Date: January 10, 2016
Resorts: Alta/Snowbird (mostly Snowbird though)
Conditions/Weather: P (60" base); Cloudy and cold, becoming clear, sunny and highs in the low 20's.
Report No.: 10
Report: It was nice to get back to Utah after a nice holiday break in balmy and snowless Vermont and Maine. Last weekend I did three solid days at Alta/Snowbird, showing a college friend and his wife the area. Snow conditions were much improved over my last ventures there in December. Snowbird had dropped the ropes on a lot of areas that normally don't open until later because of the snow.
Over the week it was supposed to be "quiet" with little or no "significant" storms. Well, we got about 16" of snow over the week and it made a huge difference.
This weekend was also, quite appropriately, one of the few "Passholder Appreciation" Weekends where Snowbird provided free donuts, hot chocolate, and coffee for passholders. Most importantly, they opened the Tram and Gadzoom at 8:30 to afford us a few extra runs. For someone who prefers to start early this was a nice gesture. I will be sure to go back next month when they do it again.
I got a really early start expecting mainly clear roads and for the most part they were, but there were about 10 cars ahead of me on the Canyon Road. Since Alta opens at 9:15 and it was about 7:30, I figured that these folks were Tram bound, so I pulled off at Entrance 1 and got the first parking spot at Creekside.
Donuts arrived at about 8:15 and I grabbed one with a nice thanks before heading down to get first chair at Gadzoom. I was waved through at 8:30 on the dot. Plan was to do three quick warm-ups before heading up to head to Mineral Basin and ski some of Little Cloud.
It was 8 F to start and the slight breeze made it cold. I did four quick runs--hitting the fresh cord on Gadzoom and Lower Gad II. Bananas was primo...soft groomed cord. The snow had set up firm in other places. I had to take a warm-up break and throw on another layer, but I was back out and on my way up...much warmer.
I headed to Little Cloud and then headed over to ski a nicely groomed Mark Malu--some slides in the area had deposited some debris, but with it was more snow. It skied beautifully. Next spin was in the snowfield under Little Cloud that was nice, but a bit unpredictable because of wind deposits, some hard pack underneath, and some hidden bumps covered by drifted snow. Very nice though. Regulator was firm and scraped off already.
So now I set my sights on Mineral Basin...intent on skiing the Bookmark that I had wished I skied the week before. I had no problem gliding out the traverse.....now groomed all the way to the Sunday Saddle. While it meant a few more folks, the improved traverse made my life A LOT easier. Looking down Bookmark, I decided to dive in and was surprised to encounter chunky avalanche debris with some crust that caught be by surprise, but about 50 vertical feet into it the snow got soft and the lines were amazing. I had to go back.
Upper Endoras was the next one...knowing that I would have to make a hard left to Bookmark. The snow was soft and pleasant and lower Bookmark skied great since I knew the rhythm and the conditions.
It was just too good to stop. Next spin was Chamonix Bowl that skied nicely, but was not as good as the Bookends. It was still nice.
Crowds were backing up at Mineral Basin Express, so I did Baldy Express and quickly found myself on a short traverse to some interesting low angle stuff with a couple nice knolls and great snow.
I hit Baldy Express again and found myself again hitting some off-piste stuff to find variable snow conditions off of Lucky Boy.
I decided to go over to Alta intent on skiing Catherine's Area since I had not been in quite a while. It was a great decision. The five minute hike rewarded me with solitude, great snow, amazing views, and a delightful run down Last Chance. It was my first time out this far and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get here and how relatively tame it was for Alta. It was great in terms of snow and lines. Plenty of room to explore. Nobody was with me out this far.
So I was gunning to go back...but Supreme broke down and I headed back to Snowbird.
By now it was about 12:30pm or so.....and I had been going for four hours...Bookends to Catherines. I figured I'd do "a couple more" and then call it a day. I skied a quick run down Baldy Express side to Mineral Basin and then took a short break at the Summit before heading back out to the Bookends were I hit three nice lines along the Bookends traverse. The first again had some tricky footing at the top that caught me off guard on the steepest pitch, but the lower portions were a delight. I did the next line over....with a different aspect and better snow up top to find more great deep snow below thanks to drifting. I did one short line down to the gully on Powder Paradise where I came across one of my friends and her boyfriend. Our other friends were behind and caught up. We chatted and I said that since it was now 1:30pm I was done, but my arm was easily twisted for one last run on the Bookmark. I told them about my findings earlier.
We were there at the top looking down--they were all pretty excited--and we dove in knowing what to expect at the top but after that it was a delight. My friends were really pleased to have found this line and had decided to go back again. "Best run of the day", they said. But I was tired and done now that it was 2:00pm. We rode Mineral Basin back up, I gave them some more intel on what I had found, and I took one of them down Mark Malu to the bottom.
The skiing is getting pretty darn nice out here. Looks like we have a ridge for the first part of this week, but then hopefully we will get some more snow. It is skiing very nicely for only 60" base, so be careful out there...and look for some things still lurking underneath in places. Pics coming shortly....
Resorts: Alta/Snowbird (mostly Snowbird though)
Conditions/Weather: P (60" base); Cloudy and cold, becoming clear, sunny and highs in the low 20's.
Report No.: 10
Report: It was nice to get back to Utah after a nice holiday break in balmy and snowless Vermont and Maine. Last weekend I did three solid days at Alta/Snowbird, showing a college friend and his wife the area. Snow conditions were much improved over my last ventures there in December. Snowbird had dropped the ropes on a lot of areas that normally don't open until later because of the snow.
Over the week it was supposed to be "quiet" with little or no "significant" storms. Well, we got about 16" of snow over the week and it made a huge difference.
This weekend was also, quite appropriately, one of the few "Passholder Appreciation" Weekends where Snowbird provided free donuts, hot chocolate, and coffee for passholders. Most importantly, they opened the Tram and Gadzoom at 8:30 to afford us a few extra runs. For someone who prefers to start early this was a nice gesture. I will be sure to go back next month when they do it again.
I got a really early start expecting mainly clear roads and for the most part they were, but there were about 10 cars ahead of me on the Canyon Road. Since Alta opens at 9:15 and it was about 7:30, I figured that these folks were Tram bound, so I pulled off at Entrance 1 and got the first parking spot at Creekside.
Donuts arrived at about 8:15 and I grabbed one with a nice thanks before heading down to get first chair at Gadzoom. I was waved through at 8:30 on the dot. Plan was to do three quick warm-ups before heading up to head to Mineral Basin and ski some of Little Cloud.
It was 8 F to start and the slight breeze made it cold. I did four quick runs--hitting the fresh cord on Gadzoom and Lower Gad II. Bananas was primo...soft groomed cord. The snow had set up firm in other places. I had to take a warm-up break and throw on another layer, but I was back out and on my way up...much warmer.
I headed to Little Cloud and then headed over to ski a nicely groomed Mark Malu--some slides in the area had deposited some debris, but with it was more snow. It skied beautifully. Next spin was in the snowfield under Little Cloud that was nice, but a bit unpredictable because of wind deposits, some hard pack underneath, and some hidden bumps covered by drifted snow. Very nice though. Regulator was firm and scraped off already.
So now I set my sights on Mineral Basin...intent on skiing the Bookmark that I had wished I skied the week before. I had no problem gliding out the traverse.....now groomed all the way to the Sunday Saddle. While it meant a few more folks, the improved traverse made my life A LOT easier. Looking down Bookmark, I decided to dive in and was surprised to encounter chunky avalanche debris with some crust that caught be by surprise, but about 50 vertical feet into it the snow got soft and the lines were amazing. I had to go back.
Upper Endoras was the next one...knowing that I would have to make a hard left to Bookmark. The snow was soft and pleasant and lower Bookmark skied great since I knew the rhythm and the conditions.
It was just too good to stop. Next spin was Chamonix Bowl that skied nicely, but was not as good as the Bookends. It was still nice.
Crowds were backing up at Mineral Basin Express, so I did Baldy Express and quickly found myself on a short traverse to some interesting low angle stuff with a couple nice knolls and great snow.
I hit Baldy Express again and found myself again hitting some off-piste stuff to find variable snow conditions off of Lucky Boy.
I decided to go over to Alta intent on skiing Catherine's Area since I had not been in quite a while. It was a great decision. The five minute hike rewarded me with solitude, great snow, amazing views, and a delightful run down Last Chance. It was my first time out this far and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get here and how relatively tame it was for Alta. It was great in terms of snow and lines. Plenty of room to explore. Nobody was with me out this far.
So I was gunning to go back...but Supreme broke down and I headed back to Snowbird.
By now it was about 12:30pm or so.....and I had been going for four hours...Bookends to Catherines. I figured I'd do "a couple more" and then call it a day. I skied a quick run down Baldy Express side to Mineral Basin and then took a short break at the Summit before heading back out to the Bookends were I hit three nice lines along the Bookends traverse. The first again had some tricky footing at the top that caught me off guard on the steepest pitch, but the lower portions were a delight. I did the next line over....with a different aspect and better snow up top to find more great deep snow below thanks to drifting. I did one short line down to the gully on Powder Paradise where I came across one of my friends and her boyfriend. Our other friends were behind and caught up. We chatted and I said that since it was now 1:30pm I was done, but my arm was easily twisted for one last run on the Bookmark. I told them about my findings earlier.
We were there at the top looking down--they were all pretty excited--and we dove in knowing what to expect at the top but after that it was a delight. My friends were really pleased to have found this line and had decided to go back again. "Best run of the day", they said. But I was tired and done now that it was 2:00pm. We rode Mineral Basin back up, I gave them some more intel on what I had found, and I took one of them down Mark Malu to the bottom.
The skiing is getting pretty darn nice out here. Looks like we have a ridge for the first part of this week, but then hopefully we will get some more snow. It is skiing very nicely for only 60" base, so be careful out there...and look for some things still lurking underneath in places. Pics coming shortly....
