Solitude 03/03/07

[andyzee]

Weather: Bluebird skys, 5 degrees in the morning and then warmed up to low 20's in the afternoon.
Condition: Mostly groomed, packed powder, and powder in trees and off to the side of some trails.
Report:
This was our last day in Utah. We decided to revist Solitude because in two seasons out there, it has turned into a favorite and it is close to both the hotel and airport. This is one day while we were out there that Utah did not recieve snow. Trails were all nicely groomed fresh snow and after 7 days of skiing powder, it was nice to give the ole legs a bit of a rest.
We started out with doing a few groomers and then eventually worked our way over to Honeycomb Canyon for some powder. For those not familiar with Solitude, Honeycomb Canyon is a great area with cliffs and a traverse across the length of a whole cliff area that is at least 1.5 miles long. People either traverse that area and then drop down in which ever spot suits them, do the lightly groomed trail at the bottom of the Canyon, or the truly adventurous climb to the top of the cliffs and drop down in a suitable spot. The trail at the bottom of the canyon is a fairly simple black diamond, but you do get areas that may be steep and bumped.
We started on the traverse but didn't go to far out due to the fact that a good part of the beginning was uphill.We just dropped down in the first decent bit of powder we could find and then took the trail at the bottom of the canyon. For the first time we didn't take the lift at the bottom of the Canyon, we instead chose to take the trail all the way to the base area, which turned this into about a 2.5-3 mile run.
After this we decided to hit the Black Forest area which is a nice, steep glades that hold powder pretty good. One run there.Then towards the lodge where our vehicle was parked. Did a few more runs on the groomed and some on bumped terrain and that was the rest of our skiing in Utah.
Once we got done with the skiing, we hung out on top of the lodge to try and get some sun so that when we arrive home, our racoon eyes weren't to evident. Left Solitude by 3, got to the airport by 4, quick bite to eat, airplane at 5:25, and that ended our funfilled Utah vacation.Got 5 - 7.5 feet of snowwhile we were out there, the perfect ski vacation. Here's pics from that last day:





Black Forest:





Honeycomb Canyon:





Lil bump run:



Lil sun before the flight out:


And the worst part of the vacation:

[ajl50]

Tag. My Turn.

[andyzee]

Originally Posted by ajl50

Tag. My Turn.

1. I hate you

2. Have fun!

3. When you leaving?

4. And don't forget the powder straps, aka Powder Cats. http://www.gearbuyer.com/products/ek...wder_cats.html

[ajl50]

I'm leaving thursday am early so that we can ski thursday afternoon.

[andyzee]

Originally Posted by ajl50

I'm leaving thursday am early so that we can ski thursday afternoon.

Try not to miss Mineral Basin at Snowbird while you're out there and don't forget to write some reports. Have fun!