Day 38: Aaahhhh...soft snow again.
After yesterday's storm wrapped up with 15" total, the first new snow we've seen in weeks, today's substantial pre-opening lineup was no surprise, although it evaporated quickly. What was a surprise, however, was the ticket line, stretched out down the stairs and back along the Collins line. I've never seen that, even during holiday periods, so I can only assume that there was some kind of IT snafu. All the more reason for day skiers to reload their lift ticket online if they already have an Alta card.
I spent the first two hours of the day running around with Skidog. We managed to catch the Baldy Shoulder rope drop, which was divine.
We weren't so lucky with Backside:
They opened High Notch first, but neither of us felt like hiking, especially after much of Backside above the Instructor Traverse had slid down to dirt prior to this storm, which meant that it only had 15" on it. Cutting the hike short and skiing High Yellow Trail wasn't an option, either, for we confirmed that the only gate off the ridgeline that was open was High Notch itself, the third and final gate out there. When ASP opens High Notch first like this they usually open the Instructor Traverse (i.e., gravity) gate about 20-30 minutes after High Notch. High Notch had already been open for about 20-25 minutes, so we waited for about 10 minutes but nothing was happening.
I'm sure that once the patrollers at Germania saw us ski away with our tails between our legs they promptly came out and opened the gate. :lol: But I had to get back to work.
After yesterday's storm wrapped up with 15" total, the first new snow we've seen in weeks, today's substantial pre-opening lineup was no surprise, although it evaporated quickly. What was a surprise, however, was the ticket line, stretched out down the stairs and back along the Collins line. I've never seen that, even during holiday periods, so I can only assume that there was some kind of IT snafu. All the more reason for day skiers to reload their lift ticket online if they already have an Alta card.
I spent the first two hours of the day running around with Skidog. We managed to catch the Baldy Shoulder rope drop, which was divine.
We weren't so lucky with Backside:
They opened High Notch first, but neither of us felt like hiking, especially after much of Backside above the Instructor Traverse had slid down to dirt prior to this storm, which meant that it only had 15" on it. Cutting the hike short and skiing High Yellow Trail wasn't an option, either, for we confirmed that the only gate off the ridgeline that was open was High Notch itself, the third and final gate out there. When ASP opens High Notch first like this they usually open the Instructor Traverse (i.e., gravity) gate about 20-30 minutes after High Notch. High Notch had already been open for about 20-25 minutes, so we waited for about 10 minutes but nothing was happening.
I'm sure that once the patrollers at Germania saw us ski away with our tails between our legs they promptly came out and opened the gate. :lol: But I had to get back to work.
