Storm total was 38 inches and I knew from Sunday's cluster that most of Alta had been very lightly skied the day before. Thus it was worth going back there for some very deep turns.
As on March 2 I was completely on my own for an Alta powder day, but this one was more successful. It's still not an easy process; there's a lot of decision making and some luck doesn't hurt. I'm sure the locals will have their critiques but here goes:
Yes I called Rocky Mountain Power when their office opened at 7AM before reloading my Alta ticket online. Just to be sure I also called the ski area while driving to the staging area to confirm that the power problem was fixed.
This time I got out early enough to be waiting ~50 cars back on Little Cottonwood Road by 8:15AM. When the line was moved up to the B gate I was beyond the merge with Wasatch Blvd. At 8:57AM we started moving up the Canyon and I arrived at the Wildcat lot at 9:13. I was in the Collins line by 9:30. Collins started loading at 9:48 and I was on the lift before 10AM.
Collins may have been open but for the first 2 runs most everything looker's left of the lift was still roped off. First run was tracked but decent powder. By the second run the limited terrain open was mostly hammered. There was a line of 50+ skiers at the top waiting for the upper gate of the High T to open.
The High T opened while I was riding my 3rd chair. There were still 50+ people in line for it so I went out the second gate. As on one other powder day I recall skiing with admin, skiers not patrol had to break trail from that second gate. So I went the 100 yards or so that the traverse had been set, pushed a few feet farther to ski deep face shot untracked, continuing periodically to traverse right to keep it that way. 4th run I went out the high gate which was finally cleared of its lineup. Just short of Piss Pass a couple of locals dropped off the High T and I followed them on a lower traverse through the continuing fog and snow, probably to Stonecrusher. It may have been skied a few times, but with 38 inches it was still fluffy and deep all the way down to the road. Adam had commented the day before that he would opt for a more continuous line on the first trip out the High T on a big powder day. I'm sure Highboy was chewed up by that time, 45 minutes after the High T opened, but there are enough alternatives in West Rustler that I'm inclined to agree with Adam for that first shot.
Next time up I took a more typical admin line through the North Greely area, lightly tracked but still enough room to make your own. Next time the Collins line was way out the maze and starting to fan out. I timed the line lasting from 11:10-11:26AM. That was about twice as long as any other lift line on Monday. I debated between doing North Rustler trees or the step up to Thirds. When I got up there it was puking with bad vis so I opted for the trees. I deliberately looked for a sketchy entrance to get less tracked snow below. Next time I did Thirds, following some locals out to the rope boundary below Gunsight for some deep turns. This drained onto Greely Hill, which had to be mostly straightlined in snow that deep. I went into lunch at Albion about 12:40PM. It was an impressive morning, but with Backside, Ballroom, Supreme Bowl/Catherine's and all the Snowbird gates closed, I figured the open terrain was mostly pillaged by now.
So after lunch I went up Sunnyside, Cecret and Supreme. The first run met my now low expectations, constrained terrain and thoroughly chewed snow, just like Sugarloaf Sunday and the second run on Collins today. But patrol was getting on the lift as I came down ~1:45PM and said they were about to open Supreme Bowl. First skiers under Supreme:
So I skied a Spiny Chute first, then looked for tree lines either side of the lift with sketchy entrances to get deep snow below as illustrated by views up then down on my skier's right run.
But as I was squeezing into a chute on the next run skier's left I caught a buried tree branch, spun around and fell head first. I thought I might have to remove a ski to get untangled from the trees but eventually I got them free and rolled over to get skis cleanly below me. Unfortunately one of my poles disappeared in this process and after 10 minutes of digging it was well past 3PM and I gave up.
With one pole I went up Sugarloaf, out EBT and the High T to lower Thirds and Greely Hill, tracked but still not packed with the 38 inches. I finished the day with a condo run from Wildcat. 22,200 vertical, 12K of sometimes very deep powder. This is probably the best I've managed on a powder day at Alta. It helps that it was my 56th day this season and I had been a week sleeping at 8,000 feet at Iron Blosam. Thus I did not get worn out from mad dashes out the High T in marginal visibility or grunt work like stepping up to Thirds as much as I might have on previous days like this.
As on March 2 I was completely on my own for an Alta powder day, but this one was more successful. It's still not an easy process; there's a lot of decision making and some luck doesn't hurt. I'm sure the locals will have their critiques but here goes:
Yes I called Rocky Mountain Power when their office opened at 7AM before reloading my Alta ticket online. Just to be sure I also called the ski area while driving to the staging area to confirm that the power problem was fixed.
This time I got out early enough to be waiting ~50 cars back on Little Cottonwood Road by 8:15AM. When the line was moved up to the B gate I was beyond the merge with Wasatch Blvd. At 8:57AM we started moving up the Canyon and I arrived at the Wildcat lot at 9:13. I was in the Collins line by 9:30. Collins started loading at 9:48 and I was on the lift before 10AM.
Collins may have been open but for the first 2 runs most everything looker's left of the lift was still roped off. First run was tracked but decent powder. By the second run the limited terrain open was mostly hammered. There was a line of 50+ skiers at the top waiting for the upper gate of the High T to open.
The High T opened while I was riding my 3rd chair. There were still 50+ people in line for it so I went out the second gate. As on one other powder day I recall skiing with admin, skiers not patrol had to break trail from that second gate. So I went the 100 yards or so that the traverse had been set, pushed a few feet farther to ski deep face shot untracked, continuing periodically to traverse right to keep it that way. 4th run I went out the high gate which was finally cleared of its lineup. Just short of Piss Pass a couple of locals dropped off the High T and I followed them on a lower traverse through the continuing fog and snow, probably to Stonecrusher. It may have been skied a few times, but with 38 inches it was still fluffy and deep all the way down to the road. Adam had commented the day before that he would opt for a more continuous line on the first trip out the High T on a big powder day. I'm sure Highboy was chewed up by that time, 45 minutes after the High T opened, but there are enough alternatives in West Rustler that I'm inclined to agree with Adam for that first shot.
Next time up I took a more typical admin line through the North Greely area, lightly tracked but still enough room to make your own. Next time the Collins line was way out the maze and starting to fan out. I timed the line lasting from 11:10-11:26AM. That was about twice as long as any other lift line on Monday. I debated between doing North Rustler trees or the step up to Thirds. When I got up there it was puking with bad vis so I opted for the trees. I deliberately looked for a sketchy entrance to get less tracked snow below. Next time I did Thirds, following some locals out to the rope boundary below Gunsight for some deep turns. This drained onto Greely Hill, which had to be mostly straightlined in snow that deep. I went into lunch at Albion about 12:40PM. It was an impressive morning, but with Backside, Ballroom, Supreme Bowl/Catherine's and all the Snowbird gates closed, I figured the open terrain was mostly pillaged by now.
So after lunch I went up Sunnyside, Cecret and Supreme. The first run met my now low expectations, constrained terrain and thoroughly chewed snow, just like Sugarloaf Sunday and the second run on Collins today. But patrol was getting on the lift as I came down ~1:45PM and said they were about to open Supreme Bowl. First skiers under Supreme:
So I skied a Spiny Chute first, then looked for tree lines either side of the lift with sketchy entrances to get deep snow below as illustrated by views up then down on my skier's right run.
But as I was squeezing into a chute on the next run skier's left I caught a buried tree branch, spun around and fell head first. I thought I might have to remove a ski to get untangled from the trees but eventually I got them free and rolled over to get skis cleanly below me. Unfortunately one of my poles disappeared in this process and after 10 minutes of digging it was well past 3PM and I gave up.
With one pole I went up Sugarloaf, out EBT and the High T to lower Thirds and Greely Hill, tracked but still not packed with the 38 inches. I finished the day with a condo run from Wildcat. 22,200 vertical, 12K of sometimes very deep powder. This is probably the best I've managed on a powder day at Alta. It helps that it was my 56th day this season and I had been a week sleeping at 8,000 feet at Iron Blosam. Thus I did not get worn out from mad dashes out the High T in marginal visibility or grunt work like stepping up to Thirds as much as I might have on previous days like this.