Guido's Theory of Relativity: Your enjoyment level derived from any given snow condition is directly relative to the distance traveled to reach it.
Guido's theory of relativity was alive and well at Alta today. I was feeling a bit, uh..."uninspired," as Bob Dangerous would say. Yesterday saw record warmth before a deep freeze plunged temps back to the teens in the parking lot, and ten degrees less at the top. Howling winds of 40-50 mph accompanied the 4" of 12% snow that fell overnight. No one in our posse went up yesterday, it turned out. I was the only one who headed up this morning.
"Great day, huh?" asked a New Yorker on the Supreme lift.
Uh, yeah. Great day. Right.
"These temps feel like they're supposed to," another guy commented on the Sugarloaf Chair.
"Really?" I asked. "Where are you from?"
"Michigan. Upper peninsula."
Yep. Uh huh. Makes sense.
Really, truth be told the snow wasn't that bad at all...when you could see it, and when you found the right spot. I scored some nice consistently boot-top untracked on Cabin Hill by heading out the gate where Razorback rejoins Devil's Elbow. It was so good that I repeated, and continued with it down to Cecret to get to Supreme, rather than head directly there. Found some nice stuff out the Supreme Bowl gate, too. Other areas (Fred's Trees in particular) were hammered by the wind, alternating between heavy wind-blown and the wind-scoured crust from the refreeze. Acidchrist called me at 11:30 as he was boarding Collins with Amy, which was just as I was about to head down for my last run of the day. I wasn't sticking around. Headwinds on the Germ Return were amongst the heaviest I've encountered, and I returned to the car with a case of mild frostbite on my face via Fred's Trees, Saddle Traverse, lower West Rustler, and the bottom of Lone Pine. Two hours and 10,500 verts later, I was done.
BTW, for those of you with a vacation booked at the Hellgate Condos, it's time to re-book. A three-alarm was sounded at 1 am, and by noon they were still trying to put out the fire 11 hours later. They must be a total loss. Rumor has it it started with a chimney fire. 55 people were safely evacuated, and in the traditional Alta way other lodges were helping out to put up those who were displaced.
Guido's theory of relativity was alive and well at Alta today. I was feeling a bit, uh..."uninspired," as Bob Dangerous would say. Yesterday saw record warmth before a deep freeze plunged temps back to the teens in the parking lot, and ten degrees less at the top. Howling winds of 40-50 mph accompanied the 4" of 12% snow that fell overnight. No one in our posse went up yesterday, it turned out. I was the only one who headed up this morning.
"Great day, huh?" asked a New Yorker on the Supreme lift.
Uh, yeah. Great day. Right.
"These temps feel like they're supposed to," another guy commented on the Sugarloaf Chair.
"Really?" I asked. "Where are you from?"
"Michigan. Upper peninsula."
Yep. Uh huh. Makes sense.
Really, truth be told the snow wasn't that bad at all...when you could see it, and when you found the right spot. I scored some nice consistently boot-top untracked on Cabin Hill by heading out the gate where Razorback rejoins Devil's Elbow. It was so good that I repeated, and continued with it down to Cecret to get to Supreme, rather than head directly there. Found some nice stuff out the Supreme Bowl gate, too. Other areas (Fred's Trees in particular) were hammered by the wind, alternating between heavy wind-blown and the wind-scoured crust from the refreeze. Acidchrist called me at 11:30 as he was boarding Collins with Amy, which was just as I was about to head down for my last run of the day. I wasn't sticking around. Headwinds on the Germ Return were amongst the heaviest I've encountered, and I returned to the car with a case of mild frostbite on my face via Fred's Trees, Saddle Traverse, lower West Rustler, and the bottom of Lone Pine. Two hours and 10,500 verts later, I was done.
BTW, for those of you with a vacation booked at the Hellgate Condos, it's time to re-book. A three-alarm was sounded at 1 am, and by noon they were still trying to put out the fire 11 hours later. They must be a total loss. Rumor has it it started with a chimney fire. 55 people were safely evacuated, and in the traditional Alta way other lodges were helping out to put up those who were displaced.
