Resort: Alta/Snowbird
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2015
Conditions: Variable/SC/WS; Sunny with temps in the 50's.
Report: Having spent the last weekend at Deer Valley, I was Jonesin for a good Snowbird day with maybe a helping of Alta for good measure. Driving up LCC I was really sickened by the bare ground for most of the drive and some thin cover on the western side of Cirque overlooking Mid-Gad, but it was ski day and there was plenty of white to ski.
Grabbed the first tram and headed right to a nice Mineral Basin. Pretty much my MO for Snowbird. Powder Paradise and White Diamonds were soft and pleasant. Next spin was a cruise down Lupine Loop for good measure. It also was pretty damn nice so I repeated it twice more for good measure before it got chewed up by the crowds. With the lines not really hitting MBX at 10, I did another spin on Powder Paradise side before heading over to Baldy Express.
I had been using Baldy almost exclusively for accessing Alta. But the snow over here was good and these low angle favorites were going off. So I hit Claim Jumper and Bird's Nest a few times before crossing the line into Alta.
Alta had slightly more snow but considerably more crowds on the lifts and trails. Devil's Elbow was nice as was Extrovert. I worked Sugarloaf a few more times hitting Razorback and doing a nice line down Yellow Trail/Scratchy back to Sugarloaf.
Riding up the lift I heard that Supreme was "terrible". This was disappointing considering that I was hoping to get there because I had not hit it in a while. I ignored the comments and headed for Supreme finding nice, just softened snow, and not too many people on the first run. Obviously word got out because there was quite a line on the second run. Upper Sleepy Hollow and Upper Big Dipper were nice; Rock N Roll and Big Dipper were also delightful.
It was now about 11:30 and I yearned for more 'Bird...Bookends in particular. So I headed back across and made a beeline right to Bookmark Gully. Delicious. I repeated working the next line over.
I had hoped on doing a couple in Little Cloud, but ended up only having time to do Old Ladies' to a thin Goblin Gully, Bicarbonate Gully, and then back down Bass Highway to Tram Base to wrap it up. Old Ladies was firm up top but a bit better as you worked the skier's right side.
A solid outing...about 4 1/2 hours of skiing. Covered a lot of terrain. Most of it is good...thin in places but good.
Pictures coming soon.
Date: Saturday, March 28, 2015
Conditions: Variable/SC/WS; Sunny with temps in the 50's.
Report: Having spent the last weekend at Deer Valley, I was Jonesin for a good Snowbird day with maybe a helping of Alta for good measure. Driving up LCC I was really sickened by the bare ground for most of the drive and some thin cover on the western side of Cirque overlooking Mid-Gad, but it was ski day and there was plenty of white to ski.
Grabbed the first tram and headed right to a nice Mineral Basin. Pretty much my MO for Snowbird. Powder Paradise and White Diamonds were soft and pleasant. Next spin was a cruise down Lupine Loop for good measure. It also was pretty damn nice so I repeated it twice more for good measure before it got chewed up by the crowds. With the lines not really hitting MBX at 10, I did another spin on Powder Paradise side before heading over to Baldy Express.
I had been using Baldy almost exclusively for accessing Alta. But the snow over here was good and these low angle favorites were going off. So I hit Claim Jumper and Bird's Nest a few times before crossing the line into Alta.
Alta had slightly more snow but considerably more crowds on the lifts and trails. Devil's Elbow was nice as was Extrovert. I worked Sugarloaf a few more times hitting Razorback and doing a nice line down Yellow Trail/Scratchy back to Sugarloaf.
Riding up the lift I heard that Supreme was "terrible". This was disappointing considering that I was hoping to get there because I had not hit it in a while. I ignored the comments and headed for Supreme finding nice, just softened snow, and not too many people on the first run. Obviously word got out because there was quite a line on the second run. Upper Sleepy Hollow and Upper Big Dipper were nice; Rock N Roll and Big Dipper were also delightful.
It was now about 11:30 and I yearned for more 'Bird...Bookends in particular. So I headed back across and made a beeline right to Bookmark Gully. Delicious. I repeated working the next line over.
I had hoped on doing a couple in Little Cloud, but ended up only having time to do Old Ladies' to a thin Goblin Gully, Bicarbonate Gully, and then back down Bass Highway to Tram Base to wrap it up. Old Ladies was firm up top but a bit better as you worked the skier's right side.
A solid outing...about 4 1/2 hours of skiing. Covered a lot of terrain. Most of it is good...thin in places but good.
Pictures coming soon.
