It was the Simpl snow trip over the weekend and about 25 of us had planned to go down. There was a bit of a dismal forecast so a few people bailed out but some of us were looking forward to a weekend of drinking anyway and headed down.
Saturday was a right off as predicted, there were gale winds and heavy snow falls which closed the mountain down. Luckily we kept our spirits high with the aid of beer and games and still had a jolly time.
Sunday came and the snow report was a complete change.
"SNOW
We have had fresh snow overnight from 5-10cm on the Lower Field and 10-15cm on the Upper Field. Packed powder on trail, powder off trail. Fantastic snow conditions!
Base(Upper Mountain) 270 cm
New Snow(last 24 hrs) 10 cm"
No wind, blue skies, sunny and relatively warm (-1 or so). Even better, the dismal forecast had kept the crowds away so it was all ours for the taking! Yay!
I was lucky enough to have Paul, a friend from work, as my guide and he's a very experienced snow boarder. We had some epic powder runs down some off piste gulleys and, when we did run into people, every had a big, stupid smile on their face and everyone was on a big, big high.
The run of the day was down a gulley that was well off-piste. Just epic, epic 1-2 foot powder the whole way until we finally reached an impasse and had to climb out. 30 minutes of hiking and boarding later and we were back on a regular trail but it was well worth it.
We met everyone else at the cafe and the talk was all about the powder and which runs were good. I think Paul led me to the best spots and I'm still smiling as I write this.
Wow. What a weekend! EPIC!