- Resort or Ski Area
- Snowbird
- Date
- Jan 13, 2025
- Snow Conditions
-
- Powder
Resort or Ski Area: Snowbird
Date: January 13, 2025
Snow Conditions: Chowder, fresh cord, soft snow
My normal ski routine, of skiing one day midweek and one day on the weekend, was interrupted by a nasty head cold and work. Additionally, I had been going pretty hard over the holiday period. After spending the weekend recovering, I was able to sneak out for a morning session at Snowbird after the latest round of snow. In sum, it was a day that makes you love the place.
I pulled up at Chickadee just before 9:00am with the temperature hovering at just about 5 F and a small breeze. My hands were hurting from the cold as I was booting up and I needed an extra layer. My MO is to ski down to the Tram, but the line looked a little longer than normal for a Monday, so I diverted to Peruvian only to divert back to the Tram since the Peruvian was down for maintenance. This was the only snafu of the morning and one that was easy to fix.
The Tram was buzzing with talk of the new snow and the cold. There were a lot of visitors in addition to the locals. We arrived at the top just before 9:15am and were greeted by the most amazing bluebird conditions.
As a habit, I opted for Powder Paradise and Mineral Basin to warm up. Most everyone else was doing the same. Grooming was a bit uneven, as can be expected after a big storm, but the pack was soft and forgiving. The sun took the nip off the cold temps. Second run was down Road to Provo and Mark Malu--another classic run for me. The grooming here, too, was about the same--you could not let them rip but the snow was soft. The lighting and new snow made for amazing views. There was no line at Little Cloud and in no time I was back on Powder Paradise.
Although it is not at all technical or challenging, I personally have always enjoyed the low angle stuff on Baldy Express that makes for a nice change of pace from the "balls to the wall" stuff everywhere else at Snowbird. After exiting, my skis took me sharp right down some nice moguls and onto a nicely groomed Claim Jumper. The encore was a nice run on powder bumps and soft grooming on Bird's Nest before cruising down to Mineral Basin.
As expected, the warm sun and new snow was bringing the crowd to Mineral Basin and the line for the lift was starting to back up, but was never more than 5 minutes for the singles line. Since my forays off the groomed stuff showed me that things were nice soft chowder just waiting for turns, I decided to get in the first run down Chamonix Bowl of the season. Much like other early runs off of traverses, Chamonix had the goods hidden in plain sight. It was well covered and the bumps were soft powder and chowder that made for amazing turns in the sun. I had to hit repeat and entered this time further along the traverse and closer to the rope line. The snow was even better over here.
By now I was just more than an hour from when I had to leave and I still wanted to go bigger. The thing that is nice about Snowbird is that almost all the lifts are fast and one can crank out some good terrain and vert in not much time. So Old Ladies was next in the queue and it did not disappoint although the cold had set it up a bit, but it was still awesome! I was surprised to see some small grass patches in between some of the bumps just over half way down. Pretty good for the first run of the season.
I skied past Little Cloud and down a pleasant Bicarbonate Gully to Gad 2. Bananas had received one of its first manicures of the season and I always love to ski that as it reminds me of the narrow trails back home in Vermont. Again, Gad 2 was ski-on and Bananas was in prime shape. I was tempted to repeat, but I wanted to get in the big finale before heading out, so I skied down Upper Bassackwards to Little Cloud. A good portion of this run was untracked and it made for a nice treat.
I headed back down Road to Paradise and my skis were drawn into the powder bumps of White Diamonds to the fast grooming of Powder Paradise. By now Mineral was pretty busy, but again, no more than a 5-minute wait for singles.
My timing was working out well and I had just the right amount of time to do a High Baldy lap. So after hitting the Breezeway again and dropping into Gorilla Pass, I headed right past Chamonix and up the High Baldy Traverse. By now it was clouding over with some snow and fog at about 10,000 feet and up. Thanks to losing a few pounds this summer, I was able to handle the hike quickly and without any serious huffing and puffing. Waiting until 11:30am also meant that there were fewer folks heading out as well. I stepped in and glided down 30 seconds to one of my favorite lines, unofficially named, "So Long", but also named "High Ridge 3" or "West Baldy".
A lesson I learned pretty quickly skiing out here is the line I said before and will repeat again: often, the best things are hidden in plain sight. When it comes to traverses and hike-to terrain, so often folks ski all the way to the end looking for a pot of gold and pass by some pretty good treats to do so. So Long was a line that I stared at for a season or two before finally trying it. Basically, it is a straight line right off the Traverse down to Chip's Run. It is shadowed from the sun by Hidden Peak and often collects snow. Today was no exception--the chowder bumps were amazing. I cut over to Mid-Baldy Traverse and hit another line down to Chip's Bypass before ducking into Hully Gully, which was chock full of chowder and powder, before cruising the Hubba Bubba to a decent Middle Men's and into the Phone 3 Shot. By now it was getting pretty dark from the cloud cover and my reflector lenses were making it hard to see the transitions and troughs so I picked my way across the Chip's Traverse to Lower Primrose Path and back to Chickadee to head to the car.
Basically, just about 3 hours of skiing, 17 miles of turns, and about 17,000 vertical. Not bad at all!
Pics coming soon.
Date: January 13, 2025
Snow Conditions: Chowder, fresh cord, soft snow
My normal ski routine, of skiing one day midweek and one day on the weekend, was interrupted by a nasty head cold and work. Additionally, I had been going pretty hard over the holiday period. After spending the weekend recovering, I was able to sneak out for a morning session at Snowbird after the latest round of snow. In sum, it was a day that makes you love the place.
I pulled up at Chickadee just before 9:00am with the temperature hovering at just about 5 F and a small breeze. My hands were hurting from the cold as I was booting up and I needed an extra layer. My MO is to ski down to the Tram, but the line looked a little longer than normal for a Monday, so I diverted to Peruvian only to divert back to the Tram since the Peruvian was down for maintenance. This was the only snafu of the morning and one that was easy to fix.
The Tram was buzzing with talk of the new snow and the cold. There were a lot of visitors in addition to the locals. We arrived at the top just before 9:15am and were greeted by the most amazing bluebird conditions.
As a habit, I opted for Powder Paradise and Mineral Basin to warm up. Most everyone else was doing the same. Grooming was a bit uneven, as can be expected after a big storm, but the pack was soft and forgiving. The sun took the nip off the cold temps. Second run was down Road to Provo and Mark Malu--another classic run for me. The grooming here, too, was about the same--you could not let them rip but the snow was soft. The lighting and new snow made for amazing views. There was no line at Little Cloud and in no time I was back on Powder Paradise.
Although it is not at all technical or challenging, I personally have always enjoyed the low angle stuff on Baldy Express that makes for a nice change of pace from the "balls to the wall" stuff everywhere else at Snowbird. After exiting, my skis took me sharp right down some nice moguls and onto a nicely groomed Claim Jumper. The encore was a nice run on powder bumps and soft grooming on Bird's Nest before cruising down to Mineral Basin.
As expected, the warm sun and new snow was bringing the crowd to Mineral Basin and the line for the lift was starting to back up, but was never more than 5 minutes for the singles line. Since my forays off the groomed stuff showed me that things were nice soft chowder just waiting for turns, I decided to get in the first run down Chamonix Bowl of the season. Much like other early runs off of traverses, Chamonix had the goods hidden in plain sight. It was well covered and the bumps were soft powder and chowder that made for amazing turns in the sun. I had to hit repeat and entered this time further along the traverse and closer to the rope line. The snow was even better over here.
By now I was just more than an hour from when I had to leave and I still wanted to go bigger. The thing that is nice about Snowbird is that almost all the lifts are fast and one can crank out some good terrain and vert in not much time. So Old Ladies was next in the queue and it did not disappoint although the cold had set it up a bit, but it was still awesome! I was surprised to see some small grass patches in between some of the bumps just over half way down. Pretty good for the first run of the season.
I skied past Little Cloud and down a pleasant Bicarbonate Gully to Gad 2. Bananas had received one of its first manicures of the season and I always love to ski that as it reminds me of the narrow trails back home in Vermont. Again, Gad 2 was ski-on and Bananas was in prime shape. I was tempted to repeat, but I wanted to get in the big finale before heading out, so I skied down Upper Bassackwards to Little Cloud. A good portion of this run was untracked and it made for a nice treat.
I headed back down Road to Paradise and my skis were drawn into the powder bumps of White Diamonds to the fast grooming of Powder Paradise. By now Mineral was pretty busy, but again, no more than a 5-minute wait for singles.
My timing was working out well and I had just the right amount of time to do a High Baldy lap. So after hitting the Breezeway again and dropping into Gorilla Pass, I headed right past Chamonix and up the High Baldy Traverse. By now it was clouding over with some snow and fog at about 10,000 feet and up. Thanks to losing a few pounds this summer, I was able to handle the hike quickly and without any serious huffing and puffing. Waiting until 11:30am also meant that there were fewer folks heading out as well. I stepped in and glided down 30 seconds to one of my favorite lines, unofficially named, "So Long", but also named "High Ridge 3" or "West Baldy".
A lesson I learned pretty quickly skiing out here is the line I said before and will repeat again: often, the best things are hidden in plain sight. When it comes to traverses and hike-to terrain, so often folks ski all the way to the end looking for a pot of gold and pass by some pretty good treats to do so. So Long was a line that I stared at for a season or two before finally trying it. Basically, it is a straight line right off the Traverse down to Chip's Run. It is shadowed from the sun by Hidden Peak and often collects snow. Today was no exception--the chowder bumps were amazing. I cut over to Mid-Baldy Traverse and hit another line down to Chip's Bypass before ducking into Hully Gully, which was chock full of chowder and powder, before cruising the Hubba Bubba to a decent Middle Men's and into the Phone 3 Shot. By now it was getting pretty dark from the cloud cover and my reflector lenses were making it hard to see the transitions and troughs so I picked my way across the Chip's Traverse to Lower Primrose Path and back to Chickadee to head to the car.
Basically, just about 3 hours of skiing, 17 miles of turns, and about 17,000 vertical. Not bad at all!
Pics coming soon.
