I awoke Sunday morning and checked the Alta report, which showed 3" new. :roll: The storm's arrival had been delayed somewhat, with the bulk now forecast to fall during the afternoon. I thus picked up TOS at his hotel at 8:30 instead of 8:00, and wasn't terribly put off when he suggested that we go back to my house to retrieve my avi gear, either. With the strong winds and developing storm we wouldn't be venturing far OB like the day before, but it still just might come in handy.
We warmed up in the trees in an effort to enhance visibility. TOS opted for Liftline Trees, while I ventured further left into Fred's. Each of us found a few inches of new snow over the old stuff underneath.
"Man, that was fantastic!!"
Tourist. :roll:
Returning to Collins I saw myself catching up to PattiMac and crew, and we joined them for a run into the trees to skier's right of Ballroom, the lower part of Fred's trees, and out onto the Saddle Traverse where I somehow lost them. After waiting a few minutes I enjoyed some fresh turns down through the knolls towards the Angle Station, where I again waited a few minutes before heading to the base of Collins and waiting another 20 minutes. Ugh. They showed up, reporting that they'd stopped at Watson Shelter for a pee break. How we missed each other, I'll never know.
Now, however, it was pushing noon, and snow had begun to fall in earnest. We're talking heavy snowfall. We're talking puking snow. 2-3" per hour snowfall. It made more sense to eat now at GMD, I proposed, and get back out on the slopes once it had started to fill in. The posse agreed.
Marc_C and crew took only a few more runs, opting to escape down canyon before the folks with 2WD rental cars made the road a chore. TOS and I just kept skiing, and it just kept filling in, and by 2 pm the skiing had gotten pretty damned good. After the initial few inches of 10% snow that fell overnight, the new snow piling on top was the 4-7% variety, and it was skiing very, very well.
TOS and I hiked out to Catherine's Area, finding untracked and lightly tracked, and opted to escape OB for a near-bounds venture onto the lower south end of Patsy Marley again. Yep, bringing the avi gear along was the right choice, although with the developing conditions I stayed close rather than venture onto the slightly more slide-prone second chute. Yee-haa! Yeah, I could still feel the sun crust underneath, but it was knee deep out there and untracked. I'd be reluctant to venture out there again, however, until this new snow bonds to that crusted and faceted layer underneath.
I stopped at the johns near the bottom of Supreme to relieve myself when TOS, a.k.a. "Fifi," pleaded to go in for a coffee. Mr. Softie muttered something about how a real man would pee in the woods, but it was obviously just a cover to take the focus off his wanting to go in for a cup o'joe.
Tourist. :roll:
By the time a freshly-recaffeinated TOS and I headed back out from Alf's, gates started closing left and right due to the avalanche risk. Our plans to head out from the top of Sugarloaf to Susie's Trees were foiled when the Germania Return cat track closed due to the potential for East Baldy to slide. Our thoughts of departing, however, were foiled by a road closure. What the hell, guess we'll just have to keep skiing. :wink:
Eventually, however, the canyon road reopened to downhill traffic around 3:15, and without knowing how broad a window that would be, as snow was still falling 2-3" per hour, we headed out. It took us an hour to get to Ft. Union, which wasn't too bad considering everything. This morning, the Utah Avalanche Center is reporting 18-20" of new snow at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Taking photos yesterday would've been pointless, so I'm afraid I have none for you this time. At least I remembered my CF card. :roll:
We warmed up in the trees in an effort to enhance visibility. TOS opted for Liftline Trees, while I ventured further left into Fred's. Each of us found a few inches of new snow over the old stuff underneath.
"Man, that was fantastic!!"
Tourist. :roll:
Returning to Collins I saw myself catching up to PattiMac and crew, and we joined them for a run into the trees to skier's right of Ballroom, the lower part of Fred's trees, and out onto the Saddle Traverse where I somehow lost them. After waiting a few minutes I enjoyed some fresh turns down through the knolls towards the Angle Station, where I again waited a few minutes before heading to the base of Collins and waiting another 20 minutes. Ugh. They showed up, reporting that they'd stopped at Watson Shelter for a pee break. How we missed each other, I'll never know.
Now, however, it was pushing noon, and snow had begun to fall in earnest. We're talking heavy snowfall. We're talking puking snow. 2-3" per hour snowfall. It made more sense to eat now at GMD, I proposed, and get back out on the slopes once it had started to fill in. The posse agreed.
Marc_C and crew took only a few more runs, opting to escape down canyon before the folks with 2WD rental cars made the road a chore. TOS and I just kept skiing, and it just kept filling in, and by 2 pm the skiing had gotten pretty damned good. After the initial few inches of 10% snow that fell overnight, the new snow piling on top was the 4-7% variety, and it was skiing very, very well.
TOS and I hiked out to Catherine's Area, finding untracked and lightly tracked, and opted to escape OB for a near-bounds venture onto the lower south end of Patsy Marley again. Yep, bringing the avi gear along was the right choice, although with the developing conditions I stayed close rather than venture onto the slightly more slide-prone second chute. Yee-haa! Yeah, I could still feel the sun crust underneath, but it was knee deep out there and untracked. I'd be reluctant to venture out there again, however, until this new snow bonds to that crusted and faceted layer underneath.
I stopped at the johns near the bottom of Supreme to relieve myself when TOS, a.k.a. "Fifi," pleaded to go in for a coffee. Mr. Softie muttered something about how a real man would pee in the woods, but it was obviously just a cover to take the focus off his wanting to go in for a cup o'joe.
Tourist. :roll:
By the time a freshly-recaffeinated TOS and I headed back out from Alf's, gates started closing left and right due to the avalanche risk. Our plans to head out from the top of Sugarloaf to Susie's Trees were foiled when the Germania Return cat track closed due to the potential for East Baldy to slide. Our thoughts of departing, however, were foiled by a road closure. What the hell, guess we'll just have to keep skiing. :wink:
Eventually, however, the canyon road reopened to downhill traffic around 3:15, and without knowing how broad a window that would be, as snow was still falling 2-3" per hour, we headed out. It took us an hour to get to Ft. Union, which wasn't too bad considering everything. This morning, the Utah Avalanche Center is reporting 18-20" of new snow at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon.
Taking photos yesterday would've been pointless, so I'm afraid I have none for you this time. At least I remembered my CF card. :roll: