Utah, late January 2017

I skied six days last week (Jan 21-28, 2017) in Utah in the best snow conditions of my life; five days at Snowbird, one at Park City. Here are my five fav pics (and one vid) all from Snowbird days on the trip.


Jan 22: A friend in trees off Gadzoom chair.


Jan 24: My son in trees near Mach Schnell.


Jan 25: A friend in Wilbere Bowl. He's on 141mm skis, but still got them to dive.


Jan 26: Yours truly in Elevator Chute, Upper Cirque area. Unbeknownst to me, the guy looking down from above was taking my video and in the next tram ride exchanged contact info. Met some really nice people out there.


Truth be told, that chute was so full of beautiful snow after a few quick turns at the top it was pretty easy and any of you guys would look better skiing it than my geezer self.

Jan 28: Reportedly, Snowbird received 81" of new snow Jan 20-27. Sun finally came out my last two ski days presenting a whole new type of fun. This is my son leading down Great Scott on my last run of the trip before I flew home later in the day.


It was an intense week. All kinds of body parts are sore, but I got the rest of my life to heal-up from a righteous Utah powder baptism

Great timing. Best year since we moved out and it's not even half over.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone

Way to catch the snow cycle Jim. Keep the reports coming.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

How did you hold up over 6 days back to back? I'm doing the same in Tahoe this season.. never gone more than 4 in a row before.

bdfreetuna said:

How did you hold up over 6 days back to back? I'm doing the same in Tahoe this season.. never gone more than 4 in a row before.

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Short answer: lots of Motrin.
Long answer: I skied six out of seven days out there. I was real sore (back, legs, shoulder) after first day at altitude flailing in deep powder and low vis conditions on borrowed 116mm skis. Second day the LCC was closed all day due to avi danger. Believe a couple lower lifts operated 90 mins that day at Snowbird. We tried to ski, but got turned away at base of canyon. Thought about skiing elsewhere, but son decided to go to work and I rested and did laundry at his place. I had planned one rest day on fourth day of trip and just moved it to second day. It was a VERY useful rest day and I would recommend on trips of five or more ski days that you try to work one in even if you're much younger than me (63). It rejuvenates you and those 116mm skis (fattest I'd ever used) didn't seem so burly rest of week, but were in fact great. My son and tons of Snowbird regulars can ski double blacks all day in rapid succession. I can't and never could. Usually I would ski with him or his fast moving young buddies for only 3-5 hours, then putz around on groomers by myself. Last day was only a half day. I am going back out there later this season and hope to meet up with some age-appropriate buddies to set a more sane pace.

jimk said:

Short answer: lots of Motrin.
Long answer: I skied six out of seven days out there. I was real sore (back, legs) after first day at altitude flailing in deep powder and low vis conditions on borrowed 116mm skis. Second day the LCC was closed all day due to avi danger. Believe a couple lower lifts operated 90 mins that day at Snowbird. We tried to ski, but got turned away at base of canyon. Thought about skiing elsewhere, but son decided to go to work and I rested and did laundry at his place. I had planned one rest day on fourth day of trip and just moved it to second day. It was a VERY useful rest day and I would recommend on trips of five or more ski days that you try to work one in even if you're much younger than me (63). It rejuvenates you and those 116mm skis didn't seem so burly rest of week. My son and tons of Snowbird regulars can ski double blacks all day in rapid succession. I can't and never could. Usually I would ski with him or his fast moving young buddies for only 3-5 hours, then putz around on groomers by myself. Last day was only a half day. I am going back out there later this season and hope to meet up with some age-appropriate buddies to set a more sane pace.

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I Love it. :lol: I'm going out to chase my 20 yr old hot shot around Winter Park and Copper for 4 days this week. Lucky for me the wife will be along ,in order to warm up for said chase. I do it the opposite of you as I enjoy the groomers in the early part of the day, then go chasing at the end.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

Have fun Alex. Let us know how it goes and what conditions are like. I assume CO is skiing great right now too. It's been a heck of a year out west. New England seems to be doing good too. Mid-Atlantic very sub-par and of course, our bar is pretty low to begin with.

We are looking to hit up Park City in February or March - the pics are pretty sweet!

Nice pics and video too!

Heading to Snowbird next week for only 3 days. Looks like a storm just before we get there next Tuesday night! Wish we had longer, but my son does not have the time. Can't wait! Graduation present for my Son graduating as a Dr of Physical Therapy in May.

andrec10 said:

Heading to Snowbird next week for only 3 days. Looks like a storm just before we get there next Tuesday night! Wish we had longer, but my son does not have the time. Can't wait! Graduation present for my Son graduating as a Dr of Physical Therapy in May.

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Best travel wishes. I can't imagine the snow will be anything less than still stellar for your near term visit. All kinds of their best and hairiest terrain is currently open and much of it skiing quite easy because it's filled in so well with snow. But be careful what you wish for in new snow at Little Cottonwood Canyon. If it weren't for my son's Forester with snow tires I would have been prohibited from driving up the canyon most days with my 2wd rental econo car. Regardless of what car, one day the canyon was closed to all vehicular traffic because of dumpage for 72+ hours and resulting avalanches.
More pictures and commentary on my trip on pages 10 and 11 here:
http://www.epicski.com/t/147211/2016-17-utah-weather-news-and-chat/270
Congrats to son!

We are using Canyon Transportation that uses 4 wheel drive vans and are staying at Snowbird.

andrec10 said:

We are using Canyon Transportation that uses 4 wheel drive vans and are staying at Snowbird.

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Good move. Just checked Alta weather. You might see 2' of snow during your visit!!

jimk said:

Have fun Alex. Let us know how it goes and what conditions are like. I assume CO is skiing great right now too. It's been a heck of a year out west. New England seems to be doing good too. Mid-Atlantic very sub-par and of course, our bar is pretty low to begin with.

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Colorado is in great shape, the boy beat me up pretty good, and the I can't wait for trip #2 Colo/Utah in March. Until then its PA and New England, Actually looking into possible 3rd trip west in April as I can't get enough.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

4aprice said:

Colorado is in great shape, the boy beat me up pretty good, and the I can't wait for trip #2 Colo/Utah in March. Until then its PA and New England, Actually looking into possible 3rd trip west in April as I can't get enough.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

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It has been a great season and the storms continue to deliver. I am excited to see what spring skiing will offer and how far into June we will go.