Alta/Snowbird, UT 12/22/13

[Admin]

Day 19: at least I didn't waste a vacation day on this, it would have been unfortunate for a subpar day of skiing. :wink:

The forecast: 60% chance of 1-3"of new.
The reality: it puked all day.

It was good. Really good. How good? This good:

(That's jojo_obrien somewhere in there)

After we lost jojo_obrien by accident somehow, we ventured over to Snowbird for the first time this season to have a look around, check out the new Gad 2 lift and validate our passes. Honestly, the snow is completely different over there: thinner, more man made and windswept. It'll be a couple of more storms before I return again. They had us surprisingly hemmed in and I really don't understand why the available terrain was so limited, especially on the Baldy Express side as there's more than enough snow higher up. Lupine Loop had perhaps the longest rope line I've ever seen.

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[jojo_obrien]

i'll upload some pics shortly......

Alta: Heaven
Ski Bus: Purgatory

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... ](*,)

Great time w/ the Alta Posse this afternoon.........thanks ya'll.

I gotta start learning the names of the lifts. Admin -- I didnt know quite yet what was SugarLoaf ........ugh.......waited for everyone down @ Wildcat.......in vain ](*,)

Sick day.........2 standard deviations above the mean ................

 

[jtran10]

We were at the bird today and had some great snow mid/lower mountain where it was more wind protected.

Thinking Alta looks fun for tomorrow. Is it possible to buy a altabird "upgrade" on a snowbird 10 to share at the alta ticket office, or does it need to be done at snowbird?

Any of the FTO crew not working tomorrow?

 

[Marc_C]

They had us surprisingly hemmed in and I really don't understand why the available terrain was so limited, especially on the Baldy Express side as there's more than enough snow higher up. Lupine Loop had perhaps the longest rope line I've ever seen.

I think everyone is being really cautious about the weak layers in the snowpack, given the natural in-bounds at Alta yesterday and the other 8 side and backcountry skier-triggered (mostly) slides, with one full and one partial burial, and one in Grizzly Gulch - again. Note the closures at Alta yesterday and today.

 

[Admin]

We were at the bird today and had some great snow mid/lower mountain where it was more wind protected.

Thinking Alta looks fun for tomorrow. Is it possible to buy a altabird "upgrade" on a snowbird 10 to share at the alta ticket office, or does it need to be done at snowbird?

Any of the FTO crew not working tomorrow?

No clue on the ticket upgrade, really. Didn't know that you were in town! Contact me about Christmas Eve. When do your folks get in?

Tomorrow is I think a dark day for our group. I'll be skiing the rest of the week from Tuesday on.

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[Admin]

They had us surprisingly hemmed in and I really don't understand why the available terrain was so limited, especially on the Baldy Express side as there's more than enough snow higher up. Lupine Loop had perhaps the longest rope line I've ever seen.

I think everyone is being really cautious about the weak layers in the snowpack, given the natural in-bounds at Alta yesterday and the other 8 side and backcountry skier-triggered (mostly) slides, with one full and one partial burial, and one in Grizzly Gulch - again. Note the closures at Alta yesterday and today.

That's not it. I'm taking about the flat terrain just below Sugarloaf Pass in Mineral Basin that isn't beneath anything. They actually have a rope line that creates a corridor about 25 feet wide.

Meanwhile, Alta today gave us the avalanche-prone terrain in lower Supreme Bowl.

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[Marc_C]

Is it possible to buy a altabird "upgrade" on a snowbird 10 to share at the alta ticket office, or does it need to be done at snowbird?

Typically any upgrade to a combined pass for the day needs to be done at the resort where it was purchased. The two computer systems talk to each other and when you purchase an upgrade, the desk person instructs the other computer system to allow your bar code or chip-ID to work at that other resort for the day. If you bought your pass at Snowbird, the Alta system doesn't know you exist.

At least that's the way the resorts want it to work. They also assume that you are starting and ending your day at your "home" resort. Now whether or not you can indeed upgrade at Alta ticket office is left as a field exercise for you to investigate and report on.

You can also buy a one-day upgrade at the Sugarloaf Pass check-point between the two resorts.

 

[Marc_C]

That's not it. I'm taking about the flat terrain just below Sugarloaf Pass in Mineral Basin that isn't beneath anything. They actually have a rope line that creates a corridor about 25 feet wide.

In that case you should do some investigative reporting and talk to Dave or Emily or a certain ski patroller or two. :wink:

 

[jtran10]

We might just swing by the gad valley ticket office on the way up canyon, then keep driving. Hopefully that's foolproof.

 

[jojo_obrien]

In the white room with black curtains near the station..............

 

[Bobby Danger]

DAY.25.... dump day for sure , it started this morning not looking to be to mean , thought it would only be one to three inches just enough to smooth things out . wrong - intensities grew steadier all morning , before we all new it, it had exceeded the high end of one to three inches , not sure how much it really snowed but it was way more than three inches . seemed like eight or nine inches on the car at my return this afternoon . alta gave us the back forty gate for the first time this year , where we started our decent ounce we got far enough through the gate had not been skied by the general public this year. that's where admin got the pic of jo jo getting after it . SUPER SWEET. skied greely bowl early , better than yesterday morning . skied jitterbug next run out on west rustler , better than yesterday morning. EVERYWHERE we traveled at alta was superior to what snow bird had to offer day ticket holders . I.M.O. walking to the ticket window this morning and purchasing a day ticket for unruley amounts of money with the way snowbird is set up right now just wouldn't be representative of the real product snowbird can offer . snow guns blasting everywhere pointing down the trail in your face . and way more crowded on the hill than alta.

 

[jojo_obrien]

sick day ............"welcome to the goody room"

yep bobby ....had no idea where you'd lead us.. ....sick lines........cheers

 

[Tony Crocker]

I was going to ask if Snowbird was ready for prime time yet, as it just crossed the 50% open mark yesterday. Questions well answered above. I'm not likely to make it to SLC until early February.