Day 44: 22 inches of new, baby! \
/
This storm was forecast to be decent, and when it started snowing in earnest on Monday afternoon I made plans to ski on Tuesday. When they announced that the LCC road would close at 11 p.m. Monday night and not reopen until 8 a.m. Tuesday afternoon, my head began to fill with visions of a delayed road opening as I'm stuck in the Salt Lake Valley on a vacation day. With Tony Crocker staying at the Iron Blosam, however, the solution seemed obvious.
So I hurriedly packed my ski stuff, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad and my toothbrush before heading over to jtran's rented condo to have dinner with his family, Bobby Danger and Salida. After dinner, when a neighbor got bent out of shape because we were parked on the street, it seemed as good a time as any to head up the canyon.
My headlights pierced the darkness of the canyon road. Almost as soon as I entered the canyon, however, the road changed from wet to black ice. By the time I reached the Racetrack the snowfall really started cranking, and as I approached Snowbird the road was thickly covered in snow. I parked, emptied the truck and headed up to the unit of one of Tony's crew for some after-dinner wine, dessert and port as the snowfall tapered off. Conversation turned to the morning plans, and I somehow convinced Tony to break from his group and head to Alta in the morning.
By 11:00, however, the snowfall picked up again in intensity as I returned to my truck to snatch the last of my belongings. Just plain walking was miserable. The snow accumulation in the parking lot was deeper than the ground clearance on my Land Rover as I eased it into a better parking spot. It was destined to be a good day! I tried to nod off to sleep, but the stereo snoring from Crocker and his friend Richard was too much to endure. I popped some headphones into my laptop, which I tuned to XM Radio, but even this wasn't enough to drown out the repetitive drone.
I awoke to an email from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department confirming that the road was opening at 8:00. ](*,) I suffered through that night for nothing!
No matter. I scarfed down a quick bagel at Al's condo before heading out the door with Tony and Stefan in tow. We booted up in Goldminer's Daughter and stepped outside into temperatures near zero, with a stiff breeze adding to the chill factor.
I had a game plan, but that would have to wait for the second run as I dropped into the lower gate to the High T only to find that no one had yet broken trail there. ](*,) We instead dropped into Spruce Forest, finding thick wind drifts that were tricky to negotiate. On our second ride up Collins I didn't make the same mistake twice, and took the upper High T gate through Piss Pass to find divine untracked knee-deep snow on Greeley Hill. Stefan was all smiles!
We boarded Sunnyside as I made my second mistake of the day, not remembering that the EBT was closed. Instead of riding Sugarloaf, which today was truly a lift to nowhere, we skied an untracked Vail Ridge and took the Transfer Tow back to Collins.
Greeley Hill was so good the first time that we had to hit it again for more untracked.
By now there were signs that Supreme might get moving, but the liftie at Cecret said that he had no ETA. We had to warm up fingers, toes and noses, so we ducked into Alf's for some hot soup where a 90+ Ski Club member was celebrating his birthday. As we ate, though, we noticed that Cecret started loading, so we high-tailed it out of there and headed up to Supreme.
At first, none of the gates off Supreme had opened and finding No. 9 trees tracked out already we played a bit through Baby Bear before hooking up with Tirolerpeter. On our second lift ride, though, we spotted some skiers coming down into Supreme Bowl and we headed out the gate and stayed along the ropeline. That, friends, was the biggest challenge of the day, mixing wind drifts with bomb debris. We nonetheless survived, and banged a couple of turns down Calf Rope before hanging a left and skiing the untracked lower White Squaw face below the lift.
More smiles from Stefan.
By now it was time for Catherine's, so we headed to my usual line, enjoying still more untracked. More smiles from Stefan.
I wanted another trip far out Catherine's, but first we took the traverse across the Spiny's into Catherine's from below, hanging another hard left through the gate below the Spiny's cliffs for more untracked through the trees. More smiles from Stefan.
For our last ride on Supreme, we headed way, way out to Catherine's Pass proper to admire the view before enjoying more untracked. More smiles from Stefan.
It was time, however, to start working our way home. We rode Sugarloaf and crossed the now-open EBT to return to Collins Gulch. It was nearly 3 pm, but several skiers were lining up at the Baldy Shoulder gate as several patrollers dropped bombs in the area of Armpit. I didn't feel like waiting, though. High Boy is an Alta rite of passage, and as Stefan had only skied there once before it was time to introduce him to High Boy. What looked like small moguls, however, were nothing more than fluffy piles, and we ripped the length of the run with Stefan all smiles again. Tony, however, was slowing down.
We boarded Wildcat. Coming up over the rise, however, we spotted a stream of skiers heading out the Baldy Traverse. We had thought about screaming down to the Angle Station and heading up there, but doing so would prevent us from taking my favorite route back to Snowbird. We opted for the latter instead.
And in so doing, we scored still more untracked at 3:30 p.m. Once again, Stefan was all smiles.
We finished up the day with one more ride, up Peruvian at Snowbird and into some cliffy treed areas in North Baldy. Crocker was finally shot.
/ This storm was forecast to be decent, and when it started snowing in earnest on Monday afternoon I made plans to ski on Tuesday. When they announced that the LCC road would close at 11 p.m. Monday night and not reopen until 8 a.m. Tuesday afternoon, my head began to fill with visions of a delayed road opening as I'm stuck in the Salt Lake Valley on a vacation day. With Tony Crocker staying at the Iron Blosam, however, the solution seemed obvious.
So I hurriedly packed my ski stuff, a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad and my toothbrush before heading over to jtran's rented condo to have dinner with his family, Bobby Danger and Salida. After dinner, when a neighbor got bent out of shape because we were parked on the street, it seemed as good a time as any to head up the canyon.
My headlights pierced the darkness of the canyon road. Almost as soon as I entered the canyon, however, the road changed from wet to black ice. By the time I reached the Racetrack the snowfall really started cranking, and as I approached Snowbird the road was thickly covered in snow. I parked, emptied the truck and headed up to the unit of one of Tony's crew for some after-dinner wine, dessert and port as the snowfall tapered off. Conversation turned to the morning plans, and I somehow convinced Tony to break from his group and head to Alta in the morning.
By 11:00, however, the snowfall picked up again in intensity as I returned to my truck to snatch the last of my belongings. Just plain walking was miserable. The snow accumulation in the parking lot was deeper than the ground clearance on my Land Rover as I eased it into a better parking spot. It was destined to be a good day! I tried to nod off to sleep, but the stereo snoring from Crocker and his friend Richard was too much to endure. I popped some headphones into my laptop, which I tuned to XM Radio, but even this wasn't enough to drown out the repetitive drone.
I awoke to an email from the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department confirming that the road was opening at 8:00. ](*,) I suffered through that night for nothing!
No matter. I scarfed down a quick bagel at Al's condo before heading out the door with Tony and Stefan in tow. We booted up in Goldminer's Daughter and stepped outside into temperatures near zero, with a stiff breeze adding to the chill factor.
I had a game plan, but that would have to wait for the second run as I dropped into the lower gate to the High T only to find that no one had yet broken trail there. ](*,) We instead dropped into Spruce Forest, finding thick wind drifts that were tricky to negotiate. On our second ride up Collins I didn't make the same mistake twice, and took the upper High T gate through Piss Pass to find divine untracked knee-deep snow on Greeley Hill. Stefan was all smiles!
We boarded Sunnyside as I made my second mistake of the day, not remembering that the EBT was closed. Instead of riding Sugarloaf, which today was truly a lift to nowhere, we skied an untracked Vail Ridge and took the Transfer Tow back to Collins.
Greeley Hill was so good the first time that we had to hit it again for more untracked.
By now there were signs that Supreme might get moving, but the liftie at Cecret said that he had no ETA. We had to warm up fingers, toes and noses, so we ducked into Alf's for some hot soup where a 90+ Ski Club member was celebrating his birthday. As we ate, though, we noticed that Cecret started loading, so we high-tailed it out of there and headed up to Supreme.
At first, none of the gates off Supreme had opened and finding No. 9 trees tracked out already we played a bit through Baby Bear before hooking up with Tirolerpeter. On our second lift ride, though, we spotted some skiers coming down into Supreme Bowl and we headed out the gate and stayed along the ropeline. That, friends, was the biggest challenge of the day, mixing wind drifts with bomb debris. We nonetheless survived, and banged a couple of turns down Calf Rope before hanging a left and skiing the untracked lower White Squaw face below the lift.
More smiles from Stefan.
By now it was time for Catherine's, so we headed to my usual line, enjoying still more untracked. More smiles from Stefan.
I wanted another trip far out Catherine's, but first we took the traverse across the Spiny's into Catherine's from below, hanging another hard left through the gate below the Spiny's cliffs for more untracked through the trees. More smiles from Stefan.
For our last ride on Supreme, we headed way, way out to Catherine's Pass proper to admire the view before enjoying more untracked. More smiles from Stefan.
It was time, however, to start working our way home. We rode Sugarloaf and crossed the now-open EBT to return to Collins Gulch. It was nearly 3 pm, but several skiers were lining up at the Baldy Shoulder gate as several patrollers dropped bombs in the area of Armpit. I didn't feel like waiting, though. High Boy is an Alta rite of passage, and as Stefan had only skied there once before it was time to introduce him to High Boy. What looked like small moguls, however, were nothing more than fluffy piles, and we ripped the length of the run with Stefan all smiles again. Tony, however, was slowing down.
We boarded Wildcat. Coming up over the rise, however, we spotted a stream of skiers heading out the Baldy Traverse. We had thought about screaming down to the Angle Station and heading up there, but doing so would prevent us from taking my favorite route back to Snowbird. We opted for the latter instead.
And in so doing, we scored still more untracked at 3:30 p.m. Once again, Stefan was all smiles.
We finished up the day with one more ride, up Peruvian at Snowbird and into some cliffy treed areas in North Baldy. Crocker was finally shot.
