Day 12: Lots o'leftovers
I struggled to walk down the stairs to wake The Kid up at 8 am - my calf muscles were still knotted up from Thursday's powder frenzy. And sonofagun, I was out of Vitamin I, too!
We met up with jamesdeluxe at Goldminer's Daughter at 9 am, and were on the Collins lift right after the 9:15 opening bell. Dang, that was one cold lift ride! My nose was feeling it most by the time we reached the top of the chair and I remembered to turn the Suunto log on. :roll:
We needed sunshine, and quickly, so we headed out the Backside gate finding -- what's this? -- lots of untracked on Yellow Trail! That wasn't supposed to happen! It has been three days since the big storm departed Utah. Where'd this snow come from? Why wasn't it hammered? There were freshies to be had everywhere. Sure, it snowed a bit overnight, but this was honest-to-goodness untracked.
We sped across the traverse line to Backside, and it appears that it was the perfect combination of a bit of new snow combined with strong winds to fill everything in. Backside itself was rather wind-affected, but lower down we squeaked left into Susie's Trees and found knee-deep light perfection.
Up Sunnyside, Cecret and Supreme, we headed out Catherine's. More untracked. Everywhere. We went through the sidecountry exit to the flanks of Patsy Marley and found more. It was going to be hard to wipe the grins off our faces today.
Back up Supreme, we dove into the chowder of No. 9 trees, traversing across the flats to the woods to skier's right of Rock 'n Roll, but we couldn't get there -- I'd forgotten about the trench to the right of Three Bears that isn't filled in at this time of year. It was roped, so we kept descending to the lower White Squaw gate, going way out such that the fall line carried us back underneath the Supreme chair. More untracked.
We kept going back down to Sugarloaf, and skated and poled across the Germ Return to access the High T, now a bit boney again in spots but still navigable. We kept going all the way through Piss Pass and dropped in directly below the Pass, finding that snow, although it had been skied, was just light fluff that had been pushed around and sloughed. It skied just like untracked, which is precisely what we found on the lower half of Greeley Hill. Amazing that it was still there!
Across the Transfer Tow, they were having Tele/AT demos at the base of Wildcat. I wanted the pair of G3 Reverends in a 177 length but someone had core-shotted them, so I scored a pair of Black Diamond Verdicts instead and hopped the Wildcat chair. Descending to our lunch meeting with Bob Dangerous, Marc_C and Pat, what did we find? Of course - more untracked! The BD Verdicts skied like a dream through the powder and cut up powder, and they were light as a feather. I was dancing in them.
After lunch we headed back to Collins and out the T, heading again for Greeley Hill because it was so good the first time. What did we find? More of the same untracked!
Heading down to Sunnyside, I was now starting to get the feel of working the Verdicts on the groomed, too. At first they felt squirrely, but I was learning to trust them and work them, and my faith was starting to reap some rewards. They're a terrific ski.
Vail Ridge only had a few tracks already, so we hopped Sunnyside and went in there for a few cheap low-angle powder turns. Back up Sunnyside and Sugarloaf, we went out the Baldy Shoulder traverse, which was a first for me this season. Past the ropeline toward Tombstone the traverse got really boney, and jamesdeluxe actually had a ski ripped from his foot, causing him to tumble down below the traverse line. I was already well ahead of him and didn't yet realize the mishap, nor could I see it, so he descended Tombstone while I kept going up the sidestep portion of the traverse out to the Graveyard, finding lightly tracked snow that barely concealed a boulder that managed to grab my right ski. Oh well, it is only Dec. 2.
I continued down to the Collins Angle Station by linking tree islands to squeeze out every bit of untracked that I could find, but by now I was beat, so I stuck to the groomers on the lower half of the mountain. I was spent so I returned the Verdicts and called it a day. The Kid took one more on Collins, jamesdeluxe headed back to Sunnyside to yo-yo Vail Ridge some more, and I don't know what the rest of the posse did.
All in all, another amazing Utah early-season day, the first to exceed 13K verts for me this winter. Jamesdeluxe, it was terrific meeting you today and showing you around -- we enjoyed the privilege immensely. I think James developed a new appreciation for Alta today.
The Kid and I stopped by Kirkham's for some new Black Diamond Traverse flicklock poles en route home (my adjustable Lekis have worn out the twist-lock system), and also at Walgreen's for a 500-count bottle of ibuprofen. :lol: Now we're getting ready to go out and take Marc_C to dinner to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Marc! 29 again, right?
I struggled to walk down the stairs to wake The Kid up at 8 am - my calf muscles were still knotted up from Thursday's powder frenzy. And sonofagun, I was out of Vitamin I, too!
We met up with jamesdeluxe at Goldminer's Daughter at 9 am, and were on the Collins lift right after the 9:15 opening bell. Dang, that was one cold lift ride! My nose was feeling it most by the time we reached the top of the chair and I remembered to turn the Suunto log on. :roll:
We needed sunshine, and quickly, so we headed out the Backside gate finding -- what's this? -- lots of untracked on Yellow Trail! That wasn't supposed to happen! It has been three days since the big storm departed Utah. Where'd this snow come from? Why wasn't it hammered? There were freshies to be had everywhere. Sure, it snowed a bit overnight, but this was honest-to-goodness untracked.
We sped across the traverse line to Backside, and it appears that it was the perfect combination of a bit of new snow combined with strong winds to fill everything in. Backside itself was rather wind-affected, but lower down we squeaked left into Susie's Trees and found knee-deep light perfection.
Up Sunnyside, Cecret and Supreme, we headed out Catherine's. More untracked. Everywhere. We went through the sidecountry exit to the flanks of Patsy Marley and found more. It was going to be hard to wipe the grins off our faces today.
Back up Supreme, we dove into the chowder of No. 9 trees, traversing across the flats to the woods to skier's right of Rock 'n Roll, but we couldn't get there -- I'd forgotten about the trench to the right of Three Bears that isn't filled in at this time of year. It was roped, so we kept descending to the lower White Squaw gate, going way out such that the fall line carried us back underneath the Supreme chair. More untracked.
We kept going back down to Sugarloaf, and skated and poled across the Germ Return to access the High T, now a bit boney again in spots but still navigable. We kept going all the way through Piss Pass and dropped in directly below the Pass, finding that snow, although it had been skied, was just light fluff that had been pushed around and sloughed. It skied just like untracked, which is precisely what we found on the lower half of Greeley Hill. Amazing that it was still there!
Across the Transfer Tow, they were having Tele/AT demos at the base of Wildcat. I wanted the pair of G3 Reverends in a 177 length but someone had core-shotted them, so I scored a pair of Black Diamond Verdicts instead and hopped the Wildcat chair. Descending to our lunch meeting with Bob Dangerous, Marc_C and Pat, what did we find? Of course - more untracked! The BD Verdicts skied like a dream through the powder and cut up powder, and they were light as a feather. I was dancing in them.
After lunch we headed back to Collins and out the T, heading again for Greeley Hill because it was so good the first time. What did we find? More of the same untracked!
Heading down to Sunnyside, I was now starting to get the feel of working the Verdicts on the groomed, too. At first they felt squirrely, but I was learning to trust them and work them, and my faith was starting to reap some rewards. They're a terrific ski.
Vail Ridge only had a few tracks already, so we hopped Sunnyside and went in there for a few cheap low-angle powder turns. Back up Sunnyside and Sugarloaf, we went out the Baldy Shoulder traverse, which was a first for me this season. Past the ropeline toward Tombstone the traverse got really boney, and jamesdeluxe actually had a ski ripped from his foot, causing him to tumble down below the traverse line. I was already well ahead of him and didn't yet realize the mishap, nor could I see it, so he descended Tombstone while I kept going up the sidestep portion of the traverse out to the Graveyard, finding lightly tracked snow that barely concealed a boulder that managed to grab my right ski. Oh well, it is only Dec. 2.
I continued down to the Collins Angle Station by linking tree islands to squeeze out every bit of untracked that I could find, but by now I was beat, so I stuck to the groomers on the lower half of the mountain. I was spent so I returned the Verdicts and called it a day. The Kid took one more on Collins, jamesdeluxe headed back to Sunnyside to yo-yo Vail Ridge some more, and I don't know what the rest of the posse did.
All in all, another amazing Utah early-season day, the first to exceed 13K verts for me this winter. Jamesdeluxe, it was terrific meeting you today and showing you around -- we enjoyed the privilege immensely. I think James developed a new appreciation for Alta today.
The Kid and I stopped by Kirkham's for some new Black Diamond Traverse flicklock poles en route home (my adjustable Lekis have worn out the twist-lock system), and also at Walgreen's for a 500-count bottle of ibuprofen. :lol: Now we're getting ready to go out and take Marc_C to dinner to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday, Marc! 29 again, right?
