Day 35: Opening bell to last chair
I can't remember the last day I did that at Alta. I'm whooped. Tony Crocker commented on the drive home, "Only 18,700 vertical feet today and I'm exhausted!" Alta will do that to a skier.
Actually, our choice of terrain today contributed to that. I did my best to show Tony, his sons Adam and Andrew, Adam's girlfriend Molly and friend Becky as much as would be worth it without any new snow. (Actually, we got a skiff overnight, but nothing worthy of mention.)
After a warmup on Sugarloaf, on which we inexplicably lost Andrew, we headed straight for the goods in Catherine's. We climbed up out to Patsy Marley and found some softer snow in a shaded northwest-facing stash before enduring breakable sun crust back to the Sugarloaf chair.
We traveled all over through the course of the day, including High Rustler and one foray out the Keyhole Gate into Snowbird, returning via a UTA bus. After lunch at Rustler, though, it was time to step things up a notch, particularly for Becky. While she has the skills foundation to conquer anything we needed to get into her head for a bit to remove the "can't do" attitude and get her thinking about charging aggressively with confidence. As a result, we brought her down lines on Backside and in West Rustler that are steeper than anything she's skied before, but is perfectly capable of handling. It was refreshing to see her accomplish terrain that she never thought she would!
By the time we hit Eagle's Nest at 4:15 I was shot. Another great day in the Wasatch.
As mentioned in other threads, I'll put together this week a video chronicling all three days this weekend.
I can't remember the last day I did that at Alta. I'm whooped. Tony Crocker commented on the drive home, "Only 18,700 vertical feet today and I'm exhausted!" Alta will do that to a skier.
Actually, our choice of terrain today contributed to that. I did my best to show Tony, his sons Adam and Andrew, Adam's girlfriend Molly and friend Becky as much as would be worth it without any new snow. (Actually, we got a skiff overnight, but nothing worthy of mention.)
After a warmup on Sugarloaf, on which we inexplicably lost Andrew, we headed straight for the goods in Catherine's. We climbed up out to Patsy Marley and found some softer snow in a shaded northwest-facing stash before enduring breakable sun crust back to the Sugarloaf chair.
We traveled all over through the course of the day, including High Rustler and one foray out the Keyhole Gate into Snowbird, returning via a UTA bus. After lunch at Rustler, though, it was time to step things up a notch, particularly for Becky. While she has the skills foundation to conquer anything we needed to get into her head for a bit to remove the "can't do" attitude and get her thinking about charging aggressively with confidence. As a result, we brought her down lines on Backside and in West Rustler that are steeper than anything she's skied before, but is perfectly capable of handling. It was refreshing to see her accomplish terrain that she never thought she would!
By the time we hit Eagle's Nest at 4:15 I was shot. Another great day in the Wasatch.
As mentioned in other threads, I'll put together this week a video chronicling all three days this weekend.
