Day 39: A full day at the Bird.
Tony Crocker arrived in town Saturday evening, so Bobby Danger, Tele Jon and I were sitting on the Tram Plaza at 9 a.m. Sunday morning to hook up. Tony strolled in around 9:15 and Ben arrived a moment earlier, so we started the day as four.
It snowed heavily for a brief period in the morning, and there was no point in a warmup so we headed straight up the Tram and directly to Great Scott. I was somewhat apprehensive about bringing the visitors through the main entrance as it's been rather bony this season, so Tony and Ben followed me through the Rat's Nest while Jon and Bobby took the high line. My concerns were somewhat unfounded as the main route in wasn't as bad as I had suspected. We were pretty much the first ones in there, and smooth chalk was already covered with about 3 or 4 inches of medium-density untracked snow. The only thing that could've made it better would have been if we could see what we were actually skiing.
After a bit we were joined by a bunch of the early 20-somethings in Tony's annual group, including Ed, Mark and Nick, the latter from Steamboat Springs, after a lap down Broomstick on Gad 2 where Snowbird Powder Shots had coincidentally set up.
Instead of heading back up Gad 2, however, we dropped down through Carbonite, finding more good snow although also a bit more bumped underneath than had been the case higher up. Ben, unfortunately, found himself fighting his equipment, which these days is limited to some race stock slalom skis from his days on the MIT Ski Team. They just weren't doing the trick in the cut-up snow remaining from Friday's storm. I had my Volkl CMH Explosives in the truck, so we decided to return to Peruvian Gulch to retrieve them for the remainder of his week, again via Great Scott. This time, though, we all entered via the top entrance and found the snow still great even though many others had been through since our first trip.
We swapped skis for Ben on the Bypass Road and I shed a layer as the day warmed. We returned to the Tram to build an appetite for lunch by hiking to the High Baldy Traverse and dropping a full-length Eddie's, where surprisingly few folks had been. The lightly-tracked fresh snow was divine from top to bottom, and the chute through the middle cliff band is very nicely filled in. We exited via Eye of the Needle and finished through Broken Arm.
The young'uns kept skiing through lunch as they took a bite to eat while Ben was swapping skis. Bumped into rdd01 and Mike in the Rendezvous, as well as Kristen Ulmer. We met up with the kids at Peruvian after lunch, but Ben was already wiped from fighting those slalom skis most of the morning, and he headed back to the Iron Blosam to call it a day while the rest of us headed up.
We went through the Tunnel, and emerged for a run down Mineral, finding surprisingly untracked snow in the lower Chamonix Chutes, albeit with some firm footing underneath. One ride up MBE showed untracked wind sift on Hyena Ridge, so straight there we went, this time with a stray dog in tow: Rick from NJ, who was visiting by himself and asked during the lift ride if he could tag along. We next went all the way out the Powder Paradise traverse to the Sunday Cliffs, pausing for a moment to take in the view down into Mary Ellen Gulch before I took the only action photos I shot all day.
Nick decided to drop a small rock band at the top of the Sunday Cliffs.
He set up well...
...but there was more rock there than he thought, ripping off a ski at the launch...
...and somersaulting over the edge.
Getting lower we scouted for a line through the Flora Cliffs that we could negotiate. The first one was a no-go for me. The second, however, looked doable, so I straight-lined it through the chute and out onto the apron below. Convinced that I had succeeded, I knocked off a turn or two to burn speed and was back to normal skiing when I hit a drift and went over the handlebars. The kids all nailed it before Crocker rag dolled down through, and he wore himself out climbing back up to retrieve a pole he'd left behind.
It was by now just after 3 p.m., so we hurried back to Hidden Peak to again hike to High Baldy Traverse. This time, however, we would drop Eddie's Snowfield before traversing over do a full Keyhole below the Doorknob Gate. The weather was finally clearing, and we took full advantage to relax above the chute in the afternoon sun before dropping through.
By this point Crocker was shot. Completely. He headed down via a groomer while the rest of us traversed out High Blackjack to what Bobby calls North Chute (not the one below Tower 4).
We hooked up with Acidchrist and his NYS buddies at the Wildflower for wings and beer après-ski, then hit the pool and hot tub before the usual Crocker group dinner at the Iron Blosam. Stray dog Rick was still in tow, and Tele Jon joined the dinner this year as well. I finally got home around 11 p.m. last night -- a full day at The Bird, indeed!
Tony Crocker arrived in town Saturday evening, so Bobby Danger, Tele Jon and I were sitting on the Tram Plaza at 9 a.m. Sunday morning to hook up. Tony strolled in around 9:15 and Ben arrived a moment earlier, so we started the day as four.
It snowed heavily for a brief period in the morning, and there was no point in a warmup so we headed straight up the Tram and directly to Great Scott. I was somewhat apprehensive about bringing the visitors through the main entrance as it's been rather bony this season, so Tony and Ben followed me through the Rat's Nest while Jon and Bobby took the high line. My concerns were somewhat unfounded as the main route in wasn't as bad as I had suspected. We were pretty much the first ones in there, and smooth chalk was already covered with about 3 or 4 inches of medium-density untracked snow. The only thing that could've made it better would have been if we could see what we were actually skiing.
After a bit we were joined by a bunch of the early 20-somethings in Tony's annual group, including Ed, Mark and Nick, the latter from Steamboat Springs, after a lap down Broomstick on Gad 2 where Snowbird Powder Shots had coincidentally set up.
Instead of heading back up Gad 2, however, we dropped down through Carbonite, finding more good snow although also a bit more bumped underneath than had been the case higher up. Ben, unfortunately, found himself fighting his equipment, which these days is limited to some race stock slalom skis from his days on the MIT Ski Team. They just weren't doing the trick in the cut-up snow remaining from Friday's storm. I had my Volkl CMH Explosives in the truck, so we decided to return to Peruvian Gulch to retrieve them for the remainder of his week, again via Great Scott. This time, though, we all entered via the top entrance and found the snow still great even though many others had been through since our first trip.
We swapped skis for Ben on the Bypass Road and I shed a layer as the day warmed. We returned to the Tram to build an appetite for lunch by hiking to the High Baldy Traverse and dropping a full-length Eddie's, where surprisingly few folks had been. The lightly-tracked fresh snow was divine from top to bottom, and the chute through the middle cliff band is very nicely filled in. We exited via Eye of the Needle and finished through Broken Arm.
The young'uns kept skiing through lunch as they took a bite to eat while Ben was swapping skis. Bumped into rdd01 and Mike in the Rendezvous, as well as Kristen Ulmer. We met up with the kids at Peruvian after lunch, but Ben was already wiped from fighting those slalom skis most of the morning, and he headed back to the Iron Blosam to call it a day while the rest of us headed up.
We went through the Tunnel, and emerged for a run down Mineral, finding surprisingly untracked snow in the lower Chamonix Chutes, albeit with some firm footing underneath. One ride up MBE showed untracked wind sift on Hyena Ridge, so straight there we went, this time with a stray dog in tow: Rick from NJ, who was visiting by himself and asked during the lift ride if he could tag along. We next went all the way out the Powder Paradise traverse to the Sunday Cliffs, pausing for a moment to take in the view down into Mary Ellen Gulch before I took the only action photos I shot all day.
Nick decided to drop a small rock band at the top of the Sunday Cliffs.
He set up well...
...but there was more rock there than he thought, ripping off a ski at the launch...
...and somersaulting over the edge.
Getting lower we scouted for a line through the Flora Cliffs that we could negotiate. The first one was a no-go for me. The second, however, looked doable, so I straight-lined it through the chute and out onto the apron below. Convinced that I had succeeded, I knocked off a turn or two to burn speed and was back to normal skiing when I hit a drift and went over the handlebars. The kids all nailed it before Crocker rag dolled down through, and he wore himself out climbing back up to retrieve a pole he'd left behind.
It was by now just after 3 p.m., so we hurried back to Hidden Peak to again hike to High Baldy Traverse. This time, however, we would drop Eddie's Snowfield before traversing over do a full Keyhole below the Doorknob Gate. The weather was finally clearing, and we took full advantage to relax above the chute in the afternoon sun before dropping through.
By this point Crocker was shot. Completely. He headed down via a groomer while the rest of us traversed out High Blackjack to what Bobby calls North Chute (not the one below Tower 4).
We hooked up with Acidchrist and his NYS buddies at the Wildflower for wings and beer après-ski, then hit the pool and hot tub before the usual Crocker group dinner at the Iron Blosam. Stray dog Rick was still in tow, and Tele Jon joined the dinner this year as well. I finally got home around 11 p.m. last night -- a full day at The Bird, indeed!
