Alta, 12/18/06

Date(s) Skied: 12/18/06

Resort or Ski Area: Alta

Conditions: Deep Powder

Trip Report: First thing I want to apologize I brought the camera and took a bunch of pictures but I left the USB cable at home. I'll try to add the pics when I get home.

Today was my first day in Utah in a few years and one of the top days on skis in my life. Alta picked up 2+ ft over the weekend with atleast another 6 inches last night. We were boot top to knee deep all day and at one point I actually got myself in a bad position were I ended up waist deep.

We arrived at Albion around 9:00 and parked only minutes from the lodge. I was suprised because usually the powder will bring out the locals in droves. We immediatley headed up albion to sugarloaf to hit the ballroom, only to find it closed. No problem, we took a run down sunspot to wildcat, we did a bunch of runs off wildcat until we saw that the ballroom had opened. First run down the ballroom was knee deep fresh tracks, one of those epic runs that immediately reaffirms your passion for skiing. We lapped the ballroom until the point of exhaustion and headed in for lunch. As a sidenote I really miss germania.

On the way down to lunch I decided to drop into the the area between greeley bowl and sugarloaf. Not a good idea, I found myslef in a rough spot, it was untracked and I had to hike out. At one point I sunk more than waist deep.

After lunch it was more laps in the ballroom and then up to superior. Superior was entirely large bumps, I did a few laps and then we decided to call it a day. Nothing too challenging today but I have been sick and we figured it was a better idea to save it for the rest of the week.

Looks like it is going to be the bird tomorrow.

Awesome trip report. Slight chance I might make it out there this year.

Ballroom is great when it first opens.

Whats up bigo. Sounds like you are getting some of the great snow that I got over the weekend. Awesome!

If you run out of pow turns in Alta, head out to Solitude one of the days. When I left on Sunday night, there was TONS of untracked in the woods. Most of the Honeycomb wasn't even open which means the snow should be even better there. I think Solitude is by far the best place to find powder in the BCC/LCC area right now. Its virtually empty, even on the weekend.

Whats up bigo. Sounds like you are getting some of the great snow that I got over the weekend. Awesome!

If you run out of pow turns in Alta, head out to Solitude one of the days. When I left on Sunday night, there was TONS of untracked in the woods. Most of the Honeycomb wasn't even open which means the snow should be even better there. I think Solitude is by far the best place to find powder in the BCC/LCC area right now. Its virtually empty, even on the weekend.

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Thanks for the report, doesn't look like we are going to get to solitude this week, probably snowbird tomorrow and back to alta for the forecasted dump on friday.

thebigo said:

Thanks for the report, doesn't look like we are going to get to solitude this week, probably snowbird tomorrow and back to alta for the forecasted dump on friday.

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bigo, if staying in a central location, I would suggest you check out the snow accumulations on Friday morning before you leave for the slopes. You may be surprised in the difference you'll see from one resort to the other. When I was out there, Snowbird and Alta got 5" one day, Solitude got 13".

bigo, if staying in a central location, I would suggest you check out the snow accumulations on Friday morning before you leave for the slopes. You may be surprised in the difference you'll see from one resort to the other. When I was out there, Snowbird and Alta got 5" one day, Solitude got 13".

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Thanks, we are staying in sandy. Ill check out BCC vs LCC before we head out friday morning, weather guy just said 12+ for friday.

After all this fresh, manmade at Kmart is really going to suck on sunday. :lol:

andyzee said:

bigo, if staying in a central location, I would suggest you check out the snow accumulations on Friday morning before you leave for the slopes. You may be surprised in the difference you'll see from one resort to the other. When I was out there, Snowbird and Alta got 5" one day, Solitude got 13".

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Seconded. Just last week, over Saturday night Alta reported 5" while Brighton and Solitude were reporting 11" and 9" respectively. The difference in precip is pretty amazing considering how close the resorts are to one another and the similar elevations. One consideration is the wind - Solitude gets much less of it than then other BCC/LCC, which means less wind closures. Not sure if wind is even a concern for Friday, but something to keep in mind.

I was there on the 17th.

Photos
Video

It didn't suck.

-dave-