Day 16: More scraps.
Once again, I was able to get away to enjoy the last few runs of the day. Storm totals of 5% fluff ranged from 9-14" in BCC, to 17-20" in LCC...so the visiting crew of Mira, Sima, David and Larissa naturally headed for Alta. They skied with Tele Jon for most of the day, and got separated from Skidog on run #1. Amy has her family in town and they were cruising the greens and blues.
Driving up I soon realized what I was in for. After a frighteningly deserted Christmas Week, everyone showed up today. Snowbird patrons were parked in places I've never seen cars parked before. It was insane. Of course, by the time I arrived late in the day I was able to score a third-row spot at Wildcat. Walking in, however, I heard some familiar words: "Collins will be down for 30 minutes." Ugh. ](*,)
Of course, the crew was up on Supreme. That, plus the line that had formed at Wildcat convinced me to take the Transfer Tow to Sunnyside. The Tow, however, wasn't turning, as the mass of humanity that thought the same as me was overloading the drive. I skated and glided next to the tow, hanging on momentarily when it would sputter to a start before stopping again, when I'd resume the skate and glide. I made it as far as the Rustler chair, and loaded that, climbing up the snowbank at the top to LCC Road and then walking up the road until I reached a point when I could ski down to Sunnyside, where I waited in line for a chair...then took Cecret... By the time I reached Supreme I had spent 45 minutes of time and lots of sweat effort to get there.
We took one run off Supreme. The upper gate to Supreme Bowl had already opened, but we negotiated heinous square-sided bumps on Challenger to get there. Fortunately we found the powder accessed by traversing far right well worth the effort...until I dropped off a ledge, only to find it composed of pure granite covered by less than a foot of 5% blower. #-o
I was running out of time, so we headed up Sugarloaf and headed to a spot that, while I won't divulge where it is, proves that you can still get the goods at 4 p.m. at Alta, even on a zoo week day like today:
The next storm is already moving in and we're under a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow. While this one won't be the same 5% pixie dust, we could do with another base-building event.
Once again, I was able to get away to enjoy the last few runs of the day. Storm totals of 5% fluff ranged from 9-14" in BCC, to 17-20" in LCC...so the visiting crew of Mira, Sima, David and Larissa naturally headed for Alta. They skied with Tele Jon for most of the day, and got separated from Skidog on run #1. Amy has her family in town and they were cruising the greens and blues.
Driving up I soon realized what I was in for. After a frighteningly deserted Christmas Week, everyone showed up today. Snowbird patrons were parked in places I've never seen cars parked before. It was insane. Of course, by the time I arrived late in the day I was able to score a third-row spot at Wildcat. Walking in, however, I heard some familiar words: "Collins will be down for 30 minutes." Ugh. ](*,)
Of course, the crew was up on Supreme. That, plus the line that had formed at Wildcat convinced me to take the Transfer Tow to Sunnyside. The Tow, however, wasn't turning, as the mass of humanity that thought the same as me was overloading the drive. I skated and glided next to the tow, hanging on momentarily when it would sputter to a start before stopping again, when I'd resume the skate and glide. I made it as far as the Rustler chair, and loaded that, climbing up the snowbank at the top to LCC Road and then walking up the road until I reached a point when I could ski down to Sunnyside, where I waited in line for a chair...then took Cecret... By the time I reached Supreme I had spent 45 minutes of time and lots of sweat effort to get there.
We took one run off Supreme. The upper gate to Supreme Bowl had already opened, but we negotiated heinous square-sided bumps on Challenger to get there. Fortunately we found the powder accessed by traversing far right well worth the effort...until I dropped off a ledge, only to find it composed of pure granite covered by less than a foot of 5% blower. #-o
I was running out of time, so we headed up Sugarloaf and headed to a spot that, while I won't divulge where it is, proves that you can still get the goods at 4 p.m. at Alta, even on a zoo week day like today:
The next storm is already moving in and we're under a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow. While this one won't be the same 5% pixie dust, we could do with another base-building event.
