The forecast storm started off on the high end of its range with 8 inches overnight Tuesday. However it also snowed all day Wednesday, 6 inches more. Visibility was not ideal but adequate over most of the mountain, except for the top of Little Cloud, where upslope winds were comparable to Mammoth’s finest. Any traverse towards Regulator or the Cirque was straight into that wind, with drifted snow on the normally groomed path. Twice I had to remove icicles that had formed on the end of my nose.
The weather impacted the road, closing it from roughly 9-10AM and again from noon – 2PM. Some people made it up the canyon by 9AM, but if not it was at least 11AM, which is what happened to Liz’ friends Ike and Lilly. I rode Wilbere and headed towards Peruvian, which was closed so I had to reverse direction and go to Gadzoom. Approaching Gadzoom 9:30AM I could see parking was only ¼ full with no new cars coming in, so we were in for at least an approximation of country club skiing for the morning.
I went up to Little Cloud where the snow by the liftline was a bit shallow due to the upslope wind. Thus I had to endure that traverse to get deeper snow for the next two runs, mainly in the Puckerbrush area. It was easier to take a lower traverse with less intense wind and more gravity assistance.
But to reach the Upper Cirque I had to take the masochistic highest traverse. I did get a reward for that at 11AM, when skier’s left of Great Scott was completely smooth though dense and not that deep powder. I continued on to deeper powder in Green Forest. From there I could inspect the Peruvian chair, which was now in motion but with no riders.
So I returned to Gadzoom, then to Gad 2. I went far skier’s right of STH and through a short shot of steep trees below. I had spent too much time in the wind and was starting to drain body heat, so I went into Creekside for a bowl of soup just before noon. Unfortunately I had zero cell reception in there even though 100 feet away at the base of Gadzoom it was fine.
After the break I returned to Gadzoom and Gad 2, starting down Bananas planning to duck into the trees somewhere. I heard someone in the group of skiers ahead wonder where Liz was. When another person mentioned her husband Tony I decided that was not coincidental. So I had come upon Ike and Lilly and 3 other NYC skiers.
The two Tigertail gates were closed but we skied into the Barn Door gate below, finding decent powder both in the trees and in Ted’s Bowl below. This was good enough for an encore. After the second run I led the two women through an unusually wide and soft Snake Pit while Ike and Rob Turner squeezed through some steep trees and got into the apron below the Get Serious Chutes.
I thought Ike and Rob would be up for the long steeps of South Chute or Wilbere Bowl. The traverse from Little Cloud was nasty even though we didn’t have to be on its highest line. But at 3PM the wind was on the Cirque Traverse too. We pushed past mid-Cirque but I was again draining heat and really needed to get out of that wind. I told them to push on farther to make sure they got the NW aspect down to the top of Big Emma, which I later found out they did. Where I descended turned out to be one of the last Gad Chutes dropping onto Roger’s Run. It was completely untracked but with west exposure I was sometimes contacting a crunchy subsurface.
I skied to the Peruvian chair which had finally opened at 1:30. I skied mid-Baldy lines of lightly tracked powder for my last run and finished with 21,900 vertical, about 11K of powder. These were modest numbers compared to Tseeb and our 30-something Iron Blosam contingent, all over 30K.
The real weather surprise came Thursday, with an unexpected 16 inches overnight for a storm total of 31 inches. This made it a top 3 powder experience of Iron Blosam Week, comparable to Monday in 2006 and exceeded only by Fat Tuesday in 2011.
I waffled on whether to ski Alta or Snowbird, but with the road closed until at least 8AM it seemed safer to stay at Snowbird rather than wait for a possibly delayed bus or exert the effort to excavate a car. For future reference it seems the buses have priority when the road opens and we saw one at the base of the Iron Blosam stairs when we headed out just after 9AM.
The simple line through scattered shrubbery from the top of Wilbere into Big Emma showed us right away what kind of day it was. Al Solish here:
We headed up to Little Cloud which had decent visibility and not yesterday’s wind. The snow was shallow near the top from wind stripping but plenty deep when you got down a bit, especially on either side of Regulator. On our last Little Cloud ride, we ran into another NY contingent, including Liz’ friend Rob Schrader, with whom we had skied a couple of days last year and on Dec. 4 at Killington where he is an instructor.
With the expanded group I suggested Tseeb take off, as he planned to ski hard for a few hours before driving to South Lake Tahoe. Liz suggested that Barn Door gate off Gad 2, where she had found a line that was deep Wednesday and needless to say much more so Thursday. A patchy cloud had moved onto part of Gad 2, but that was not a problem in that heavily treed area.
When we had been skiing Little Cloud there were lines of people waiting for the Cirque to open. I took Rob up there to check it out. By 11AM the Cirque had opened but now the fog enveloped the entire mountain. I decided we should ski South Chute, where the trees would provide orientation.
I was right about the deep snow there, but the fog still required a more measured pace. My DPS Wailer 112’s floated through cautious turns smoothly, but Rob’s skis were only 99mm underfoot and would occasionally bog down. I never saw the cat track above Big Emma until I was standing on it.
As memorable a run as South Chute was, we were ready for a break and skied to the tram plaza. It was just before noon so we shared a small pizza in reasonable time. But when Liz and Lilly showed up 20 minutes after us the place was overrun. I find it inexcusable that Snowbird with its growing popularity has decided to close the Rendezvous cafeteria midweek.
Rob and I barely missed a tram, rode the next one in still thick fog but were surprised to see that Mineral Basin had opened to the guntower in partial sun. We were too late plus the line I chose unwisely near the liftline had tracked and chunky snow. There was also a big line at the Mineral chair and we got separated.
I got to the top of the Mineral lift at 2:09 and decided I need to emphasize quality. We hiked the 10 minutes or so to the High Baldy Traverse, heading for Liz’ favorite LCC run. Adam took that traverse later and stayed within Snowbird where the snow was tracked but still plenty deep. But I continued on to the pristine Upper Armpit above Alta.
The Alta side had a partial clearing, permitting perfect deep powder skiing all the way down to Agee’s Alley. Unfortunately Rob was on a Snowbird only ticket so we couldn’t ride Wildcat and had to slog the Blackjack traverse that dumped into the condo area with a short walk needed to get to the bypass trail.
We had time for a final tram. The front of Snowbird was still hazy but we could see Cirque features from the tram so that’s where we went. We inspected the entry to Great Scott, which was worn down more than when I skied it Wednesday. But Jaws had a wide and smooth entry with no rocks or cornice and the usual lower constriction was well buried.
Jaws’ steeps were soft packed snow, but in the apron we could spread out and ski lightly chopped powder, which at that depth I was not hitting bottom on 112mm skis.
We continued to Green Forest.
It was about 3:45 and we called it a day. Rob skied to his room at the Cliff but later joined us for dinner at Iron Blosam. I skied 18,900 vertical, about 11K of the highest quality powder.
These two days were the true test for Liz’ new ON3P Jessie 108 skis, which replaced the Armada VJJ’s stolen in Val d’Isere last April. She’s very happy and has definitely raised her comfort level in deep snow.
On Friday I was quite beat from the prior two days powder festivities. Nonetheless there would be a few terrain openings so I got out by 9:30 and took chairs to the top. It was only 13F in the shade at the base of Gadzoom, but with spotless clear skies it warmed into the 30’s by 11AM.
Powder Paradise had opened but not Bookends or Road to Provo. Powder Paradise was partially tracked and surprisingly shallow (wind and/or settling of the <5% water content snow?) and I skied it like complete crap.
Next time out I looked for a shorter but less tracked line. That was better but I should have gotten in line for the Bookends, which opened while I was on that second run. So of course I went for Bookends on the third run, had to go far out for a clean line by then.
Needless to say the Mineral Basin lift line was huge so I hiked up to Baldy and headed for Alta just before 11AM. At the checkpoint I noticed people hiking u p to the Devil’s Castle traverse. Being lazy I decided I’ll ski down to Sugarloaf and then try that. While skiing down I noticed Sugarloaf was not moving. On the last pitch of Extrovert the lift was still stopped and I could see a full maze at the bottom. So I traversed hard right to get to Supreme.
I cruised a lazy Rock ‘n Roll and by this time Sugarloaf was officially closed and its liftline dispersed. I skied down to the rope tow and to no surprise Collins had a full maze. The info screen there said Sugarloaf would be down until 1PM. As it was 11:45 it was an easy call for me to ride Wildcat and takes admin’s favored route into Snowbird before the afternoon sun would bake it like Monday.
I skied to the tram plaza where I was pleased to see Road to Provo still closed. But it opened while I was in the tram line. I made the second tram from there, but the trams seemed slow and the one I rode stopped for 5 minutes over the Cirque, obviously not weather related on a calm blue sky day.
Thus when I headed out Road to Provo it has been tracked at least as much as by my third run Monday. So I took one run beyond Hoops and decided in my exhausted state to call it a day after one top to bottom run. Based upon Adam/Ben recommendations Sunday, I went a short way out the Cirque Traverse to Elevator.
View across to Baldy from there.
As on Monday the apron below Elevator still had some deep powder turns.
I finished with 13,800 vertical, about 3K of powder. I was late or missed all of the openings Friday, but I was glad I had used all my energy for the amazing skiing on Wednesday/Thursday.
The weather impacted the road, closing it from roughly 9-10AM and again from noon – 2PM. Some people made it up the canyon by 9AM, but if not it was at least 11AM, which is what happened to Liz’ friends Ike and Lilly. I rode Wilbere and headed towards Peruvian, which was closed so I had to reverse direction and go to Gadzoom. Approaching Gadzoom 9:30AM I could see parking was only ¼ full with no new cars coming in, so we were in for at least an approximation of country club skiing for the morning.
I went up to Little Cloud where the snow by the liftline was a bit shallow due to the upslope wind. Thus I had to endure that traverse to get deeper snow for the next two runs, mainly in the Puckerbrush area. It was easier to take a lower traverse with less intense wind and more gravity assistance.
But to reach the Upper Cirque I had to take the masochistic highest traverse. I did get a reward for that at 11AM, when skier’s left of Great Scott was completely smooth though dense and not that deep powder. I continued on to deeper powder in Green Forest. From there I could inspect the Peruvian chair, which was now in motion but with no riders.
So I returned to Gadzoom, then to Gad 2. I went far skier’s right of STH and through a short shot of steep trees below. I had spent too much time in the wind and was starting to drain body heat, so I went into Creekside for a bowl of soup just before noon. Unfortunately I had zero cell reception in there even though 100 feet away at the base of Gadzoom it was fine.
After the break I returned to Gadzoom and Gad 2, starting down Bananas planning to duck into the trees somewhere. I heard someone in the group of skiers ahead wonder where Liz was. When another person mentioned her husband Tony I decided that was not coincidental. So I had come upon Ike and Lilly and 3 other NYC skiers.
The two Tigertail gates were closed but we skied into the Barn Door gate below, finding decent powder both in the trees and in Ted’s Bowl below. This was good enough for an encore. After the second run I led the two women through an unusually wide and soft Snake Pit while Ike and Rob Turner squeezed through some steep trees and got into the apron below the Get Serious Chutes.
I thought Ike and Rob would be up for the long steeps of South Chute or Wilbere Bowl. The traverse from Little Cloud was nasty even though we didn’t have to be on its highest line. But at 3PM the wind was on the Cirque Traverse too. We pushed past mid-Cirque but I was again draining heat and really needed to get out of that wind. I told them to push on farther to make sure they got the NW aspect down to the top of Big Emma, which I later found out they did. Where I descended turned out to be one of the last Gad Chutes dropping onto Roger’s Run. It was completely untracked but with west exposure I was sometimes contacting a crunchy subsurface.
I skied to the Peruvian chair which had finally opened at 1:30. I skied mid-Baldy lines of lightly tracked powder for my last run and finished with 21,900 vertical, about 11K of powder. These were modest numbers compared to Tseeb and our 30-something Iron Blosam contingent, all over 30K.
The real weather surprise came Thursday, with an unexpected 16 inches overnight for a storm total of 31 inches. This made it a top 3 powder experience of Iron Blosam Week, comparable to Monday in 2006 and exceeded only by Fat Tuesday in 2011.
I waffled on whether to ski Alta or Snowbird, but with the road closed until at least 8AM it seemed safer to stay at Snowbird rather than wait for a possibly delayed bus or exert the effort to excavate a car. For future reference it seems the buses have priority when the road opens and we saw one at the base of the Iron Blosam stairs when we headed out just after 9AM.
The simple line through scattered shrubbery from the top of Wilbere into Big Emma showed us right away what kind of day it was. Al Solish here:
We headed up to Little Cloud which had decent visibility and not yesterday’s wind. The snow was shallow near the top from wind stripping but plenty deep when you got down a bit, especially on either side of Regulator. On our last Little Cloud ride, we ran into another NY contingent, including Liz’ friend Rob Schrader, with whom we had skied a couple of days last year and on Dec. 4 at Killington where he is an instructor.
With the expanded group I suggested Tseeb take off, as he planned to ski hard for a few hours before driving to South Lake Tahoe. Liz suggested that Barn Door gate off Gad 2, where she had found a line that was deep Wednesday and needless to say much more so Thursday. A patchy cloud had moved onto part of Gad 2, but that was not a problem in that heavily treed area.
When we had been skiing Little Cloud there were lines of people waiting for the Cirque to open. I took Rob up there to check it out. By 11AM the Cirque had opened but now the fog enveloped the entire mountain. I decided we should ski South Chute, where the trees would provide orientation.
I was right about the deep snow there, but the fog still required a more measured pace. My DPS Wailer 112’s floated through cautious turns smoothly, but Rob’s skis were only 99mm underfoot and would occasionally bog down. I never saw the cat track above Big Emma until I was standing on it.
As memorable a run as South Chute was, we were ready for a break and skied to the tram plaza. It was just before noon so we shared a small pizza in reasonable time. But when Liz and Lilly showed up 20 minutes after us the place was overrun. I find it inexcusable that Snowbird with its growing popularity has decided to close the Rendezvous cafeteria midweek.
Rob and I barely missed a tram, rode the next one in still thick fog but were surprised to see that Mineral Basin had opened to the guntower in partial sun. We were too late plus the line I chose unwisely near the liftline had tracked and chunky snow. There was also a big line at the Mineral chair and we got separated.
I got to the top of the Mineral lift at 2:09 and decided I need to emphasize quality. We hiked the 10 minutes or so to the High Baldy Traverse, heading for Liz’ favorite LCC run. Adam took that traverse later and stayed within Snowbird where the snow was tracked but still plenty deep. But I continued on to the pristine Upper Armpit above Alta.
The Alta side had a partial clearing, permitting perfect deep powder skiing all the way down to Agee’s Alley. Unfortunately Rob was on a Snowbird only ticket so we couldn’t ride Wildcat and had to slog the Blackjack traverse that dumped into the condo area with a short walk needed to get to the bypass trail.
We had time for a final tram. The front of Snowbird was still hazy but we could see Cirque features from the tram so that’s where we went. We inspected the entry to Great Scott, which was worn down more than when I skied it Wednesday. But Jaws had a wide and smooth entry with no rocks or cornice and the usual lower constriction was well buried.
Jaws’ steeps were soft packed snow, but in the apron we could spread out and ski lightly chopped powder, which at that depth I was not hitting bottom on 112mm skis.
We continued to Green Forest.
It was about 3:45 and we called it a day. Rob skied to his room at the Cliff but later joined us for dinner at Iron Blosam. I skied 18,900 vertical, about 11K of the highest quality powder.
These two days were the true test for Liz’ new ON3P Jessie 108 skis, which replaced the Armada VJJ’s stolen in Val d’Isere last April. She’s very happy and has definitely raised her comfort level in deep snow.
On Friday I was quite beat from the prior two days powder festivities. Nonetheless there would be a few terrain openings so I got out by 9:30 and took chairs to the top. It was only 13F in the shade at the base of Gadzoom, but with spotless clear skies it warmed into the 30’s by 11AM.
Powder Paradise had opened but not Bookends or Road to Provo. Powder Paradise was partially tracked and surprisingly shallow (wind and/or settling of the <5% water content snow?) and I skied it like complete crap.
Next time out I looked for a shorter but less tracked line. That was better but I should have gotten in line for the Bookends, which opened while I was on that second run. So of course I went for Bookends on the third run, had to go far out for a clean line by then.
Needless to say the Mineral Basin lift line was huge so I hiked up to Baldy and headed for Alta just before 11AM. At the checkpoint I noticed people hiking u p to the Devil’s Castle traverse. Being lazy I decided I’ll ski down to Sugarloaf and then try that. While skiing down I noticed Sugarloaf was not moving. On the last pitch of Extrovert the lift was still stopped and I could see a full maze at the bottom. So I traversed hard right to get to Supreme.
I cruised a lazy Rock ‘n Roll and by this time Sugarloaf was officially closed and its liftline dispersed. I skied down to the rope tow and to no surprise Collins had a full maze. The info screen there said Sugarloaf would be down until 1PM. As it was 11:45 it was an easy call for me to ride Wildcat and takes admin’s favored route into Snowbird before the afternoon sun would bake it like Monday.
I skied to the tram plaza where I was pleased to see Road to Provo still closed. But it opened while I was in the tram line. I made the second tram from there, but the trams seemed slow and the one I rode stopped for 5 minutes over the Cirque, obviously not weather related on a calm blue sky day.
Thus when I headed out Road to Provo it has been tracked at least as much as by my third run Monday. So I took one run beyond Hoops and decided in my exhausted state to call it a day after one top to bottom run. Based upon Adam/Ben recommendations Sunday, I went a short way out the Cirque Traverse to Elevator.
View across to Baldy from there.
As on Monday the apron below Elevator still had some deep powder turns.
I finished with 13,800 vertical, about 3K of powder. I was late or missed all of the openings Friday, but I was glad I had used all my energy for the amazing skiing on Wednesday/Thursday.
