Day 26: Another cold one.
It was terrific to get together with everyone at Skidog's house last night for an "East Coast New Year's" celebration, with the highlights from the buffet table including Skidog's pulled pork, Marc_C's asian turkey meatballs and AmyZ's funeral potatoes. Killer food and killer company, and I was still in bed well before midnight. Throughout the night rdwore couldn't stop showing off his feature in Snowbird's "Picture of the Day" on Dec. 28:
Not bad for an old retired fart from Upstate NY, although I'm questioning the newly self-described "Western Powder Ski Hero's" assertion that "The new celebrity it has brought me will further increase the desire of the women of Snowbird and Alta to be with me."
:roll:
It was bitterly cold this morning, at least for here, in the middle single digits. Although the thermometer recorded a couple of more degrees than it did yesterday morning there was a bit of a breeze that made it feel far colder, especially on the EBT.
One trip down the EBT, in fact, made me swear it off for the rest of the day. It was enough for Skidog to put his tail between his legs and head home. The rest of us headed in for our morning coffee earlier than normal once again.
It was there, though, that our posse acquired a new member today. Amy just moved here from Steamboat Springs and bought a season pass. She's just beginning to learn the mountain's stashes, and she showed up at Baldy Brews expecting the usual "Ski With The Girls" Tuesday gathering to make friends and learn new lines, except that wasn't taking place today due to the holiday. Angel, the midweek barista in Baldy Brews, pointed to us and told Amy, "These are the guys you should be skiing with."
Sure, what's one more? Tag along.
We picked up naromando, who's here on a family ski vacation (ironically also from Steamboat Springs), and his brother, despite their hotel at Canyons Resort losing his brother's ski boots last night while they were on the dryer. That just made them late until they were found. Along with Bobby Danger, AmyZ and Telejon we had a full-on posse that the new Amy likened to a "bunch of dirt bikers on skis." It was one of the larger groups that we've skied with in a while.
Finding soft snow today was hit or miss, punctuated by sectors of stiff cut-up snow. Armpit skied well, as did Greeley Hill/North Greeley and Eagle's Nest. Susie's Trees and lower Gunsight, on the other hand, were both surprisingly stiff. It was hard to apply the usual logic to find the soft snow as the usual rules during a northwesterly breeze didn't seem to apply. The High T itself is little worse for wear from the holiday crowds (which, BTW, were decidedly absent today -- the place was deserted), but Piss Pass is positively ugly. The entire green mat is now snow-free, and it's actually far better to sidestep up above the pass and strike out toward Thirds before doubling back toward Stonecrusher, High Boy and the Nest, although even that option is anything but clean.
After lunch Bobby, AmyZ and Telejon headed to Snowbird. I was supposed to go over there to meet up with The Kid, who was skiing with mrgskier and his family in town from Vermont, but I knew that I didn't have enough gas left in the tank to travel to Snowbird, ski some runs with them and still get back to my car parked at Alta. Furthermore, The Kid was already spent and sitting in the Rendezvous as it was his first day on skis this season and I didn't feel like braving the EBT again, so after a trip down the Nest I took one last run with naromando and Amy, this time up Supreme back out Catherine's to ACL and the Summer Road, which was peppered with snowshoers. ACL was far more tracked up than it was on Sunday, but it still held pockets of untracked, the only such snow we'd find today.
No pics, although if I had taken any they would have looked virtually identical to those I posted on Sunday. As posted elsewhere, following our protracted storm cycle we're now in for a long dry spell under a ridge of high pressure, which is nothing unusual for January in the Wasatch although it's coming a week or two earlier than normal. We're talking valley inversions and warm, sunny days on tap at altitude through at least the first 10 days of 2013. Ironically it's still flurrying on and off at my house beneath the undercast, while on the mountain today it was largely sunny above the lower cloud layer.
Happy New Year to all FTO Liftliners!
It was terrific to get together with everyone at Skidog's house last night for an "East Coast New Year's" celebration, with the highlights from the buffet table including Skidog's pulled pork, Marc_C's asian turkey meatballs and AmyZ's funeral potatoes. Killer food and killer company, and I was still in bed well before midnight. Throughout the night rdwore couldn't stop showing off his feature in Snowbird's "Picture of the Day" on Dec. 28:
Not bad for an old retired fart from Upstate NY, although I'm questioning the newly self-described "Western Powder Ski Hero's" assertion that "The new celebrity it has brought me will further increase the desire of the women of Snowbird and Alta to be with me."
:roll:
It was bitterly cold this morning, at least for here, in the middle single digits. Although the thermometer recorded a couple of more degrees than it did yesterday morning there was a bit of a breeze that made it feel far colder, especially on the EBT.
One trip down the EBT, in fact, made me swear it off for the rest of the day. It was enough for Skidog to put his tail between his legs and head home. The rest of us headed in for our morning coffee earlier than normal once again.
It was there, though, that our posse acquired a new member today. Amy just moved here from Steamboat Springs and bought a season pass. She's just beginning to learn the mountain's stashes, and she showed up at Baldy Brews expecting the usual "Ski With The Girls" Tuesday gathering to make friends and learn new lines, except that wasn't taking place today due to the holiday. Angel, the midweek barista in Baldy Brews, pointed to us and told Amy, "These are the guys you should be skiing with."
Sure, what's one more? Tag along.
We picked up naromando, who's here on a family ski vacation (ironically also from Steamboat Springs), and his brother, despite their hotel at Canyons Resort losing his brother's ski boots last night while they were on the dryer. That just made them late until they were found. Along with Bobby Danger, AmyZ and Telejon we had a full-on posse that the new Amy likened to a "bunch of dirt bikers on skis." It was one of the larger groups that we've skied with in a while.
Finding soft snow today was hit or miss, punctuated by sectors of stiff cut-up snow. Armpit skied well, as did Greeley Hill/North Greeley and Eagle's Nest. Susie's Trees and lower Gunsight, on the other hand, were both surprisingly stiff. It was hard to apply the usual logic to find the soft snow as the usual rules during a northwesterly breeze didn't seem to apply. The High T itself is little worse for wear from the holiday crowds (which, BTW, were decidedly absent today -- the place was deserted), but Piss Pass is positively ugly. The entire green mat is now snow-free, and it's actually far better to sidestep up above the pass and strike out toward Thirds before doubling back toward Stonecrusher, High Boy and the Nest, although even that option is anything but clean.
After lunch Bobby, AmyZ and Telejon headed to Snowbird. I was supposed to go over there to meet up with The Kid, who was skiing with mrgskier and his family in town from Vermont, but I knew that I didn't have enough gas left in the tank to travel to Snowbird, ski some runs with them and still get back to my car parked at Alta. Furthermore, The Kid was already spent and sitting in the Rendezvous as it was his first day on skis this season and I didn't feel like braving the EBT again, so after a trip down the Nest I took one last run with naromando and Amy, this time up Supreme back out Catherine's to ACL and the Summer Road, which was peppered with snowshoers. ACL was far more tracked up than it was on Sunday, but it still held pockets of untracked, the only such snow we'd find today.
No pics, although if I had taken any they would have looked virtually identical to those I posted on Sunday. As posted elsewhere, following our protracted storm cycle we're now in for a long dry spell under a ridge of high pressure, which is nothing unusual for January in the Wasatch although it's coming a week or two earlier than normal. We're talking valley inversions and warm, sunny days on tap at altitude through at least the first 10 days of 2013. Ironically it's still flurrying on and off at my house beneath the undercast, while on the mountain today it was largely sunny above the lower cloud layer.
Happy New Year to all FTO Liftliners!
