Day 30: Searching for wind sift.
We started the day as usual from GMD. Bobby Danger, AmyZ, Telejon, TheOtherAmy, Tony Crocker and yours truly boarded Wildcat to avoid the pre-opening line on Collins.
AmyZ and Tony board Wildcat
Riding the Kitty
Hamburger Hill had thick wind-slabbed snow that was barely tracked and not entirely unpleasant. We thereafter headed out the High T for a Greeley Hill. ASP was still bombing Thirds and forced us to head north from Pass Pass (and ripped out a good one on Thirds, actually), and what we found on Greeley Hill was a disappointing untracked combination of wind slab from Friday's howl and a slight rime crust. Not exactly what we were looking for.
We therefore kept searching. I verified that we weren't going to get Backside today (and it would likely have the same crusted snow that we found on Greeley Hill anyway). Furthermore, the lines were growing on Collins because they were still working to de-rime Sugarloaf, so by late morning we decided to venture over to Snowbird to see how the newly opened Mineral Basin was skiing.
Because Sugarloaf wasn't yet running we had to follow the Blackjack Traverse to Peruvian, where we skied right into the chair. Through the tunnel and we were in Mineral. We hung a hard left to Chamonix 1, which was rife with thick, deep, crusted snow - more of what we weren't looking for.
We encountered the expected healthy line at MBE and returned to Hidden Peak.
Clear air in the Salt Lake Valley, as seen from Hidden Peak
Little Cloud Bowl (note the rare rime on AF Twin Peaks)
We headed for Puckerbrush, but that still had more exposed shrubbery than we wanted so we opted instead to head down the Mid Cirque Traverse to Route 10 Shot 5. This, too, was covered in thick wind slab, and the winds by now had shifted to southerlies that were steadily increasing in intensity along with high clouds ahead of tonight's cold front.
Wind blows snow past Tower 4 onto Silver Fox
When Road to Provo is closed, Regulator Johnson can look like this
We skied to the base of Gadzoom and loaded both that and Little Cloud to return to Alta via Mineral Basin. While we were in Mineral Basin the first time, Path to Paradise was closed beyond the Hyena Ridge gun tower. When we returned to Mineral, however, they had just opened it all the way to Hilary Step. We went nearly to the end before dropping in, and in doing so found - you guessed it - wind slab.
It wasn't until nearly 2pm, en route to a late lunch at Rustler Lodge, that we finally found the steep, smooth, loose sluff that we were looking for on Santa Claus, linking it with more of the same on Lone Pine. It was so soft, loose and dry on Santa Claus that my own sluff caught up with me and nearly swept me off my feet. At lunch, however, I realized just how tired I was and headed down Canyon at 3pm while the others headed for a High Boy LRP (Last Run Protocol). I have to keep some gas in the tank for hoped-for powder days Sunday and Monday, for the National Weather Service is calling for another 14-22" beginning tonight.
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We started the day as usual from GMD. Bobby Danger, AmyZ, Telejon, TheOtherAmy, Tony Crocker and yours truly boarded Wildcat to avoid the pre-opening line on Collins.
AmyZ and Tony board Wildcat
Riding the Kitty
Hamburger Hill had thick wind-slabbed snow that was barely tracked and not entirely unpleasant. We thereafter headed out the High T for a Greeley Hill. ASP was still bombing Thirds and forced us to head north from Pass Pass (and ripped out a good one on Thirds, actually), and what we found on Greeley Hill was a disappointing untracked combination of wind slab from Friday's howl and a slight rime crust. Not exactly what we were looking for.
We therefore kept searching. I verified that we weren't going to get Backside today (and it would likely have the same crusted snow that we found on Greeley Hill anyway). Furthermore, the lines were growing on Collins because they were still working to de-rime Sugarloaf, so by late morning we decided to venture over to Snowbird to see how the newly opened Mineral Basin was skiing.
Because Sugarloaf wasn't yet running we had to follow the Blackjack Traverse to Peruvian, where we skied right into the chair. Through the tunnel and we were in Mineral. We hung a hard left to Chamonix 1, which was rife with thick, deep, crusted snow - more of what we weren't looking for.
We encountered the expected healthy line at MBE and returned to Hidden Peak.
Clear air in the Salt Lake Valley, as seen from Hidden Peak
Little Cloud Bowl (note the rare rime on AF Twin Peaks)
We headed for Puckerbrush, but that still had more exposed shrubbery than we wanted so we opted instead to head down the Mid Cirque Traverse to Route 10 Shot 5. This, too, was covered in thick wind slab, and the winds by now had shifted to southerlies that were steadily increasing in intensity along with high clouds ahead of tonight's cold front.
Wind blows snow past Tower 4 onto Silver Fox
When Road to Provo is closed, Regulator Johnson can look like this
We skied to the base of Gadzoom and loaded both that and Little Cloud to return to Alta via Mineral Basin. While we were in Mineral Basin the first time, Path to Paradise was closed beyond the Hyena Ridge gun tower. When we returned to Mineral, however, they had just opened it all the way to Hilary Step. We went nearly to the end before dropping in, and in doing so found - you guessed it - wind slab.
It wasn't until nearly 2pm, en route to a late lunch at Rustler Lodge, that we finally found the steep, smooth, loose sluff that we were looking for on Santa Claus, linking it with more of the same on Lone Pine. It was so soft, loose and dry on Santa Claus that my own sluff caught up with me and nearly swept me off my feet. At lunch, however, I realized just how tired I was and headed down Canyon at 3pm while the others headed for a High Boy LRP (Last Run Protocol). I have to keep some gas in the tank for hoped-for powder days Sunday and Monday, for the National Weather Service is calling for another 14-22" beginning tonight.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk
