I watched the mountain webcams from the office all day. By noon, seeing little more than a dusting atop the Collins lift at Alta, I had all but given up on completing my 12-month ski streak today.
But when I checked back in at 3 pm I was shocked to find that it was rapidly accumulating. I checked out of the office, went home, changed, and hit the road.
On the way up I considered my options. Albion? Probably skiable, but with lots of nasties underneath. Chickadee at Snowbird? That would've been an option, were it not for the Alpine Slide tracks underneath. It was then that I remembered this summer seeing a perfectly manicured lawn covering the slope beneath Alta's Rustler Lodge. Rustler Lodge it is!
The steady rain turned to snow right around the concrete water tank near the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and by the time I reached the Seven Sisters turns the road had already become snow-covered. It was greasy! Wet slush had compacted and turned into ice, covered with an additional layer of wet snow. Two TV news crews had set up their satellite trucks on the side of the road near Tanners. By the time I reached the grade below Hellgate I had to disable the anti-slip control just to get up the hill. But sure enough, my little bobsled made it to the Rustler parking lot. Not for a second did I regret switching over to my snow tires yesterday. The car thermo read 27 degrees.
A few employees heading home must've thought I was nuts for stepping into ski boots, but maybe not, for their whoops and hollers echoed off the mountains as impromptu snowball fights erupted. But I carried my gear over to the top of the Rustler chairlift, clicked in, and skied down.
I've got to be honest: it was glorious, although over far too soon. Four to six inches covered the slope, and I never once hit anything underneath that I didn't want to hit. I hoofed it back up for a second run before deciding that I'd accomplished my objective.
I stopped by the Wildcat base area for a few more pictures. Three other idiots were hiking up beneath the Collins chair, which was running. I understand that running to ferry workers back and forth from the Watson Shelter construction site, but that doesn't explain the fact that the Wildcat chair was spinning, too. At a loss to understand, I returned to the car for the sketchy trip back down the mountain.
Most of that trip was done in first gear, again with the ASC turned off....but I still passed a couple of cars before getting stuck in a long 5 mph line of vehicles just below Snowbird Entry 1. I marveled at the contrast between the snow and the golden aspen leaves before marveling even more at watching an Alta employee slide sideways into a ditch -- right in front of a cop handling another accident -- at a whopping 3 mph. Yep, it was greasy!
So, that's 12 consecutive months of skiing, even if not a single flake falls for the rest of October. By the time December arrives, that'll be 12 consecutive months entirely within the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
But when I checked back in at 3 pm I was shocked to find that it was rapidly accumulating. I checked out of the office, went home, changed, and hit the road.
On the way up I considered my options. Albion? Probably skiable, but with lots of nasties underneath. Chickadee at Snowbird? That would've been an option, were it not for the Alpine Slide tracks underneath. It was then that I remembered this summer seeing a perfectly manicured lawn covering the slope beneath Alta's Rustler Lodge. Rustler Lodge it is!
The steady rain turned to snow right around the concrete water tank near the bottom of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and by the time I reached the Seven Sisters turns the road had already become snow-covered. It was greasy! Wet slush had compacted and turned into ice, covered with an additional layer of wet snow. Two TV news crews had set up their satellite trucks on the side of the road near Tanners. By the time I reached the grade below Hellgate I had to disable the anti-slip control just to get up the hill. But sure enough, my little bobsled made it to the Rustler parking lot. Not for a second did I regret switching over to my snow tires yesterday. The car thermo read 27 degrees.
A few employees heading home must've thought I was nuts for stepping into ski boots, but maybe not, for their whoops and hollers echoed off the mountains as impromptu snowball fights erupted. But I carried my gear over to the top of the Rustler chairlift, clicked in, and skied down.
I've got to be honest: it was glorious, although over far too soon. Four to six inches covered the slope, and I never once hit anything underneath that I didn't want to hit. I hoofed it back up for a second run before deciding that I'd accomplished my objective.
I stopped by the Wildcat base area for a few more pictures. Three other idiots were hiking up beneath the Collins chair, which was running. I understand that running to ferry workers back and forth from the Watson Shelter construction site, but that doesn't explain the fact that the Wildcat chair was spinning, too. At a loss to understand, I returned to the car for the sketchy trip back down the mountain.
Most of that trip was done in first gear, again with the ASC turned off....but I still passed a couple of cars before getting stuck in a long 5 mph line of vehicles just below Snowbird Entry 1. I marveled at the contrast between the snow and the golden aspen leaves before marveling even more at watching an Alta employee slide sideways into a ditch -- right in front of a cop handling another accident -- at a whopping 3 mph. Yep, it was greasy!
So, that's 12 consecutive months of skiing, even if not a single flake falls for the rest of October. By the time December arrives, that'll be 12 consecutive months entirely within the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
- Total runs skied: 2
- Total vertical skied: Maybe 75 feet
- Total turns earned: 20
- Wax du jour: Whatever's left on 'em from last spring
The smile on my face? - Priceless
Attachments
-
11 lcc_nastydescent_051004.jpg -
10 alta_byesummer_051004.jpg -
09 alta_wildcatbase051004.jpg -
07 alta_mytracks_051004.jpg -
06 alta_readytoski_051004.jpg -
05 alta_rustlerchair.jpg -
04 alta_rustlervan_051004.jpg -
03 alta_rustlerslope_051004.jpg -
02 alta_rustlerparking_051004.jpg -
01 lcc_autumntowinter_051004.jpg -
08_alta_wildcatbase_051004.jpg
. But my home is not as strategically placed as admin's, so I am likely to stop at 12.
