Day 1: And so it begins!
Opening Day is my favorite holiday of the year.
It's like old home week. From the second you exit your vehicle in the parking lot you're bumping into people you know, people you haven't seen for the past six months as they blended into the nondescript Valley population for the summer. We all share a special bond, whether we know each other by name or not. It's hugs and high-fives all around as we exchange tales of what's happened over the past six months. Then there's that wintertime mountain smell in the air. There's also the familiar clicking sound as you step into your bindings. It feels strangely foreign, yet familiar nonetheless.
Oh, and did I mention that there's once again skiing to be had? It was only six months ago, yet it feels like a lifetime away.
We actually had a bit more to play on today than I'd expected. I figured that it would be nothing but Mambo/Meadow/Corkscrew off Collins, Aggie's Alley off Wildcat, and Magic Mile off Sunnyside. But ASP was letting us play a bit today. They opened the Wildcat ridgeline out to the gate at Punch Bowl. There was a rope across Main Street, but a patroller we know indicated that we were welcome to ski it if we wanted to (and we did -- he said that despite the rope it was officially open). And they let us meander down Devil's Elbow around to Sunnyside, which was actually a much better surface (and fewer people) than Mambo.
Hats off to Alta for the newly widened and recontoured Corkscrew. It skis completely differently now -- the pitch from Meadow onto Corkscrew is now consistent and that annoying choke point is now gone. Previously, after 11 a.m. I'd practice my ABC's -- "Anything But Corkscrew" -- but it's no longer going to be an issue. We even got to enjoy the new and improved Nina's Curve. It's a bit wider now, and should be renamed simply "Nina's" but there was soft, chalky snow in there to enjoy.
By noon AmyZ, Telejon and I all decided to call it quits in favor of keeping some early season leg for this weekend's whopper snowstorm.
http://www.wasatchsnowforecast.com/2014 ... -doorstep/
I'm not sure it worked, for my quads already feel like Jell-O.
Opening Day is my favorite holiday of the year.
It's like old home week. From the second you exit your vehicle in the parking lot you're bumping into people you know, people you haven't seen for the past six months as they blended into the nondescript Valley population for the summer. We all share a special bond, whether we know each other by name or not. It's hugs and high-fives all around as we exchange tales of what's happened over the past six months. Then there's that wintertime mountain smell in the air. There's also the familiar clicking sound as you step into your bindings. It feels strangely foreign, yet familiar nonetheless.
Oh, and did I mention that there's once again skiing to be had? It was only six months ago, yet it feels like a lifetime away.
We actually had a bit more to play on today than I'd expected. I figured that it would be nothing but Mambo/Meadow/Corkscrew off Collins, Aggie's Alley off Wildcat, and Magic Mile off Sunnyside. But ASP was letting us play a bit today. They opened the Wildcat ridgeline out to the gate at Punch Bowl. There was a rope across Main Street, but a patroller we know indicated that we were welcome to ski it if we wanted to (and we did -- he said that despite the rope it was officially open). And they let us meander down Devil's Elbow around to Sunnyside, which was actually a much better surface (and fewer people) than Mambo.
Hats off to Alta for the newly widened and recontoured Corkscrew. It skis completely differently now -- the pitch from Meadow onto Corkscrew is now consistent and that annoying choke point is now gone. Previously, after 11 a.m. I'd practice my ABC's -- "Anything But Corkscrew" -- but it's no longer going to be an issue. We even got to enjoy the new and improved Nina's Curve. It's a bit wider now, and should be renamed simply "Nina's" but there was soft, chalky snow in there to enjoy.
By noon AmyZ, Telejon and I all decided to call it quits in favor of keeping some early season leg for this weekend's whopper snowstorm.
http://www.wasatchsnowforecast.com/2014 ... -doorstep/
I'm not sure it worked, for my quads already feel like Jell-O.