Silver Ridge cloud inversion, Nov 6
It has arrived, again, like an old friend. Winter is back. (And I’m blogging again!) There is a snowfall warning in effect right now in Nelson and it’s puking outside, bringing back so many memories of winter and all of the associations of radically fun times. The snow has been coming down consistently enough for the last week or so to blanket the mountains in delicious powder, and a deep enough base to ride…finally.
The Top
I’d been keeping an eye on conditions in the alpine and heard some good reports from friends, so I headed up the long, 11km+ mining road, climbing 1200m to the ridge. I was greeted with some really incredible views south down the cloud enveloped Slocan Valley over an ocean of cloud, and for moments the big peaks of the Goat Range would reveal themselves with pockets of sunshine lighting up the big aesthetic faces of Mt. Brennan and Whitewater Pk.
Good coverage.
Conditions were good, variable coverage but 50-80cms throughout Wild Goose Basin made for knee-deep turns through some pretty deep baseless powder, but no coreshots or even a scrape. There had been a few small windslabs that had popped out during the last intense snowfall on Sunday perhaps, but mostly unconsolidated snow gave me confidence and I chose a very safe route to the top, and on the way down my ski-cutting didn’t produce any results in the sheltered trees and bowl I rode through.
Looking Back
All in all a sweet first day, a long slog to the top but well worth the effort! The first few turns down the mountain through the deep snow were a little sloppy but once I figured out the snow it was all pow-slashing good times! So good to be back on the board getting amongst it! And the 900m high speed descent down the logging road was a super extreme fast exit.
Stoked for all the upcoming good times in the mountains! Hang loose!
kootenaysplitboarder 