Days 52-54: Spring back into winter.
Friday 3/15/13: Full-on spring.
I spent my lunch hour with Tony Crocker and crew. Spring had arrived across most of the mountain in full force, although dropping down Wilbere Ridge to Gadzoom was still refrozen pivot-slide, pivot-slide corduroy. Hyena Ridge, however, was divine mashed potatoes spring skiing. There was also still some dry, chalky snow to be found on high elevation north-facing steeps, such as Whoopsies. All in all it was a great way to spend a break from work.
Saturday 3/16/13: Refrozen.
How refrozen? This refrozen:
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/62210463[/vimeo]
Crocker looked at the weather forecast on Friday night and abandoned his plans to crash at my place for the weekend, and instead headed home to L.A. I lasted until noon, at which point things were still quite solid, because I had to go close the deal on this:
I've been waiting for a replacement for the Land Rover (R.I.P. - thank you, Mrs. Admin) for far too long. At last, no more Taurus for me! No more scary-ass drives down Little Cottonwood Canyon, especially with its 6-speed manual, and it's now time to start planning a White Rim trip. The BedRug in the back provides a cushy sleeping environment and the cap's side windows open to supplement the ventilation from the rear window, so bring on the desert season! 8) Jake has already signed his paw of approval. I've since bought a used Yakima rack system for the cap and I have a new Alpine head unit on order for the sound system, although it already came with a decent Alpine head unit and a separate 400W Alpine amp -- I just wanted something with Bluetooth and it would cost nearly the same to add a Bluetooth module to the existing head unit.
Oh, yeah...the skiing. Sorry, I got sidetracked.
I heard through the grapevine that select west-facing lines like Jitterbug finally softened around 3 p.m. on Saturday but our entire crew had already given up by then. TheOtherAmy was the smart one, as she showed up about the same time that I left.
Sunday 3/17/13: "Are we really going to do this?"
That was Bobby Danger's question when he called me at 7:45, and I really didn't have a good answer for him. The temperature had fallen even further and there was a stiff wind, so nothing was going to soften at all after it refroze following this week's big thaw. The 1" of thick new snow wasn't going to be enough to bury anything, either.
Our wondering was compounded by the 50 mph wind gusts that blew through the Wildcat parking lot at 8:45. One regular on the "geezer pass" whom I encounter routinely left without even taking a run. In reality, it honestly wasn't as bad as expected, for where the wind blew the new snow to deeper depths it was actually rather decent, especially on the groomers.
I wasn't inspired, however, and split after one run punctuated by a latte at Baldy Brews in favor of a Sunday drive to the edge of the Uintas in my new truck The parking lot was maybe only 25% full when I left at around 10:30.
My wife is convinced that no woman would ever drive that thing, but I told her that it's a "chick magnet" based on a woman in an Audi A6 wagon who saw my temporary plates and followed me to my house this afternoon to ask where I bought it. :mrgreen: I'm not kidding.
Friday 3/15/13: Full-on spring.
I spent my lunch hour with Tony Crocker and crew. Spring had arrived across most of the mountain in full force, although dropping down Wilbere Ridge to Gadzoom was still refrozen pivot-slide, pivot-slide corduroy. Hyena Ridge, however, was divine mashed potatoes spring skiing. There was also still some dry, chalky snow to be found on high elevation north-facing steeps, such as Whoopsies. All in all it was a great way to spend a break from work.
Saturday 3/16/13: Refrozen.
How refrozen? This refrozen:
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/62210463[/vimeo]
Crocker looked at the weather forecast on Friday night and abandoned his plans to crash at my place for the weekend, and instead headed home to L.A. I lasted until noon, at which point things were still quite solid, because I had to go close the deal on this:
I've been waiting for a replacement for the Land Rover (R.I.P. - thank you, Mrs. Admin) for far too long. At last, no more Taurus for me! No more scary-ass drives down Little Cottonwood Canyon, especially with its 6-speed manual, and it's now time to start planning a White Rim trip. The BedRug in the back provides a cushy sleeping environment and the cap's side windows open to supplement the ventilation from the rear window, so bring on the desert season! 8) Jake has already signed his paw of approval. I've since bought a used Yakima rack system for the cap and I have a new Alpine head unit on order for the sound system, although it already came with a decent Alpine head unit and a separate 400W Alpine amp -- I just wanted something with Bluetooth and it would cost nearly the same to add a Bluetooth module to the existing head unit.
Oh, yeah...the skiing. Sorry, I got sidetracked.
I heard through the grapevine that select west-facing lines like Jitterbug finally softened around 3 p.m. on Saturday but our entire crew had already given up by then. TheOtherAmy was the smart one, as she showed up about the same time that I left.Sunday 3/17/13: "Are we really going to do this?"
That was Bobby Danger's question when he called me at 7:45, and I really didn't have a good answer for him. The temperature had fallen even further and there was a stiff wind, so nothing was going to soften at all after it refroze following this week's big thaw. The 1" of thick new snow wasn't going to be enough to bury anything, either.
Our wondering was compounded by the 50 mph wind gusts that blew through the Wildcat parking lot at 8:45. One regular on the "geezer pass" whom I encounter routinely left without even taking a run. In reality, it honestly wasn't as bad as expected, for where the wind blew the new snow to deeper depths it was actually rather decent, especially on the groomers.
I wasn't inspired, however, and split after one run punctuated by a latte at Baldy Brews in favor of a Sunday drive to the edge of the Uintas in my new truck The parking lot was maybe only 25% full when I left at around 10:30.
My wife is convinced that no woman would ever drive that thing, but I told her that it's a "chick magnet" based on a woman in an Audi A6 wagon who saw my temporary plates and followed me to my house this afternoon to ask where I bought it. :mrgreen: I'm not kidding.
