Day 7: Happy Thanksgiving!
We skiers have a lot of reasons to be thankful for this November in Utah. 118 reasons, to be exact. Hard to believe, but we've racked up 118 inches of snow already this season, and the mountain is skiing beautifully.
I was thankful, too, to catch the opening of Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, and we rocked deep turns through Tombstone, snow billowing up around my thighs. I left before they made a decision on Backside, but Patrol was bombing like crazy over there and at one point was digging three pits on Yellow Trail simultaneously.
Saw mbaydala in passing briefly, but we were running opposite cycles -- we were halfway up as he was halfway down. And I only stuck around until 1 p.m. before heading home to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.
One thing I wasn't terribly thankful for was the cold, for it was -4ºF atop Collins and -11ºF at the base of Wildcat first thing this morning, albeit finally with little wind. I was incredibly thankful for an 850-fill down jacket from Sierra Designs that arrived as a review sample last night, which even though it made me look like a cross between the Michelin Man and the Jolly Green Giant was as warm as a furnace. I was thankful, too, for the bright sun that finally rose into a cloudless sky above the Rotator Chutes around 11 a.m. and warmed the ride on Collins considerably. All in all it wasn't that uncomfortable out there.
Bobby carried my camera today, and wanted to take it over to Snowbird for some recon when I left, so folks will have to wait a little bit until I can add photos to this post.
We skiers have a lot of reasons to be thankful for this November in Utah. 118 reasons, to be exact. Hard to believe, but we've racked up 118 inches of snow already this season, and the mountain is skiing beautifully.
I was thankful, too, to catch the opening of Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, and we rocked deep turns through Tombstone, snow billowing up around my thighs. I left before they made a decision on Backside, but Patrol was bombing like crazy over there and at one point was digging three pits on Yellow Trail simultaneously.
Saw mbaydala in passing briefly, but we were running opposite cycles -- we were halfway up as he was halfway down. And I only stuck around until 1 p.m. before heading home to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.
One thing I wasn't terribly thankful for was the cold, for it was -4ºF atop Collins and -11ºF at the base of Wildcat first thing this morning, albeit finally with little wind. I was incredibly thankful for an 850-fill down jacket from Sierra Designs that arrived as a review sample last night, which even though it made me look like a cross between the Michelin Man and the Jolly Green Giant was as warm as a furnace. I was thankful, too, for the bright sun that finally rose into a cloudless sky above the Rotator Chutes around 11 a.m. and warmed the ride on Collins considerably. All in all it wasn't that uncomfortable out there.
Bobby carried my camera today, and wanted to take it over to Snowbird for some recon when I left, so folks will have to wait a little bit until I can add photos to this post.
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