Mustang inaugurated helicopter transfers to the lodge last year, but weather prevented our group from using it. This year we flew in.
There was a firm layer from rain a week earlier below 5,500 feet, but it was not breakable so not nearly as much work as two years ago. It was overcast most of the time but we still skied mostly in alpine and subalpine terrain. These areas had shallow powder the first day, skied a bit faster with less resistance than normal. We had overnight snow for both the second and third days, 3 inches each night at the lodge but more up higher. This brought Mustang to a typical level of powder excellence similar to last year. Temperatures were in the low 20’s, a bit warmer than usual.
On Saturday after a warmup run moving away from the lodge, we went up to Cloud 9 and traversed all the way across the bowl to far right Silver Lining Gully.
Next was Hail Caesar. Many of the “Roman” runs have steep chute entries.
Then these runs open into nicely pitched bowls.
Midday we took some runs in the high alpine in the Kiwi Cruise area.
Skiing was good but with overcast not that photogenic.
We returned to the lodge via Eldorado, Colosseum and a skier’s left run from Cloud 9. Colosseum:
We skied 13,900 vertical, starting about 10AM after the avalanche safety briefing. As I’ve mentioned before, Mustang buries 3 transceivers fo its search drills.
Liz likes to see pics of Stella, now 8 years old, as she had a Great Pyrenee in high school.
But Mustang has added some new mascots this year. Cooper is an 8-month old energetic German Shepherd mix. The other two mascots have been added to consume table scraps. Here is Cooper with Obama.
This one is named Trump.
Sunday had thicker overcast and it snowed steadily for about 2 hours midday, so I took few pictures. Trees below Eldorado:
Cloud 9 in noticeably deeper snow than the day before:
Sunday’s itinerary was similar to Saturday’s, but with a few extra runs due to starting at 8:30AM and thus 18,500 vertical. Some of the alpine skiing was from Thunder Dome, which another group said had firm spots Saturday but most of those were nicely filled in by Sunday. We also tested Showtime, which is one of Mustang’s best fall lines. It faces southeast so we occasionally contacted the subsurface.
On Monday we had more new snow and also better weather, thin overcast with occasional sunny breaks. By our second run Rapid Transit we knew it would be a great day.
View across Cloud 9:
Skiing there:
Chute entry to Centurion:
Then it opens up.
Our alpine skiing was on Mad Max.
From up high we could see our tracks on Centurion under the center peak, but they don’t show up in the picture with the overcast.
We returned to the Showtime area for 3 runs.
The old layer was now completely buried. However the lowest part got heavy in the occasional sun, so it was smart to get after that terrain before a new crust forms. Overview of Showtime (the open scattered trees at right):
That area is nearly a mile across, so when the weather is cold and snowy like my 2012 and 2013 trips we get a lot of runs in there.
Here’s a view from one of the drop points.
The “Roman” runs drop off to looker’s right and the Showtime runs to lookers left. The sliver of water at center distance is part of Shuswap Lake.
Monday’s skiing totaled 18,300 vertical. Here are some of us at the end of the day.
Flyover’s friend John is third from left on his third trip. Flyover and Tseeb will return next year. The rest of the group is from Toronto. Organizers Jay (red jacket) and Stuart (brown jacket) were on their 4th trip. They have added people by word of mouth just as I have. This was my 7th time at Mustang.
There was a firm layer from rain a week earlier below 5,500 feet, but it was not breakable so not nearly as much work as two years ago. It was overcast most of the time but we still skied mostly in alpine and subalpine terrain. These areas had shallow powder the first day, skied a bit faster with less resistance than normal. We had overnight snow for both the second and third days, 3 inches each night at the lodge but more up higher. This brought Mustang to a typical level of powder excellence similar to last year. Temperatures were in the low 20’s, a bit warmer than usual.
On Saturday after a warmup run moving away from the lodge, we went up to Cloud 9 and traversed all the way across the bowl to far right Silver Lining Gully.
Next was Hail Caesar. Many of the “Roman” runs have steep chute entries.
Then these runs open into nicely pitched bowls.
Midday we took some runs in the high alpine in the Kiwi Cruise area.
Skiing was good but with overcast not that photogenic.
We returned to the lodge via Eldorado, Colosseum and a skier’s left run from Cloud 9. Colosseum:
We skied 13,900 vertical, starting about 10AM after the avalanche safety briefing. As I’ve mentioned before, Mustang buries 3 transceivers fo its search drills.
Liz likes to see pics of Stella, now 8 years old, as she had a Great Pyrenee in high school.
But Mustang has added some new mascots this year. Cooper is an 8-month old energetic German Shepherd mix. The other two mascots have been added to consume table scraps. Here is Cooper with Obama.
This one is named Trump.
Sunday had thicker overcast and it snowed steadily for about 2 hours midday, so I took few pictures. Trees below Eldorado:
Cloud 9 in noticeably deeper snow than the day before:
Sunday’s itinerary was similar to Saturday’s, but with a few extra runs due to starting at 8:30AM and thus 18,500 vertical. Some of the alpine skiing was from Thunder Dome, which another group said had firm spots Saturday but most of those were nicely filled in by Sunday. We also tested Showtime, which is one of Mustang’s best fall lines. It faces southeast so we occasionally contacted the subsurface.
On Monday we had more new snow and also better weather, thin overcast with occasional sunny breaks. By our second run Rapid Transit we knew it would be a great day.
View across Cloud 9:
Skiing there:
Chute entry to Centurion:
Then it opens up.
Our alpine skiing was on Mad Max.
From up high we could see our tracks on Centurion under the center peak, but they don’t show up in the picture with the overcast.
We returned to the Showtime area for 3 runs.
The old layer was now completely buried. However the lowest part got heavy in the occasional sun, so it was smart to get after that terrain before a new crust forms. Overview of Showtime (the open scattered trees at right):
That area is nearly a mile across, so when the weather is cold and snowy like my 2012 and 2013 trips we get a lot of runs in there.
Here’s a view from one of the drop points.
The “Roman” runs drop off to looker’s right and the Showtime runs to lookers left. The sliver of water at center distance is part of Shuswap Lake.
Monday’s skiing totaled 18,300 vertical. Here are some of us at the end of the day.
Flyover’s friend John is third from left on his third trip. Flyover and Tseeb will return next year. The rest of the group is from Toronto. Organizers Jay (red jacket) and Stuart (brown jacket) were on their 4th trip. They have added people by word of mouth just as I have. This was my 7th time at Mustang.