Days 33-36.
The best kind of powder day is a surprise powder day, like when they forecast 1" and it turns into 13". That's precisely what happened last weekend.
And when it comes during two of the driest months in roughly 70 years of Wasatch snowfall history occurring back to back, it brings folks out of the woodwork. In January only 28" of snow fell on Alta, and for February we're currently sitting at 32" -- including that 13". If we don't log another 2 inches through tomorrow, Evan at Wasatch Snow Forecast indicates that we'll set a record for the driest February ever.
I've heard Nathan Rafferty, the president of Ski Utah, say that Wasatch locals are both the area's best and worst marketing program, and he's right. We whine when it's not up to usual standards even though compared to a typical year in most places it's still pretty darned good. Base depths have remained +/- 70" and I haven't been hitting anything besides snow out there since Christmas week. The High Traverse, usually the benchmark for how low the tide is at Alta, remains as clean as it ever gets. During our warm dry spell surfaces typically softened beautifully without getting sticky. I wasn't hearing any complaints from the hordes of visitors through February, many of whom -- as has been the case for the past several seasons -- were here from California. I guess that everything is relative.
That said, I've had a lot going on in my life this winter. My day job has turned into hell on earth, where 60 hours a week won't even get the job done right. As most of you know, I lost my dog Jake to a car as we were traveling back from Crested Butte. Through a fortuitous turn of events I've ended up with Jake's sister Zoe, and raising a Labrador puppy -- now 10 weeks old -- is a full time job in itself. To add insult to my injured ski season, Mrs. Admin's work schedule is now Sunday through Thursday, so I only have a built-in weekend dog sitter on Saturdays. I tried to get out to ski on the 7th, but after only two days of house training behind us with a brand new puppy that had a case of the squirts I spent the day with a carpet cleaning machine instead. It's been a tough winter for me.
Put all of this together, and I had a delightful ski day on the 14th despite only a few inches of new snow two days earlier. Warm temperatures softened surfaces beautifully, and runs like Tombstone II, Armpit and Graveyard (all on Baldy Shoulder) -- albeit annoyingly short -- were skiing exceedingly well. When clouds stifled a similar softening process from developing on the 15th, and with holiday weekend crowds still around I had few reservations about leaving before noon to allow the puppy to empty her diminutive bladder.
Last weekend was a totally different story. I got up at 6:30 a.m. to let the dog out, and when I turned on the patio light I was caught off-guard by the big, fluffy flakes falling from the sky. I checked the Snotel at Collins mid-mountain and saw storm totals of 9" and still coming down. It would be 13" of medium density snow by the time the mountain opened.
I was apparently not the only one who noticed. Holiday week vacationers were joined by innumerable Utah locals, for whom the pent-up demand for powder skiing had reached a boiling point. Both Snowbird and Alta were mobbed. Parking lots overflowed onto Little Cottonwood Canyon Road at both resorts. Lift lines at Alta were substantial but not overbearing, and as long as you weren't skiing the Devil's Elbow or Corkscrew cruisers you encountered surprisingly few people on the hill. We got exceedingly lucky on rope drops, too, including absolute first out Westward Ho (including even patrol), perhaps 25th into Backside and about 10th onto Ballroom. It's better to be lucky than good!
With cold temperatures by this season's standards, the snow stayed fluffy, deep and dry overnight for Sundays bluebird day. It was nearly as much fun as Saturday had been.
It was therefore with little regret, albeit for different reasons, that I left at 1 p.m. to go let out this little monster:
Our dry pattern is finally breaking down. Upper Little Cottonwood Canyon picked up 7" of 5% overnight, and although this weekend's storm is predicted to slide south of us and drop a foot or two in the Brian Head area before moving on to absolutely slam the San Juans with some 8" of water weight, we ought to get some scraps from it. The third wave on Monday night looks a bit more promising for the northern Wasatch.
The best kind of powder day is a surprise powder day, like when they forecast 1" and it turns into 13". That's precisely what happened last weekend.
And when it comes during two of the driest months in roughly 70 years of Wasatch snowfall history occurring back to back, it brings folks out of the woodwork. In January only 28" of snow fell on Alta, and for February we're currently sitting at 32" -- including that 13". If we don't log another 2 inches through tomorrow, Evan at Wasatch Snow Forecast indicates that we'll set a record for the driest February ever.
I've heard Nathan Rafferty, the president of Ski Utah, say that Wasatch locals are both the area's best and worst marketing program, and he's right. We whine when it's not up to usual standards even though compared to a typical year in most places it's still pretty darned good. Base depths have remained +/- 70" and I haven't been hitting anything besides snow out there since Christmas week. The High Traverse, usually the benchmark for how low the tide is at Alta, remains as clean as it ever gets. During our warm dry spell surfaces typically softened beautifully without getting sticky. I wasn't hearing any complaints from the hordes of visitors through February, many of whom -- as has been the case for the past several seasons -- were here from California. I guess that everything is relative.
That said, I've had a lot going on in my life this winter. My day job has turned into hell on earth, where 60 hours a week won't even get the job done right. As most of you know, I lost my dog Jake to a car as we were traveling back from Crested Butte. Through a fortuitous turn of events I've ended up with Jake's sister Zoe, and raising a Labrador puppy -- now 10 weeks old -- is a full time job in itself. To add insult to my injured ski season, Mrs. Admin's work schedule is now Sunday through Thursday, so I only have a built-in weekend dog sitter on Saturdays. I tried to get out to ski on the 7th, but after only two days of house training behind us with a brand new puppy that had a case of the squirts I spent the day with a carpet cleaning machine instead. It's been a tough winter for me.
Put all of this together, and I had a delightful ski day on the 14th despite only a few inches of new snow two days earlier. Warm temperatures softened surfaces beautifully, and runs like Tombstone II, Armpit and Graveyard (all on Baldy Shoulder) -- albeit annoyingly short -- were skiing exceedingly well. When clouds stifled a similar softening process from developing on the 15th, and with holiday weekend crowds still around I had few reservations about leaving before noon to allow the puppy to empty her diminutive bladder.
Last weekend was a totally different story. I got up at 6:30 a.m. to let the dog out, and when I turned on the patio light I was caught off-guard by the big, fluffy flakes falling from the sky. I checked the Snotel at Collins mid-mountain and saw storm totals of 9" and still coming down. It would be 13" of medium density snow by the time the mountain opened.
I was apparently not the only one who noticed. Holiday week vacationers were joined by innumerable Utah locals, for whom the pent-up demand for powder skiing had reached a boiling point. Both Snowbird and Alta were mobbed. Parking lots overflowed onto Little Cottonwood Canyon Road at both resorts. Lift lines at Alta were substantial but not overbearing, and as long as you weren't skiing the Devil's Elbow or Corkscrew cruisers you encountered surprisingly few people on the hill. We got exceedingly lucky on rope drops, too, including absolute first out Westward Ho (including even patrol), perhaps 25th into Backside and about 10th onto Ballroom. It's better to be lucky than good!
With cold temperatures by this season's standards, the snow stayed fluffy, deep and dry overnight for Sundays bluebird day. It was nearly as much fun as Saturday had been.
It was therefore with little regret, albeit for different reasons, that I left at 1 p.m. to go let out this little monster:
Our dry pattern is finally breaking down. Upper Little Cottonwood Canyon picked up 7" of 5% overnight, and although this weekend's storm is predicted to slide south of us and drop a foot or two in the Brian Head area before moving on to absolutely slam the San Juans with some 8" of water weight, we ought to get some scraps from it. The third wave on Monday night looks a bit more promising for the northern Wasatch.