Resort: Snowbird
Date: May 10, 2014
Weather/Conditions: Cool, temps in the upper 30's and low 40's; in and out of the clouds, P/VC (110" base)
Report: Another complete wild card day that worked in my favorite. The season just keeps going and getting better. My wife suggested I go Saturday so as to keep Sunday open. Good call. The weather forecast was calling for a transition day between cool temps and cold stormy weather with the chance of rain/thunderstorms. That was enough to scare folks off.
I rolled with it assuming that I would make the best of it and set the bar low. The morning in SLC was cool and partly cloudy with some sun, but the mountains had clouds and low fog.
I got to Snowbird at about 8:30 and scored rockstar parking. After booting up I made the 9:00 am tram and found myself face-to-face with Snowbird legend Guru Dave Powers whom I cross paths with every once in a while.
With a smile he greeted me with, "today is going to be good."
"I hope so," I replied.
"Oh it will be good. Very good!"
With that we loaded the red boat and set off to the summit and into the clouds. At the top I headed for Mineral Basin since I had been suffering from withdrawal. Mineral Basin, in my opinion, makes Snowbird. I headed down Road to Paradise and immediately got the White Room treatment of fog, snow, and, well, whiteness. I groped along the traverse to the winch cable and then angled down the groomed portion that was soft to the touch. On the side the snow was obviously deep and drifted. In May? MAY? About halfway down the first run I broke out of the fog and found I was only one of a handful in the Basin.
Back up for a repeat. The clouds were hugging only the highest reaches of the aptly named Hidden Peak and revealing lots of open untracked snow and nobody around. The next run out the Road to Paradise was also quiet with folks jumping off here and there to dive into the Basin and the snow. I jumped off onto White Diamonds and was met with on average boot deep powder/dense snow that set up perfectly to cover the reefs underneath and make for a great ride.
I worked Mineral Basin and my favorite lines--High Stakes, Not Quite Corn, Lone Star, Blue Bayou, Nash Flora Lode, Silver Dipper, Chamonix Bowl, and Powder Paradise. No lines to speak of and lots of great surfing for the Hammereds.
After about 90 minutes or so they dropped the ropes to the Bookends and the faithful were ready. I got over there and staggered a bit on the icy Hillary's Step, so I bailed and returned to take the lower traverse heading over to Altar Bowl and some good crud to ski. There was a lot of avi debris.
I worked the Little Cloud Bowl to find more of the White Room effect and some chalky goodness. I managed three runs over there--Old Lady's Slide, Moss Mess, and Regulator.
With the clouds socked in on the front side, and even some snow showers, I decided to return to Bookends to work it some more and I got in nice turns on Richie's Run and Lower Endora.
By now it was already about 1:00pm and I was pretty worn out. I took a nice spin down Primrose Path to Hully Gully and Who Dunnit. Midwinter conditions.
Simply amazing...latest pow day in my ski career. Here are some pics.
From the pros...me heading back to Mineral Basin Express:
Coming down the Powder Paradise and emerging back onto the cord:
Some of my pics.....coming soon....
Date: May 10, 2014
Weather/Conditions: Cool, temps in the upper 30's and low 40's; in and out of the clouds, P/VC (110" base)
Report: Another complete wild card day that worked in my favorite. The season just keeps going and getting better. My wife suggested I go Saturday so as to keep Sunday open. Good call. The weather forecast was calling for a transition day between cool temps and cold stormy weather with the chance of rain/thunderstorms. That was enough to scare folks off.
I rolled with it assuming that I would make the best of it and set the bar low. The morning in SLC was cool and partly cloudy with some sun, but the mountains had clouds and low fog.
I got to Snowbird at about 8:30 and scored rockstar parking. After booting up I made the 9:00 am tram and found myself face-to-face with Snowbird legend Guru Dave Powers whom I cross paths with every once in a while.
With a smile he greeted me with, "today is going to be good."
"I hope so," I replied.
"Oh it will be good. Very good!"
With that we loaded the red boat and set off to the summit and into the clouds. At the top I headed for Mineral Basin since I had been suffering from withdrawal. Mineral Basin, in my opinion, makes Snowbird. I headed down Road to Paradise and immediately got the White Room treatment of fog, snow, and, well, whiteness. I groped along the traverse to the winch cable and then angled down the groomed portion that was soft to the touch. On the side the snow was obviously deep and drifted. In May? MAY? About halfway down the first run I broke out of the fog and found I was only one of a handful in the Basin.
Back up for a repeat. The clouds were hugging only the highest reaches of the aptly named Hidden Peak and revealing lots of open untracked snow and nobody around. The next run out the Road to Paradise was also quiet with folks jumping off here and there to dive into the Basin and the snow. I jumped off onto White Diamonds and was met with on average boot deep powder/dense snow that set up perfectly to cover the reefs underneath and make for a great ride.
I worked Mineral Basin and my favorite lines--High Stakes, Not Quite Corn, Lone Star, Blue Bayou, Nash Flora Lode, Silver Dipper, Chamonix Bowl, and Powder Paradise. No lines to speak of and lots of great surfing for the Hammereds.
After about 90 minutes or so they dropped the ropes to the Bookends and the faithful were ready. I got over there and staggered a bit on the icy Hillary's Step, so I bailed and returned to take the lower traverse heading over to Altar Bowl and some good crud to ski. There was a lot of avi debris.
I worked the Little Cloud Bowl to find more of the White Room effect and some chalky goodness. I managed three runs over there--Old Lady's Slide, Moss Mess, and Regulator.
With the clouds socked in on the front side, and even some snow showers, I decided to return to Bookends to work it some more and I got in nice turns on Richie's Run and Lower Endora.
By now it was already about 1:00pm and I was pretty worn out. I took a nice spin down Primrose Path to Hully Gully and Who Dunnit. Midwinter conditions.
Simply amazing...latest pow day in my ski career. Here are some pics.
From the pros...me heading back to Mineral Basin Express:
Coming down the Powder Paradise and emerging back onto the cord:
Some of my pics.....coming soon....
