Eddie, Mark, Nick and Rick wanted to try out Alta on Monday and they headed out a little after 9AM. I drove over with Ben about 10:15 as we were both delayed by other issues. Ben called when we arrived and found the rest were in Catherine's. I was pleased to hear this, as they would get to see the area without me having to do another hike after Sunday's adventures. We went up Collins and headed over to Supreme to meet them, but once there we had no cell service. Ben was at least as beat as I was and thus we took a pass on the bumped up chutes and trees or the hike to Catherine's. So we took a couple of runs on Sugarloaf, the second on Backside all the way down.
Weather was partly cloudy with light winds; signs at Sugarloaf reported 36F at the base and 23F up top. On the traverse I noted Yellow Trail was in spring transition but Backside still retained winter snow.
That snow was in unconsolidated mounds from previous days' powderhounds and made for a bouncy ride.
We took the tow back to Collins and a Ballroom traverse out to Tombstone. Ben went a bit farther for some partially tracked leftovers. By this time we connected with the other 4 for lunch at GMD. We saw the video of Nick's 3/4 front flip and he called it a day with his bruised shin.
After lunch I thought I should show the newcomers the highlights off Alta's central spine. First we did the Backside traverse to Susie's Trees, as I pointed out the Notch, Eddie's High Nowhere and Gunsight above. Below the trees we cut across SE exposed Greeley Hill. I skied the hill just short of Greely Slot, but the rest of the crew disliked the transfer tow and thus continued the marathon traverse around to the lower part of North Rustler.
Next up we did the entire High T out to Highboy. There's now a fairly clean entrance from the very top, and the crew was suitably impressed with the long steep fall line and good snow despite some flat light. Ben and Rick pictured below.
Mark and Eddie were too far down by the time I got the camera ready.
We went up Collins for a final cruiser and someone on the lift offered to show them the ski back to Snowbird via Keyhole. This "guide" actually took them back via admin's recommended route which worked better for their learning curve as they had been in Keyhole the day before and did see where its gate was above Wildcat.
I needed to stay at Alta as I had brought a car. I did one run out the T to Jitterbug which was just starting to soften, and another off Wildcat, where the gullies already had considerable bumps. West Rustler illuminated when I got off Wildcat.
I finished with 16,500, still somewhat beat from the previous day.
I think our younger crew did not not see Alta at its best. Much of the snow was in that awkward stage of no longer powder but not yet consolidated or smoothed out. Thus they were not tempted to hike to areas like Gunsight. The sun was not a major factor as on some of my warmer trips. FYI the Baldy Chutes and Devil's Castle were still closed, presumably due to wind loading over the weekend.
Weather was partly cloudy with light winds; signs at Sugarloaf reported 36F at the base and 23F up top. On the traverse I noted Yellow Trail was in spring transition but Backside still retained winter snow.
That snow was in unconsolidated mounds from previous days' powderhounds and made for a bouncy ride.
We took the tow back to Collins and a Ballroom traverse out to Tombstone. Ben went a bit farther for some partially tracked leftovers. By this time we connected with the other 4 for lunch at GMD. We saw the video of Nick's 3/4 front flip and he called it a day with his bruised shin.
After lunch I thought I should show the newcomers the highlights off Alta's central spine. First we did the Backside traverse to Susie's Trees, as I pointed out the Notch, Eddie's High Nowhere and Gunsight above. Below the trees we cut across SE exposed Greeley Hill. I skied the hill just short of Greely Slot, but the rest of the crew disliked the transfer tow and thus continued the marathon traverse around to the lower part of North Rustler.
Next up we did the entire High T out to Highboy. There's now a fairly clean entrance from the very top, and the crew was suitably impressed with the long steep fall line and good snow despite some flat light. Ben and Rick pictured below.
Mark and Eddie were too far down by the time I got the camera ready.
We went up Collins for a final cruiser and someone on the lift offered to show them the ski back to Snowbird via Keyhole. This "guide" actually took them back via admin's recommended route which worked better for their learning curve as they had been in Keyhole the day before and did see where its gate was above Wildcat.
I needed to stay at Alta as I had brought a car. I did one run out the T to Jitterbug which was just starting to soften, and another off Wildcat, where the gullies already had considerable bumps. West Rustler illuminated when I got off Wildcat.
I finished with 16,500, still somewhat beat from the previous day.
I think our younger crew did not not see Alta at its best. Much of the snow was in that awkward stage of no longer powder but not yet consolidated or smoothed out. Thus they were not tempted to hike to areas like Gunsight. The sun was not a major factor as on some of my warmer trips. FYI the Baldy Chutes and Devil's Castle were still closed, presumably due to wind loading over the weekend.
