Day 23 Snowbird - Boogying in the bumps

Another late start today. Hit the tram at 10am. It dawned another blue bird day but I got engrossed watching Eddie Murphy - Coming to America on TV while I was stretching. You know you're getting skied out when re-runs of 25 year old movies take precedence to hitting the slopes.
I have to say though, this condo is damned luxurious. It's almost a shame to leave it.

The day warmed up and was hot hot hot. The snow that had melted down low yesterday had frozen overnight, so the lower slopes were glass. Even the groomed ones. Surprisingly I seemed to enjoy skidding around on the lower groomed runs doing little short flick flick turns with no hope of holding an edge. It was an achievement just to remain upright. One thing about slick snow, it's extremely easy to turn the skis, so I was enjoying that aspect. And the back was feeling better today, so I could actually get a bit of angulation happening without feeling like I should book a session with the chiropractor.

Stopped off for hot chocolate with whipped cream at Creekside Restaurant at the bottom of the Gadzoom Express. The girl must've misunderstood me 'cos she gave me whipped cream with hot chocolate. Out on the deck a lady enquired why I was having dessert at 11am.
Found a deck chair and stretched out, relaxed for 30 minutes or so. An absolutely stunning day...it's a hard life in the mountains. :-)

Gad Valley

Skidded around on the hard snow for a few more runs and then broke for lunch around 1pm. Checked my emails and found I had an email from Bankwest credit card fraud section. Apparently they'd noticed a couple of suspicious transactions on my credit card and they needed me to call them. So called BW for a chat and we ended up putting a hold on my card because the transactions were not me. So someone, somewhere has phished my card. I've been pretty careful where I've been using it....Symo did warn me. My guess is that it was probably at Denver airport.
Anyway it appears someone has been spending up large at Walmart in Carterville (where ever the f*** that is) on my dime. From what BW says, Walmart will cop it because they didn't verify the card. The sooner the US gets with the program and ditches signing for PINs the better.
I have to say I'm most impressed with BW's attention in spotting the potentially fraudulent transactions, putting a hold on the card, and promptly alerting me. Given I'm only in the US for another 24 hours and my ATM card is still good, I should be OK, but the BW rep said he would keep the card active (but on hold) and if I need to use it in an emergency I can call them and they will release the hold for the time it takes for me to pay for whatever. Pretty dialled in I reckon.

That problem solved, I mysteriously had a burst of late afternoon energy, and skied a couple of the steep shady faces off Cirque Traverse in Peruvian Gulch beneath the tram. The snow was fabulous...still. I followed some local chicks down one chute (showing off) and it got seriously narrow. Luckily I was able to cut out and ski a much more open face.
The turns really were feeling good...way more flexibility in the torso than I've had for the past week or so.

The open face in the middle, narrow chute to left

Deciding I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb I took a run down the shirt front bumps - ie black diamond bumps beneath Peruvian Express. A run called Silver Fox. The bumps were big, steep and crusty...slushy snow just starting to harden as the sun descended in the afternoon sky.
It wasn't so much boogying in the bumps as doing the zimmer frame shuffle in the bumps, but I really enjoyed it. It's very satisfying to be able to navigate such a challenging bump run in total control and with style if not athleticism. To any of the Niseko crew that may read this, I was squashing the bug all the way down.

I was feeling so exuberant I jumped on Peruvian Express at 3:55pm for one last run. Hit the steep shady slopes again, gave the bumps a miss in favour of a groomed cool down and pulled into the base area at 4:20pm.

A day that started in ho hum fashion turning into a classic.