Day 56: So that's what dirt tastes like!
I'm posting this morning while I wait for things to soften a bit today before heading up. Yesterday other obligations -- Ski Utah's Local Media Day -- forced me to arrive before things softened, and to repeat that experience today would be a huge mistake. Porcelain, anyone? It was reminiscient of many eastern days. I was reminded of corduroy that remains unblemished after skis pass over it. Yuck.
Things began to soften after 10 am yesterday, and by 11 the right aspects were skiing damned well again. At 11:30 the Ski Utah group met in howling southerly winds at Sugarloaf Pass to venture through the closed Mineral Basin gate into Snowbird (they were allowing just our group through -- the access is closed for the season along with the Baldy Express chair). Traversing over to the checkpoint shack from the Sugarloaf chair I had to set a hard edge just to keep going straight in the horrendous crosswinds. Amazing stuff. We huddled in the lee of the building just to hear each other speak.
We rode Mineral Basin Express, and I led Mrs. Admin down Chip's Run along with Libby from The Canyons, Laura from Snowbird and Tyler from Alta as the rest of the group took another pre-lunch run in Mineral Basin. Mrs. Admin and I went back up Peruvian Express to repeat Chip's before lunch and annual awards at the Cliff Lodge.
We emerged from lunch around 1:30 to a different world. The southerly winds ahead of the cold front had stirred up the dust in the West Desert, and it was surreal. A thick haze hung in the air, obscuring visibility for all but maybe a half mile. This wasn't smog, it was desert dirt. Open your mouth and you could taste it. It coated your face. Weird, and nasty at the same time.
We went back up Peruvian and through the Tunnel into Mineral Basin. After a run down Lupine Loop I brought Mrs. Admin to Powder Paradise, but the thick, manky snow was more than her limited skills could handle. We returned to Hidden Peak for another run down Chip's, this time taking Rothman Way across to Gadzoom for a final run. Mrs. Admin's legs just didn't have anything left in them anymore, and we caught a 4 pm shuttle back to our truck parked at Alta.
Sam has already staked out our corner of the Wildcat parking lot today, and he's sitting there in his lawn chair reading the Sunday paper. By the end of the day today the grills will be hot and the beer flowing. If anyone's in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by and say "hi" -- we'll be set up in the far southwest corner of the Wildcat lot.
I'm posting this morning while I wait for things to soften a bit today before heading up. Yesterday other obligations -- Ski Utah's Local Media Day -- forced me to arrive before things softened, and to repeat that experience today would be a huge mistake. Porcelain, anyone? It was reminiscient of many eastern days. I was reminded of corduroy that remains unblemished after skis pass over it. Yuck.
Things began to soften after 10 am yesterday, and by 11 the right aspects were skiing damned well again. At 11:30 the Ski Utah group met in howling southerly winds at Sugarloaf Pass to venture through the closed Mineral Basin gate into Snowbird (they were allowing just our group through -- the access is closed for the season along with the Baldy Express chair). Traversing over to the checkpoint shack from the Sugarloaf chair I had to set a hard edge just to keep going straight in the horrendous crosswinds. Amazing stuff. We huddled in the lee of the building just to hear each other speak.
We rode Mineral Basin Express, and I led Mrs. Admin down Chip's Run along with Libby from The Canyons, Laura from Snowbird and Tyler from Alta as the rest of the group took another pre-lunch run in Mineral Basin. Mrs. Admin and I went back up Peruvian Express to repeat Chip's before lunch and annual awards at the Cliff Lodge.
We emerged from lunch around 1:30 to a different world. The southerly winds ahead of the cold front had stirred up the dust in the West Desert, and it was surreal. A thick haze hung in the air, obscuring visibility for all but maybe a half mile. This wasn't smog, it was desert dirt. Open your mouth and you could taste it. It coated your face. Weird, and nasty at the same time.
We went back up Peruvian and through the Tunnel into Mineral Basin. After a run down Lupine Loop I brought Mrs. Admin to Powder Paradise, but the thick, manky snow was more than her limited skills could handle. We returned to Hidden Peak for another run down Chip's, this time taking Rothman Way across to Gadzoom for a final run. Mrs. Admin's legs just didn't have anything left in them anymore, and we caught a 4 pm shuttle back to our truck parked at Alta.
Sam has already staked out our corner of the Wildcat parking lot today, and he's sitting there in his lawn chair reading the Sunday paper. By the end of the day today the grills will be hot and the beer flowing. If anyone's in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by and say "hi" -- we'll be set up in the far southwest corner of the Wildcat lot.
