Friday was another sunny day. I skied with Ben and 3 of his JPL friends who came for the last part of the Iron Blosam week. After a first run on Upper Primrose we spent the rest of the morning on Little Cloud. This allowed intermediate Jessica to do laps on Mark Malu while I hit the windpack in Little Cloud Bowl and Ben, Eric and Mark poked around the Rasta trees for some interesting lines. I joined them for a couple of these. Mark headed into the steeper part:
I went next, then took these pics of Eric:
And Ben:
After lunch I went back up the tram to watch the Freeskiing competition. Here's someone dropping in just above North Chute:
The Silver Fox competition area was all shaded, but the spray from this wipeout in Rat's Nest was illuminated by afternoon sun.
There were lots of spectators, some of whom built "stadium seat" trenches in the snow.
The rocks skier's left of North Chute were the popular area for competitors to get some big air.
I caught a late tram and finished on Jaws, 17,700 vertical for the day.
Saturday I met admin and the 2 BobbyD's at the spectator area for the Freeskiing finals on High Baldy. This meant the Silver Fox competition area was open after being closed to the public for a few days. I took my first Tram run through North Chute, which is skiable for the second time of my nearly annual Snowbird visits of 20+ years. Admin and company did the same coming over from Alta. The weather made the day uninspiring, to quote admin. In my case, I had skied better Friday, but my illness was slowing me down more Saturday, with laryngitis now added to the mix.
It was thick overcast, the fog lowering onto the peaks late morning, then snowing in early afternoon. Conditions were quite decent, all things considered. The lower mountain had been sun-softened the past 2 days but it did not freeze at lower elevation overnight, so lower groomers were OK. Not so in Mineral Basin, where admin's crew had a bad-vis run over frozen death cookies coming over from Alta. For those of us who had skied Friday, we knew the north facing steeps were still in good shape. We all skied Jaws, which has smooth snow due to the deterrence of a ~3 foot burned off approach from the Upper Cirque traverse. Admin's crew returned to Alta ~2PM and I got lucky with a hole in the clouds skiing down to the Mineral chair. For my last run I picked my way slowly through the Rat's Nest area where that competitor had crashed Friday, a first for me. It has some sketchy entries/traverses, interesting to try but North Chute is much more enjoyable.
I went next, then took these pics of Eric:
And Ben:
After lunch I went back up the tram to watch the Freeskiing competition. Here's someone dropping in just above North Chute:
The Silver Fox competition area was all shaded, but the spray from this wipeout in Rat's Nest was illuminated by afternoon sun.
There were lots of spectators, some of whom built "stadium seat" trenches in the snow.
The rocks skier's left of North Chute were the popular area for competitors to get some big air.
I caught a late tram and finished on Jaws, 17,700 vertical for the day.
Saturday I met admin and the 2 BobbyD's at the spectator area for the Freeskiing finals on High Baldy. This meant the Silver Fox competition area was open after being closed to the public for a few days. I took my first Tram run through North Chute, which is skiable for the second time of my nearly annual Snowbird visits of 20+ years. Admin and company did the same coming over from Alta. The weather made the day uninspiring, to quote admin. In my case, I had skied better Friday, but my illness was slowing me down more Saturday, with laryngitis now added to the mix.
It was thick overcast, the fog lowering onto the peaks late morning, then snowing in early afternoon. Conditions were quite decent, all things considered. The lower mountain had been sun-softened the past 2 days but it did not freeze at lower elevation overnight, so lower groomers were OK. Not so in Mineral Basin, where admin's crew had a bad-vis run over frozen death cookies coming over from Alta. For those of us who had skied Friday, we knew the north facing steeps were still in good shape. We all skied Jaws, which has smooth snow due to the deterrence of a ~3 foot burned off approach from the Upper Cirque traverse. Admin's crew returned to Alta ~2PM and I got lucky with a hole in the clouds skiing down to the Mineral chair. For my last run I picked my way slowly through the Rat's Nest area where that competitor had crashed Friday, a first for me. It has some sketchy entries/traverses, interesting to try but North Chute is much more enjoyable.
