As admin can also attest, the potential of Castle Mt. for a memorable powder experience is quite large. Skier density is on a par with Powder Mt. But Castle has much better fall lines, some over 2,000 vertical. The main mountain of 1,440 acres is served by just a triple and T-bar on the lower half and a double on the upper half.

I was first here in March 1999, first season of the upper double and the big vertical. There was still wind drifted powder in numerous places despite just a few inches new over the previous week. Admin was here a year later and had a similar experience.

The secret did get out, and on my next visit in 2004 there were considerable liftlines from the Calgary and southern Alberta weekenders. I'm told we may see them again tomorrow. Castle also added a new lift of 1,000 vertical in 2006 serving low intermediate and beginner runs, which were previously nearly non-existent.

But midweek it's still pretty empty, with maybe every third chair in use.

Now for the good part. They had over 40 inches of new snow in the past week, so on a Friday most of it was still there, and the prevailing winds fill it in overnight. So the result was 30,300 vertical, and the 20K of powder was second highest lifetime for lift service.

It is startling how wind can be such a detriment to snow surfaces at Sunshine and be such a benefit here. The powder was not the blower of Chatter Creek this year, but the consistent long untracked fall lines in many of Castle's bowls would easily be comparable to an average day in the cat or heli.

Morning temps were balmy at -5C or so compared to the past 8 days. It snowed lightly much of the day, there were gusty winds at the top, and sometimes I had to wait a minute or two for the whiteout to abate before skiing. My favorite terrain here is Drifter, a vast bowl SE of the upper lift that is 2000 vertical and several hundred feet wide. It contains just enough stunted trees to provide orientation where visibility is poor.

About 2PM the base area temperature plunged from -4C to -16C in just a few minutes, and the wind shifted from the usual SW to north. Adam started to chill out and called it a day just before 3PM. I persevered until about 3:40 to get my first ever 30/20 day.