Notes
2015 Snow1. BC Snowboard1. Black Mountain.
At the ticket office they told us to be careful of avalanches and had a bunch of notices posted around the place. They didn't have much snow, but then got seriously dumped on. Lots of snow on no base. It was bluebird though and I wanted to get up there, dig a snow pit and see for myself. Honestly, I have almost always had good results and I kinda wanted to see a really lousy one. And, of course, it might not actually be sketchy... So we hiked up to a spot on the cornice just before the final push. 1 hour 20. Snow was slightly windswept all the way up. Not looking flash, but the hike was EZ. Was hoping to find some protected areas skier's right. Did a stability test. Broke on the wrist test! Mariko checked the snow crystals and said it also looked bad. So we decided to ease ourselves off the mountain. Being bluebird everyone else was charging for the peak. Hope that worked out for them...
So we are in front of our snow pit in a very random spot near the cornice when Experienced Japanese Backcountry Guy (a young guy, incidentally) shows up obviously leading the three other people he is with and talking in a very loud voice about what an expert he is. He barely acknowledges us and (mindbogglingly) doesn't even ask us about our stability test. Completely ignores us. So bizarre.
THEN he decides his group is going to take a break. Right where we are! I seriously thought the guy at the back of the group was going to stop right in front of me as I balanced there already strapped into my board. We are at such a random spot and they take a break there, talking really loudly, totally killing our vibe. Just out of control! I bet they didn't do a stability test either. No one really does... And they showed no interest in ours. Despite the windswept snow, the notices, the warnings from ticket sellers...
Anyway, we got off the mountain. It was kinda hard and not really that fun. Way too many trees as well. Better turns on the course really... But good to get a hike done.
2015 BC Snowboard Line 1