Alta, UT 4/21/12

Day 62: Our own little private backcountry ski area.

Alta reopened yesterday for the first of two bonus weekends with only Collins and Sunnyside running. We picked up about 8 inches of new snow during the week after they closed last Sunday, so wherever it wasn't skied yesterday things were as smooth as a pool table. From the looks of things, there weren't many people there yesterday at all.

Nor were there today, either. When the lifts opened at 9:15 there were maybe, maybe 25 people there maximum. Anything beyond the top of Collins is now designated backcountry, and we headed straight for the "backcountry" of Backside.



Skidog arrived during that first run, so we went down to pick him up at the base of Collins and headed for Armpit. Bumped into "the esteemed Dr. Steenburgh" halfway down.



We headed back to the "backcountry" for a glorious run through smooth untracked juvenile corn on Chartreuse Nose, but by now we were hatching other plans. We stopped at Albion Base Lodge for water, then I grabbed my skins from the car in the Wildcat lot. At the top of Collins I mounted my skins while the others started hiking up the EBT.





We were headed for more untracked snow in Devil's Castle.











A short while thereafter we headed for lunch, bumping briefly into mbaydala on Collins.



They had set up a BBQ on the beach at Watson's. The strong sun made temperatures feel more like the 80's than the mid-50's shown on the thermometer, so it was the perfect day for a BBQ.





Just as we were wrapping lunch a guy skied up and introduced himself. It was Evren from these forums.



We boarded at the angle and did a West Rustler, which was softening beautifully even though the flatter terrain below was turning into glue. I thus decided to call it a day at 1:20 while the others kept skiing with Evren for a few more runs. Tomorrow's another day.

Alas, I had no choice. While you guys were in your lift served backcountry ski area, I had most of the Jeep's throttle body disassembled in the garage......
Tomorrow's another day.

Well, Admin has already put up some very nice pictures so all I am going to do is try to "sex it up" a little...
For starters, it was 67 degrees already in the valley as I got my breakfast. So the wool base-layer and ski jacket looked somewhat out-of-place. This was more the norm:

Told you this was going to be racy! Almost went up to her and said, "One of us is not dressed correctly for the weather"
I started the day at Albion Basin. Big mistake. What little was open was very flat and it was almost a pole-push to the bottom. Over to Wildcat.
Started with a few groomers but they were grabby. As I passed mid-station on Collins going up, I wondered if I was going to run into Admin & Co. Glanced down and there they were, taking a break. After introductions, Admin's first move was to point a camera at me. I protested that he needed consent (probably not, public place) but it didn't deter him. Apparently, by signing up for this forum, I had relinquished all control over my likeness. Read the fine print, people!
He grudgingly agreed not to publish but I needed something more concrete to hold him to his word. An opportunity presented itself moments later:

Now, I am not going to tell what "Admin's bad habit" is; however, it is almost illegal in many jurisdictions. I think this tasteful treatment preserves his dignity, just as he did with my picture.
We did one run off of High Traverse together. It was the best run of the day so far for me. The steeper angle was just what was needed and the snow was, dare I say, corn. After Admin left, I stuck with Bobby, Amy and skidog -- though, not for long. I got into a minefield of exposed rocks on the traverse and lost some time trying to protect all my bases. A little further, over on the Greeley side Bobby was waiting and he told me where we were headed. I had no idea where that was and it was the last I saw of him.
Greeley bowl(?) was completely empty and barely tracked but the snow was just too heavy. Yet the solitude and the expansive view and the beautiful weather more than made up. I took a 360 picture to capture the feel (click on picture & hit 'f' for full-page):
http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid...6798907833067:-1.89887159801862&p=0:0&t=False
As you can see, I was missing half a ski and half a pole so I can be excused for not keeping up with the gang.
Skiing down, I was triggering these very odd snowballs. The one in the picture is almost chest-high.

The rest of the day, I explored more lines off of High-T. Very nice. Will return.

Evren":cdounifx said:

Now, I am not going to tell what "Admin's bad habit" is; however, it is almost illegal in many jurisdictions.

Click to expand...

Actually it is illegal to drool on the snow in Alta. You know, watershed issues and all. I was afraid that someone with a camera might someday catch me in the act. As long as the Alta Marshal never sees this...

Sent from my Android phone via Tapatalk

Well, just be glad that I didn't think to position Bobby Danger slightly differently in the frame...