Day 40: Snowin' and blowin'.
Sometimes I pay a lot of attention to the weather. Sometimes I pay very little. After this week's storm, once forecast to be a big'un, instead petered out (again!) I shifted from the former to the latter. So when Skidog suggested at breakfast this morning that the wind would die out this morning as the cold front came through I told him that he must be on 'shrooms. The front, after all, wasn't due to arrive until tomorrow.
At least that was what was forecast when I stopped paying attention to the forecast. I did know, however, that the southwest wind was supposed to blow like hell ahead of the front so it was no surprise when I heard the trees shaking outside my bedroom window when the alarm went off this morning as the weather station atop my roof recorded a 28.9 mph gust. As I drove down I-215 the wind buffeted my car back and forth and a spectacular plume of snow blew hundreds of feet from the summit of the Salt Lake Twins. It was gonna be windy as a presidential election debate.
But I started to believe Skidog when a wall of snow advanced up Little Cottonwood Canyon around 9:30 a.m. and I became a full-fledged believer as we rode Collins with Hook, an Alta Ski Patroller for 40 years, and his radio crackled with Onno's conversation with the weather forecasters describing the front that was advancing on the ski area.
Within the space of half a run the wall of snow slammed Alta with full force and the morning's mild temperatures dropped a good 8-10 degrees. I went from comfortable to frostbitten. And the snowfall began stacking up.
Although it petered out shortly after lunch time it left a quick hitting few inches of new snow in its wake. The ski area's reporting only an inch but it was more than that. How much more, though, is tough to tell with the wind blowing the way that it was. What I do know is that after this week's graupel that smoothed out the bumps that couple of inches skied like a dream. And I also know that it seemed to chase away most of the visitors after the front arrived, leaving the lifts and the runs nearly empty for those willing to brave the elements for some good old fashioned storm day skiing.
After discovering the goods in Greeley Slot and North Rustler, above, we began exploring in search of more. Somehow our exploration brought us to Hourglass Chute. Normally filled with huge bumps because it's such a tight line, Hourglass today was smooth as could be...and unbelievably fun. It was so good that we skied it twice in a row despite having to endure a rather nasty and threadbare High Traverse to get there, for the wind events this week have stripped Sunspot Ridge once again.
It was so good that we didn't break for lunch until 1:30, when we bumped into Skrad who was calling it a day and heading home after scoring the best of it. We also got to ski today for the first time this season with Pat, who had an unexpected day off from her job at Snowbird and headed further up canyon to join us today.
We headed for Wildcat after finishing lunch, but my legs were toast and I called it a day at 3 pm. A bunch of different groups will bring a ton of our friends into town tomorrow for their vacations, and I'm looking forward to seeing folks tomorrow whom I haven't seen in over a decade. Best to leave some gas in the tank for tomorrow, I suppose.
That said, for once (and I know that we've all heard this one before) the weather forecast is looking downright promising. A number of systems are lining up in the Pacific and the first one, set to hit Monday night into Tuesday, is actually due to merge together as it heads our way instead of this winter's persistent pattern of splitting around us. Will this be the one? I'll have to pay closer attention to the weather. :lol:
Sometimes I pay a lot of attention to the weather. Sometimes I pay very little. After this week's storm, once forecast to be a big'un, instead petered out (again!) I shifted from the former to the latter. So when Skidog suggested at breakfast this morning that the wind would die out this morning as the cold front came through I told him that he must be on 'shrooms. The front, after all, wasn't due to arrive until tomorrow.
At least that was what was forecast when I stopped paying attention to the forecast. I did know, however, that the southwest wind was supposed to blow like hell ahead of the front so it was no surprise when I heard the trees shaking outside my bedroom window when the alarm went off this morning as the weather station atop my roof recorded a 28.9 mph gust. As I drove down I-215 the wind buffeted my car back and forth and a spectacular plume of snow blew hundreds of feet from the summit of the Salt Lake Twins. It was gonna be windy as a presidential election debate.
But I started to believe Skidog when a wall of snow advanced up Little Cottonwood Canyon around 9:30 a.m. and I became a full-fledged believer as we rode Collins with Hook, an Alta Ski Patroller for 40 years, and his radio crackled with Onno's conversation with the weather forecasters describing the front that was advancing on the ski area.
Within the space of half a run the wall of snow slammed Alta with full force and the morning's mild temperatures dropped a good 8-10 degrees. I went from comfortable to frostbitten. And the snowfall began stacking up.
Although it petered out shortly after lunch time it left a quick hitting few inches of new snow in its wake. The ski area's reporting only an inch but it was more than that. How much more, though, is tough to tell with the wind blowing the way that it was. What I do know is that after this week's graupel that smoothed out the bumps that couple of inches skied like a dream. And I also know that it seemed to chase away most of the visitors after the front arrived, leaving the lifts and the runs nearly empty for those willing to brave the elements for some good old fashioned storm day skiing.
After discovering the goods in Greeley Slot and North Rustler, above, we began exploring in search of more. Somehow our exploration brought us to Hourglass Chute. Normally filled with huge bumps because it's such a tight line, Hourglass today was smooth as could be...and unbelievably fun. It was so good that we skied it twice in a row despite having to endure a rather nasty and threadbare High Traverse to get there, for the wind events this week have stripped Sunspot Ridge once again.
It was so good that we didn't break for lunch until 1:30, when we bumped into Skrad who was calling it a day and heading home after scoring the best of it. We also got to ski today for the first time this season with Pat, who had an unexpected day off from her job at Snowbird and headed further up canyon to join us today.
We headed for Wildcat after finishing lunch, but my legs were toast and I called it a day at 3 pm. A bunch of different groups will bring a ton of our friends into town tomorrow for their vacations, and I'm looking forward to seeing folks tomorrow whom I haven't seen in over a decade. Best to leave some gas in the tank for tomorrow, I suppose.
That said, for once (and I know that we've all heard this one before) the weather forecast is looking downright promising. A number of systems are lining up in the Pacific and the first one, set to hit Monday night into Tuesday, is actually due to merge together as it heads our way instead of this winter's persistent pattern of splitting around us. Will this be the one? I'll have to pay closer attention to the weather. :lol:
