Alta, UT - 12/10/05

[Admin]

Greetings with this live shot from Alta, courtesy of a camera built into a Palm Treo 650. It's terrific to actually see the sun up here finally, now that we've had a momentary respite from what was nearly non-stop snow since Nov. 26. Early season bases are deep, even if we don't have fresh snow today. Full operation, folks - all lifts, all terrain!

Skiing today with Bob Dangerous, Marc_C, and Marc_C's NJ friends Kerry & Liz. A full report and real photos will follow later today.


The post was created using an automated process maintained by First Tracks! Online.

 

[Admin]

Looking at that picture above, remind me to not use the phone's digital zoom again. :roll:

It took forever to get up canyon today, for there were accidents from black ice. At one point I sat stopped for a good 30 minutes, apparently as they cleared one away, then I saw two people sideswipe each other right in front of me just below Snowbird Entry 1. As a result, we were all late today. I didn't take my first run until 9:45, and I bumped into Bob, Marc_C, Liz & Kerry (Marc_C's visitors from NJ) at the end of that first run.

I confess that I've been spoiled by our recent string of powder days, but if I can't have powder, it sure was wonderful to see blue skies and sunshine today for a change! Solo, I had gone out the Ballroom gate, but found the chopped up snow still a bit stiff. Once we were all together we cruised down Sugarloaf via Roller Coaster, which had some of the slickest manmade whales that I've seen out here. I'm at a loss to understand why, with a 75 inch base, Alta feels the need to ruin natural snow with manmade. They don't need to spend the money for insurance against a thaw, for it ain't gonna happen.

Back up Sugarloaf, and on over to Supreme for a bunch of runs before I had to head home for the afternoon to catch up on some chores. We swung into the new Watson Shelter to catch a look at the new building en route back to the car, and the place is beautiful -- steel and stonework on the outside, and comfortable with sweeping views on the inside. Photos of all are below.

9,301 verts today, and I'll be back up tomorrow.

 

[Sharon]

Looks like it was a nice day.

Franik and Amy skied The Canyons. I'll try to get Frank to post a report.