Day 45: Sun 'n fun, but oh my God the crowds! And a horrible day for a road closure.
44" of new snow in 3 days this week combined with a sunny, warm springlike day to draw the hordes to the mountains on Sunday. I've honestly not seen Alta as crowded as it was yesterday. At 2:30 pm I stood atop Corkscrew and all along the road from E gate to the gate at the Summer Road there wasn't an empty spot in the entire town of Alta that wasn't occupied by a car.
Lift lines were intense. At one point mid-morning the Collins line snaked back to the power transformer, made a 180 and became entangled with the Wildcat line. Crazy stuff.
I wasn't as annoyed as I'd normally be, however, for I was spending a lazy day enjoying the sun and snow with the Mrs. When the lunch crowds became too much to bear we grabbed a sandwich to go and headed for a picnic in a secluded spot up behind Cecret.
When that aforementioned line appeared at Collins and Wildcat we just took the rope tow to Sunnyside to access Supreme. When that line grew we merely went back to Sugarloaf. It was doable if you were flexible.
Then at 12:15pm word appeared that the road closed due to avalanche activity with no anticipated reopening time. Folks were stuck. News helicopters flew over to film. Beer sales went through the roof. While the road reopened at 4 pm they held traffic in Alta while they emptied Snowbird first. That meant that we didn't get moving out of the Wildcat parking lot until 5:15pm. While common courtesy generally prevailed tempers occasionally flared.
The authorities' plan to empty Snowbird first, however, turned out to be a good move, and once down the Bypass Road and through Snowbird Entry 4 traffic flowed well down the canyon. We got home at 6:15pm sporting solid sun tans.
44" of new snow in 3 days this week combined with a sunny, warm springlike day to draw the hordes to the mountains on Sunday. I've honestly not seen Alta as crowded as it was yesterday. At 2:30 pm I stood atop Corkscrew and all along the road from E gate to the gate at the Summer Road there wasn't an empty spot in the entire town of Alta that wasn't occupied by a car.
Lift lines were intense. At one point mid-morning the Collins line snaked back to the power transformer, made a 180 and became entangled with the Wildcat line. Crazy stuff.
I wasn't as annoyed as I'd normally be, however, for I was spending a lazy day enjoying the sun and snow with the Mrs. When the lunch crowds became too much to bear we grabbed a sandwich to go and headed for a picnic in a secluded spot up behind Cecret.
When that aforementioned line appeared at Collins and Wildcat we just took the rope tow to Sunnyside to access Supreme. When that line grew we merely went back to Sugarloaf. It was doable if you were flexible.
Then at 12:15pm word appeared that the road closed due to avalanche activity with no anticipated reopening time. Folks were stuck. News helicopters flew over to film. Beer sales went through the roof. While the road reopened at 4 pm they held traffic in Alta while they emptied Snowbird first. That meant that we didn't get moving out of the Wildcat parking lot until 5:15pm. While common courtesy generally prevailed tempers occasionally flared.
The authorities' plan to empty Snowbird first, however, turned out to be a good move, and once down the Bypass Road and through Snowbird Entry 4 traffic flowed well down the canyon. We got home at 6:15pm sporting solid sun tans.
