Ski Area: Snowbird
Dates: November 22, 2012
Conditions: 29" base, MG/FG/LG
Weather: Sunny, temps in the 20's rising through the low 30's.
Report No: 2
My wife gave me a nice Thanksgiving gift: a morning of skiing while she stayed home with our little animal. Turns out that our little girl was quite a handful today...which made me feel bad.
I got to Creekside bright and early. I was one of about 10 folks at Gadzoom for opening. I did a spin down Bassackwards to Emma...it was groomed and firm. The temps dropped hard last night and Gad Valley set up pretty firm. My run over to West Second South confirmed that things had set up. The latter was not groomed or very forgiving. I imagine that they will wait for the next snowfall to groom that side.
With that in mind, I did a couple on Lunch Run and Bassackwards...both were about the same as last week...and both had the fan guns working on them.
I rolled the dice on the Tram and found a growing crowd over there. My first spin down Peruvian Gulch was surprisingly good. Chips Ahoy was edgeable and Chip's Run to Chip's 8 Turns was in good shape. With the Tram only, folks were sparse in the Gulch. I came to Mens Downhill and decided to give it a spin. There were some GS bumps but it was in good shape...not as icy as expected. I then dove down Chip's Face...upper part under the Pole Cat was soft but the last pitch before the traverse was icy and the Lower Willows below the Tourist Trap got skied off pretty quickly.
After that run, I decided to repeat it doing different cutoffs and then heading over on Chip's Bypass to do some recon. Hully Gully, a favorite, looked pretty good and would bring me back. I skied down through Hubba Bubba was nice groomed snow. Most of Peruvian, from Tourist Trap up, was in fine shape and had not set up as hard as Gad side. With that in mind, I dove down Phone 3 Shot and found the snow to be chalky goodness...but you had to be ready for an occasional punch through here and there...
I went back for Hully Gully and it was worth it. Good base and good surface conditions...more chalky goodness. No ice at all. I opted for Chip's back to Phone 3 and then down Lower Chip's Face/Oh My God which was pretty edgeable and chalky for the first half and then pretty solid gran below that...aka white ice. I traversed over to Lower Willows and to the bottom. FWIW the area at Snowbird Center is really icy and thin....I imagine that they will get it straightened out with some snowmaking.
Last run off the Tram, and for the day, was down Regulator to Bassackwards. Regulator was in good shape...guns going...and folks were heading over towards Little Cloud lift for natural snow, but I'd still wait for that side.
Generally anything that is facing north and east is in fine shape. Cirque had been open. Anything above Tourist Trap/the last Chips Traverse is also not too hard. Fingers crossed for more snow....
Dates: November 22, 2012
Conditions: 29" base, MG/FG/LG
Weather: Sunny, temps in the 20's rising through the low 30's.
Report No: 2
My wife gave me a nice Thanksgiving gift: a morning of skiing while she stayed home with our little animal. Turns out that our little girl was quite a handful today...which made me feel bad.
I got to Creekside bright and early. I was one of about 10 folks at Gadzoom for opening. I did a spin down Bassackwards to Emma...it was groomed and firm. The temps dropped hard last night and Gad Valley set up pretty firm. My run over to West Second South confirmed that things had set up. The latter was not groomed or very forgiving. I imagine that they will wait for the next snowfall to groom that side.
With that in mind, I did a couple on Lunch Run and Bassackwards...both were about the same as last week...and both had the fan guns working on them.
I rolled the dice on the Tram and found a growing crowd over there. My first spin down Peruvian Gulch was surprisingly good. Chips Ahoy was edgeable and Chip's Run to Chip's 8 Turns was in good shape. With the Tram only, folks were sparse in the Gulch. I came to Mens Downhill and decided to give it a spin. There were some GS bumps but it was in good shape...not as icy as expected. I then dove down Chip's Face...upper part under the Pole Cat was soft but the last pitch before the traverse was icy and the Lower Willows below the Tourist Trap got skied off pretty quickly.
After that run, I decided to repeat it doing different cutoffs and then heading over on Chip's Bypass to do some recon. Hully Gully, a favorite, looked pretty good and would bring me back. I skied down through Hubba Bubba was nice groomed snow. Most of Peruvian, from Tourist Trap up, was in fine shape and had not set up as hard as Gad side. With that in mind, I dove down Phone 3 Shot and found the snow to be chalky goodness...but you had to be ready for an occasional punch through here and there...
I went back for Hully Gully and it was worth it. Good base and good surface conditions...more chalky goodness. No ice at all. I opted for Chip's back to Phone 3 and then down Lower Chip's Face/Oh My God which was pretty edgeable and chalky for the first half and then pretty solid gran below that...aka white ice. I traversed over to Lower Willows and to the bottom. FWIW the area at Snowbird Center is really icy and thin....I imagine that they will get it straightened out with some snowmaking.
Last run off the Tram, and for the day, was down Regulator to Bassackwards. Regulator was in good shape...guns going...and folks were heading over towards Little Cloud lift for natural snow, but I'd still wait for that side.
Generally anything that is facing north and east is in fine shape. Cirque had been open. Anything above Tourist Trap/the last Chips Traverse is also not too hard. Fingers crossed for more snow....
Last edited:
