Alta/Snowbird - 2/29-3/2

H

HuntSki16

New member
Hey all.

Heard its been warm the past few with some snow this weekend. We are heading out tomorrow and can't wait for a great time.

Question for you SLC vets: I presume that with the warm up the southerly facing slopes are a little worse off than the northerly ones. Is this correct? If so, which are the alta/bird slopes we should focus on and which should we avoid?

Thanks.

Happy Skiing!!

L
 
The short answer is that only Mineral Basin has a lot of direct south that with be sun affected almost immediately. It may still have good spring skiing mid-to-late mornings of sunny days.

Depending upon how warm it gets for how long, the east and west exposures at Alta will soften up and should be timed accordingly. When it's very warm Snowbird is preferred for having much more north facing steeps.
 
AltaBird skied damned fine today. I'll have a report up later tonight but for now I'll leave you with 3 words: Main Chute, baby!
 
Now that I'm home and not trying to type while driving :shock: I'll give you a few more specific pointers.

Tony's right, but you won't need to stick to Snowbird this week as a) it's not that warm, and b) the snowpack is still quite cold. It was warm and sunny today but nothing I skied got sloppy as it was evaporating rather than melting. North-facing and northeast-facing lines stayed dry and chalky.

For east- and west-facing, Tony's "timed accordingly" comment means that after a warm day and an overnight refreeze, give things some time. Ski Alta's Backside only after 10:30 or 11 a.m., and hold off on anything along West Rustler until 2:30 p.m. or so. Premier north-facing lines at Alta include Main Chute/Little Chute/Perla's (if open), High Rustler, Eagle's Nest, some north-facing stuff in Catherine's Area like Last Chance (although you'll have to ski west-facing by necessity to exit) and the Wildcat area. At Snowbird, seek out the highest lines in the Upper Peruvian Cirque (Great Scott/Jaws/Shot 10/etc.), North Baldy (out the Baldy Traverse), Silver Fox, Dalton's, Mach Schnell, obvious north-facing in Gad 2 and Tiger Tail (if open).

There's no secret to this stuff, really, it's all common sense.

And as you mention we should see some fresh stuff Saturday night into Sunday.

Here's the report from today:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards ... php?t=6505
 
How do you think snowbasin and powmow will be tomorrow? Do you think it got sloppy there or is it better to just stick to llc?
 
Snowbasin should soften nicely in the a.m. Go for it! Call me for the weekend - our posse will be at Alta on Saturday and we can give you the tour of a lifetime.
 
Admin":2u3v569p said:
Premier north-facing lines at Alta include Main Chute/Little Chute/Perla's (if open), High Rustler, Eagle's Nest, some north-facing stuff in Catherine's Area like Last Chance (although you'll have to ski west-facing by necessity to exit) and the Wildcat area. At Snowbird, seek out the highest lines in the Upper Peruvian Cirque (Great Scott/Jaws/Shot 10/etc.), North Baldy (out the Baldy Traverse), Silver Fox, Dalton's, Mach Schnell, obvious north-facing in Gad 2 and Tiger Tail (if open).

There's no secret to this stuff, really, it's all common sense.
Click to expand...
No disagreement with any of these pointers. However, if you've never been to Alta or the Bird, keep in mind that some of these are pretty difficult to find, despite being on the map - there aren't exactly trail signs pointing to each line. You might want to try and hook up with someone who knows if it's your first time. I've encountered more than one visitor skiing Stonecrusher thinking it was High Rustler. And the Baldy Chutes are a definite no-fall zone, including getting to them.
 
Marc_C":24k3my48 said:
And the Baldy Chutes are a definite no-fall zone, including getting to them.
Click to expand...

I personally think that the term "DFU Zone" has a more pleasant ring to it. :wink:
 
My wife and I are also making the trip out tomorrow to ski alta/bird 2/29 - 3/4. It will be our first time, so the beta is very much appreciated. Even if this info isn't any kind of secret and may be considered common sense, the detail from those who know and are actually on the ground there is valuable for those of us who haven't skied there before. Thanks for the responses.

Now if I can only concentrate on work for the rest of the day today...
 
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