate runs have the nice snow while the advanced Goat’s Eye is frozen granular.
