Marc_C
Active member
Quite the difference from the day before:
Much colder - it was -5F in the Wildcat lot when I pulled in for the super early alpine start of 10:05.
Much less wind - the top of Supreme was actually pleasant.
Much, much, much fewer people - the cold coupled with it being a big departure day for many visitors coupled with the local perception of everything being hammered. Zero lift lines all day, everywhere. Zero difficulty getting a table at Alf's at noon.
Maybe not so cold - thanks to a small inversion and pooling of cold air in the valleys, at 11a there was a 14 degree delta between base and 10.5K temps. Another reason the top of Supreme was pleasant - it was a balmy 14F.
Absolutely crystal clear.
Skied with local Pat and her friends from Wisconsin and their 15 yr old Italian exchange student Lorenzo. His first day of skiing powder, ever, was the day before at Solitude. We absconded with him after lunch for the two runs of the day, Greeley Bowl to Greeley Hill and.....
Highlight: Alta opened Yellow Trail and Backside after being closed for 2 or so weeks. Run of the day was Yellow Trail.
Local detail: because of the massive slide on Backside, it's open, but in a configuration I've never seen in my 8 years here. High and Low Notch are closed, there is no Backside traverse from Yellow Trail, and there is a rope line stopping you at the little gully just before rounding the corner into the Low Notch run-out. The only way onto the upper half of Backside is from either Eddie's High or the upper traverse from Gunsight and Thirds, but also the only sanely skiable lines are the skiers left 1/3 - 1/4 of Backside. Some ventured into the rock strewn slide and debris zones further south and experienced horrid conditions, as evidenced by the multiple survival traverses out of there. There are one or two reasonable lines in that area, but the effort and ptex needed to get there probably isn't worth it.
There's a white-board at the Yellow Trail traverse gate warning of unexpected and hidden rocks, avi debris, fracture lines, thin cover, and other nastiness.
Much colder - it was -5F in the Wildcat lot when I pulled in for the super early alpine start of 10:05.
Much less wind - the top of Supreme was actually pleasant.
Much, much, much fewer people - the cold coupled with it being a big departure day for many visitors coupled with the local perception of everything being hammered. Zero lift lines all day, everywhere. Zero difficulty getting a table at Alf's at noon.
Maybe not so cold - thanks to a small inversion and pooling of cold air in the valleys, at 11a there was a 14 degree delta between base and 10.5K temps. Another reason the top of Supreme was pleasant - it was a balmy 14F.
Absolutely crystal clear.
Skied with local Pat and her friends from Wisconsin and their 15 yr old Italian exchange student Lorenzo. His first day of skiing powder, ever, was the day before at Solitude. We absconded with him after lunch for the two runs of the day, Greeley Bowl to Greeley Hill and.....
Highlight: Alta opened Yellow Trail and Backside after being closed for 2 or so weeks. Run of the day was Yellow Trail.
Local detail: because of the massive slide on Backside, it's open, but in a configuration I've never seen in my 8 years here. High and Low Notch are closed, there is no Backside traverse from Yellow Trail, and there is a rope line stopping you at the little gully just before rounding the corner into the Low Notch run-out. The only way onto the upper half of Backside is from either Eddie's High or the upper traverse from Gunsight and Thirds, but also the only sanely skiable lines are the skiers left 1/3 - 1/4 of Backside. Some ventured into the rock strewn slide and debris zones further south and experienced horrid conditions, as evidenced by the multiple survival traverses out of there. There are one or two reasonable lines in that area, but the effort and ptex needed to get there probably isn't worth it.
There's a white-board at the Yellow Trail traverse gate warning of unexpected and hidden rocks, avi debris, fracture lines, thin cover, and other nastiness.
