Day 54: "Hey, look! I have two left feet!"
Somehow, on a day when everything comes together to make an absolutely perfect day, I couldn't ski worth a damn today. Maybe it's me, maybe it's getting used to the precision and fit of new boots (Garmont Endorphins), but I just couldn't get my skiing dialed in today.
The funny thing was, though, it just didn't matter. After a winter of grey skies nearly every weekend today put the "blue" in "bluebird". We finally got some spring weather, and the skies don't get any deeper than they were above the Wasatch today. At times the sky looked nearly black. I sat outside today at mid-mountain in only the thinnest of thin merino t-shirts (OK, I had pants, too...which is more than I can say of about 10 skiers who I heard skied Main Chute naked today) and I was actually uncomfortably warm under the blazing high-altitude April sun. It was that gorgeous.
I hooked up today with Skidog, Bob Dangerous and Tele Jon. After a warmup on the rarely groomed Race Hill/Saddle, we sped down Devil's Elbow/Extrovert/Omen and caught the Sugarloaf chair to the Taliban Checkpoint and into Snowbird. The Bird's Nest/Lupine Loop route from Sugarloaf Pass down to the bottom of Mineral Basin was one of the best groomers I skied all day, with wind-sifted chalk covering the tilled-up base. Absolutely effortless.
We caught MBE and headed straight for Primrose Path and Silver Fox even though I'd have preferred a run out to the Sunday Cliffs. I chased Bob and Skidog through chopped up dry loose powder, and I don't think that I've ever carried so much speed through giant arcs through there. I kept hoping for Bob to actually stop to rest for a moment, but when we reached Rock Chute I finally cried "uncle!" and Jon did the same as we watched the other two steam on.
After that, things at Snowbird today are somewhat of a blur. I know that we rode up Peruvian two more times and headed through the Dick Basshole (I heard that one for the first time today and had to use it here :lol: ) back to Mineral Basin two more times, where the others took a route down Double Down or Not Quite Corn, I'm not sure which. My legs were starting to betray me already, so I stuck to Lupine Loop, which was getting a bit wetter than it had been earlier, but in the dry air today it was evaporating nearly as quickly as it baked. We rode MBE again to get to the upper Peruvian Cirque, where we found chalky dry cut-up snow in Shot 10. We also rode Gadzoom and Little Cloud at one point to access Claustrophobia, which was a bit disappointing with a sun crust that we hadn't expected to be there.
We eventually made our way back into Alta around 1:30 for lunch at Watson Shelter, where hanging out in the sunshine on the deck was too wonderful a prospect to ignore. After lunch Bob and Skidog returned to Snowbird, while Jon and I each grabbed a latté at Baldy Brews and lounged in the deck chairs on The Beach to wait for Pat, who was just arriving after working sag for her son this morning in a bike race in Tooele.
We took a couple of more runs with Pat in Collins Gulch, although riding the Collins lift was getting frustrating. The blazing sun was wreaking havoc on lift operations, as the sunny sides of the towers were heating much more quickly than the shaded sides, warping the towers and repeatedly tripping the sheave sensors.
Driving down canyon at 3:30, Hellgate was closed and traffic was being diverted to the Bypass Road. Looking at the wet slides on the south face of Superior it was easy to see why. Driving further down canyon I spotted three or four UDOT pickups with employees staring at the obvious slide paths to keep an eye on things. They were clearly concerned.
We'll do it all over again tomorrow, except that it should be about 10 degrees warmer.
Somehow, on a day when everything comes together to make an absolutely perfect day, I couldn't ski worth a damn today. Maybe it's me, maybe it's getting used to the precision and fit of new boots (Garmont Endorphins), but I just couldn't get my skiing dialed in today.
The funny thing was, though, it just didn't matter. After a winter of grey skies nearly every weekend today put the "blue" in "bluebird". We finally got some spring weather, and the skies don't get any deeper than they were above the Wasatch today. At times the sky looked nearly black. I sat outside today at mid-mountain in only the thinnest of thin merino t-shirts (OK, I had pants, too...which is more than I can say of about 10 skiers who I heard skied Main Chute naked today) and I was actually uncomfortably warm under the blazing high-altitude April sun. It was that gorgeous.
I hooked up today with Skidog, Bob Dangerous and Tele Jon. After a warmup on the rarely groomed Race Hill/Saddle, we sped down Devil's Elbow/Extrovert/Omen and caught the Sugarloaf chair to the Taliban Checkpoint and into Snowbird. The Bird's Nest/Lupine Loop route from Sugarloaf Pass down to the bottom of Mineral Basin was one of the best groomers I skied all day, with wind-sifted chalk covering the tilled-up base. Absolutely effortless.
We caught MBE and headed straight for Primrose Path and Silver Fox even though I'd have preferred a run out to the Sunday Cliffs. I chased Bob and Skidog through chopped up dry loose powder, and I don't think that I've ever carried so much speed through giant arcs through there. I kept hoping for Bob to actually stop to rest for a moment, but when we reached Rock Chute I finally cried "uncle!" and Jon did the same as we watched the other two steam on.
After that, things at Snowbird today are somewhat of a blur. I know that we rode up Peruvian two more times and headed through the Dick Basshole (I heard that one for the first time today and had to use it here :lol: ) back to Mineral Basin two more times, where the others took a route down Double Down or Not Quite Corn, I'm not sure which. My legs were starting to betray me already, so I stuck to Lupine Loop, which was getting a bit wetter than it had been earlier, but in the dry air today it was evaporating nearly as quickly as it baked. We rode MBE again to get to the upper Peruvian Cirque, where we found chalky dry cut-up snow in Shot 10. We also rode Gadzoom and Little Cloud at one point to access Claustrophobia, which was a bit disappointing with a sun crust that we hadn't expected to be there.
We eventually made our way back into Alta around 1:30 for lunch at Watson Shelter, where hanging out in the sunshine on the deck was too wonderful a prospect to ignore. After lunch Bob and Skidog returned to Snowbird, while Jon and I each grabbed a latté at Baldy Brews and lounged in the deck chairs on The Beach to wait for Pat, who was just arriving after working sag for her son this morning in a bike race in Tooele.
We took a couple of more runs with Pat in Collins Gulch, although riding the Collins lift was getting frustrating. The blazing sun was wreaking havoc on lift operations, as the sunny sides of the towers were heating much more quickly than the shaded sides, warping the towers and repeatedly tripping the sheave sensors.
Driving down canyon at 3:30, Hellgate was closed and traffic was being diverted to the Bypass Road. Looking at the wet slides on the south face of Superior it was easy to see why. Driving further down canyon I spotted three or four UDOT pickups with employees staring at the obvious slide paths to keep an eye on things. They were clearly concerned.
We'll do it all over again tomorrow, except that it should be about 10 degrees warmer.
Attachments
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08 alta superior wet slides 080412.jpg -
07 alta hellgate 080412.jpg -
06 alta superior wet slides 080412.jpg -
05 alta collins angle 080412.jpg -
04A alta watson lunch skidog jon bobd 080412.jpg -
04 snowbird peruvian exp 080412.jpg -
03 snowbird skidog jon the house 080412.jpg -
02 alta devils castle 080412.jpg -
01 alta sugarloaf 080412.jpg
