Last night we had dinner with Jeff and Candace, retirees who recently moved to SLC from Montana. They skinned 2,400 vertical up White Pine on Saturday, rested Sunday and resumed their midweek season pass skiing at Alta yesterday. Richard and I joined them for skiing at Alta today. We didn't get up there until 10:30, but we didn't miss much. Although it's warm Alta is high enough that the softening of snow comes much more gradually than lower areas like Snowbasin.
So we started out cruising groomers on Sugarloaf and Supreme. While on Supreme I made one exploration to find winter snow in a steep and sheltered aspect. It was OK but short and not worth the bulletproof traverse in and the only slightly less firm runout. We left Supreme, back up Sugarloaf to the EBT to test Ballroom as more accessible north facing off-trail. That was pretty good and the groomers down to Collins were at their best late morning. Around noon Jeff suggested traversing out Yellow Trail. Much of Yellow Trail/Backside was unconsolidated, but we linked skier-packed lines that were in better shape. Next time up I suggested Devil's Castle to test the north facing lines I hear about on FTO. The bootpack was short, and sticking to the lower traverse out I found the reward to grunt ratio better than Catherine's/Patsy Marley. The line I chose past the large rock outcropping was not that smooth but it was winter snow as advertised and worth the trip. After a run out Cecret Saddle we went into lunch at Alf's about 1:30.
We came out at 2:30 and headed back to the Collins side, first taking the Ballroom traverse out to Harold's/Tombstone. We loaded midway and took a couple of runs out the High T. First run in West Rustler was well timed but a mix of skier pack and unconsolidated. Riding Collins Jeff mentioned that he had never skied Stonecrusher, so I suggested we give it a shot. It was as I've seen before on warm March days, the far skier's left in enough shade for winter snow, and in any case the rest that was springlike was fine too in late afternoon. I didn't feel too trashed after that, so I wanted something new for my final run of 10 days in Utah. So up Collins at 4:05, out the highest traverse and step up to Gunsight. I was not disappointed. Easily best snow of the day, perhaps best snow of the past 4 days. Soft packed powder all the way down the steep part, bumps just forming and well spaced.
The long traverse across Greely Hill was quite crusty in late afternoon, but it eventually reached NE facing trees, so the actual skiing down to the transfer tow was in just slightly crunchy bumps. An excellent final day, I was skiing fairly normally since I had done mostly groomers the past 2 days. 18,600 and very good quality.
So we started out cruising groomers on Sugarloaf and Supreme. While on Supreme I made one exploration to find winter snow in a steep and sheltered aspect. It was OK but short and not worth the bulletproof traverse in and the only slightly less firm runout. We left Supreme, back up Sugarloaf to the EBT to test Ballroom as more accessible north facing off-trail. That was pretty good and the groomers down to Collins were at their best late morning. Around noon Jeff suggested traversing out Yellow Trail. Much of Yellow Trail/Backside was unconsolidated, but we linked skier-packed lines that were in better shape. Next time up I suggested Devil's Castle to test the north facing lines I hear about on FTO. The bootpack was short, and sticking to the lower traverse out I found the reward to grunt ratio better than Catherine's/Patsy Marley. The line I chose past the large rock outcropping was not that smooth but it was winter snow as advertised and worth the trip. After a run out Cecret Saddle we went into lunch at Alf's about 1:30.
We came out at 2:30 and headed back to the Collins side, first taking the Ballroom traverse out to Harold's/Tombstone. We loaded midway and took a couple of runs out the High T. First run in West Rustler was well timed but a mix of skier pack and unconsolidated. Riding Collins Jeff mentioned that he had never skied Stonecrusher, so I suggested we give it a shot. It was as I've seen before on warm March days, the far skier's left in enough shade for winter snow, and in any case the rest that was springlike was fine too in late afternoon. I didn't feel too trashed after that, so I wanted something new for my final run of 10 days in Utah. So up Collins at 4:05, out the highest traverse and step up to Gunsight. I was not disappointed. Easily best snow of the day, perhaps best snow of the past 4 days. Soft packed powder all the way down the steep part, bumps just forming and well spaced.
The long traverse across Greely Hill was quite crusty in late afternoon, but it eventually reached NE facing trees, so the actual skiing down to the transfer tow was in just slightly crunchy bumps. An excellent final day, I was skiing fairly normally since I had done mostly groomers the past 2 days. 18,600 and very good quality.