Ski Area: Snowbird
Dates: December 22, 2012
Conditions: 55" base, season to date 154"
Weather: Partly cloudy with temps in the 20's.
Report No: 6
With family in town to watch our little one, my wife and I went up for some morning turns on the newly fallen snow. In a couple weeks we've gone from a good, solid start to superior conditions with ropes dropping left and right revealing some of my favorite chutes and bowls opening with decent cover. These conditions are what we had at the end of last February, so this is a huge improvement and the stars are lining up for a truly great season.
We opted to hit the Gadzoom/Little Cloud connection to the top. That new lift is great. We dropped into Powder Paradise and found very tasty cord. The sides were a bit iffy with drifted snow or windslab. But the ripping was good:
With a demanding residency schedule, and a new baby, my wife did not manage to get in a good day in Mineral Basin last season, so she was overdue and today delivered.
We did another spin down Powder Paradise where I wandered over to White Diamonds to find a slightly bumpier ride than I wanted.
Baldy was spinning for the first time, so we headed over to do laps on that lift. We pretty much had this side to ourselves...and enjoyed nice fast runs down the two groomers over there that had set up real nice. The off-trail selection over there was a even iffier than other places with the wind damage being pretty bad. But we were ripping and packing in the runs:
We did about six laps over on Baldy before taking a break at the top. We did a spin down Lupine Loop to scout out Chamonix Bowl, which looked a bit rough. I dropped into Upper Not Quite Corn and was bumped around, but the snow was filling in the ruts.
We did a couple more laps on Baldy before taking another spin down Powder Paradise. The grooming had loosened up quite a bit making for some nice soft turns.
Little Cloud was now getting a bit more sun so we headed down Mark Malu which was delightful. I glimpsed up into Rasta Chutes and the Benches and contemplated dropping in on another run.
With the Mrs. done for the day, I spent the next hour blitzing Little Cloud Bowl--first skidding down a slick Regulator (though the Road to Ogden is MUCH improved over last season thanks to some serious widening) before heading back to Mark Malu for another great run. I found myself dropping down Old Lady's Slide to go and retrieve something I dropped off the lift. The upper part was bordering on real nice, the middle was windblown hardpack, but a nice little windroll below held some nice powder. Regulator Underpass looked tempting and I drove the Monsters into there to find some edgable windslab that they just shredded. For the first time I felt like the skis were breaking in nicely giving me power to bust through anything.
I could not hold myself back, so I dropped into the East Bench to find drifted powder and few tracks. It was definitely the run of the day and brought me back for another run to close out the day. This chute really got me looking forward to the season to come.
I closed out by gliding down to Bicarbonate Gully to find some more packed powder treats. FWIW the Bicarb Gully did not open until at least March last season and now it is filled in and skiing great. I cruised down Elbow Gully and then down to West Second South Short where I cut back over to the lodge to close it out.
A really nice day. My own pics coming soon.
Dates: December 22, 2012
Conditions: 55" base, season to date 154"
Weather: Partly cloudy with temps in the 20's.
Report No: 6
With family in town to watch our little one, my wife and I went up for some morning turns on the newly fallen snow. In a couple weeks we've gone from a good, solid start to superior conditions with ropes dropping left and right revealing some of my favorite chutes and bowls opening with decent cover. These conditions are what we had at the end of last February, so this is a huge improvement and the stars are lining up for a truly great season.
We opted to hit the Gadzoom/Little Cloud connection to the top. That new lift is great. We dropped into Powder Paradise and found very tasty cord. The sides were a bit iffy with drifted snow or windslab. But the ripping was good:
With a demanding residency schedule, and a new baby, my wife did not manage to get in a good day in Mineral Basin last season, so she was overdue and today delivered.
We did another spin down Powder Paradise where I wandered over to White Diamonds to find a slightly bumpier ride than I wanted.
Baldy was spinning for the first time, so we headed over to do laps on that lift. We pretty much had this side to ourselves...and enjoyed nice fast runs down the two groomers over there that had set up real nice. The off-trail selection over there was a even iffier than other places with the wind damage being pretty bad. But we were ripping and packing in the runs:
We did about six laps over on Baldy before taking a break at the top. We did a spin down Lupine Loop to scout out Chamonix Bowl, which looked a bit rough. I dropped into Upper Not Quite Corn and was bumped around, but the snow was filling in the ruts.
We did a couple more laps on Baldy before taking another spin down Powder Paradise. The grooming had loosened up quite a bit making for some nice soft turns.
Little Cloud was now getting a bit more sun so we headed down Mark Malu which was delightful. I glimpsed up into Rasta Chutes and the Benches and contemplated dropping in on another run.
With the Mrs. done for the day, I spent the next hour blitzing Little Cloud Bowl--first skidding down a slick Regulator (though the Road to Ogden is MUCH improved over last season thanks to some serious widening) before heading back to Mark Malu for another great run. I found myself dropping down Old Lady's Slide to go and retrieve something I dropped off the lift. The upper part was bordering on real nice, the middle was windblown hardpack, but a nice little windroll below held some nice powder. Regulator Underpass looked tempting and I drove the Monsters into there to find some edgable windslab that they just shredded. For the first time I felt like the skis were breaking in nicely giving me power to bust through anything.
I could not hold myself back, so I dropped into the East Bench to find drifted powder and few tracks. It was definitely the run of the day and brought me back for another run to close out the day. This chute really got me looking forward to the season to come.
I closed out by gliding down to Bicarbonate Gully to find some more packed powder treats. FWIW the Bicarb Gully did not open until at least March last season and now it is filled in and skiing great. I cruised down Elbow Gully and then down to West Second South Short where I cut back over to the lodge to close it out.
A really nice day. My own pics coming soon.
:beer:
