Alta, UT - Feb 2, 2006 - waiting on the bus

After skiing yesterday in a snowstorm at Snowbird, I was ready to head out and see the extra snow that had fallen in Alta.

I got at the Park'n'Ride at 8:10am and hopped on the bus and waited. Waited and waited until the Little Cottonwood road was clear. A slide 400ft wide and 8ft deep had fallen on the road, needless to say that I waited some more.

The road was finally open a short time after 10:30am, but by the time the bus got at Alta, it was already 12:15pm. 4 hours on a bus (it could've been worst, I could've been standing at the bus stop). The bus was there so long that a lady asked the driver that she needed to go a restroom, so the driver took his bus, got on the highway and got off at the next exit where there was a mall. :shock: Ah yes, once the bus was back at the same park and ride, the bus died... we had to change buses. The other bus got on the road at around 10:45am, but everything was very slow on that road. Some Snowbird employees even had a bet on what time the bus would finally arrive at Snowbird.

Ah yes, the skiing.

There was powder, but not as much fresh tracks as one would expect after this new foot of snow. Alta's lifts started running at 10am today, so the guest had first, second and third tracks at least. Many of the avalanches prone zones were off-limits all days. Skiing was great near High Rustler, did a few laps there. New snow is also forecast for tomorrow.

I will be at Snowbird tomorrow. This will be my last day of this crazy trip that started almost two weeks ago. Boy, am I tired. :shock: :lol:

Ah yes, I saw some people from zoneski (Quebec ski forum) at Snowbird yesterday. Total whiteout day, but there are a few pics taken by the guys of zoneski.

Here is their report on zoneski (in French):

http://www.zoneski.com/forum/ftopic5058.html

Snowbird, FEB 1st:

A quick summary. The only place we could see anything in the woods near the GAd2 chair. Ice pellets were painfull at mid-mountain and there was a total whiteout above treeline. The skiing was good on top as long as you didn't have vertigo or you didn't fall off a cliff.

This is why I disdain public transport on ski trips (along with the bias from living in SoCal most of my life). With your own wheels you bail in this situation and go to Solitude or some other area where the road is open.

Admittedly Patrick was on a 13-day marathon and missing a morning of skiing was probably no big deal. But I see inquiries all the time here about cheap 4-day trips to SLC. You're still paying airfare and giving up vacation time to go there, so IMHO it's penny wise and pound foolish to potentially lose significant ski time by placing yourself at the mercy of public transit in snow country.

Tony Crocker":5u28jqjj said:

This is why I disdain public transport on ski trips (along with the bias from living in SoCal most of my life). With your own wheels you bail in this situation and go to Solitude or some other area where the road is open.

Admittedly Patrick was on a 13-day marathon and missing a morning of skiing was probably no big deal.

Click to expand...

Actually Tony, I could've bail for Solitude (same park and ride), but I had already commited the night before with two lifts voucher (Alta and Snowbird).

I wanted to return to Alta for some souvenirs that someone ask me (I didn't want to bother at that time with E. Nigma).

I wanted to see Snowbird or only ski it in a white-out, thus the reason why I bought two vouchers prior to my last two days.

And yes, a half-day on day 12 at Alta was also welcome. 8) As welcome as my daughter missing her ski lesson on Sunday because she was sick. That day would have been day 14 out of 15 after arriving at midnight in Ottawa (flight was delays over 90 minutes in Detroit due to mecanical problems, snow and de-icing).

Tony Crocker":1nfembyq said:

This is why I disdain public transport on ski trips (along with the bias from living in SoCal most of my life). With your own wheels you bail in this situation and go to Solitude or some other area where the road is open.

Click to expand...

Having your own wheels is preferable, but we sometimes use public transport in SLC.

In CA we always rent a 4WD, but we have yet to in SLC. On heavy snow ski days we usually won't risk driving a rental up the Canyons, so we've taken the bus with good results and no delays.

But we don't just hop on any bus and hope. If the snow is continuing and slides seem more likely, we take the bus into Big Cottonwood. We often learn later that access the LCC was shutdown until noon or later. Usually, we find that Alta opens new powder shots the next day for us to rut up.

Cheers,
Jeff