Day 57: More powder, more people.
Sunday was yet another jam packed day in LCC, continuing a trend seen throughout President's Week this year thanks to holiday visitors and prodigious amounts of snow that brought folks out in droves. I left the house at 8:30, 15 minutes later than normal which makes a huge difference in traffic levels. The canyon merge was backed up all the way to Bengal Blvd., and it took some very creative route-finding this morning through residential neighborhoods to still pull into the Wildcat lot at 9:15.
The Collins opening line was backed up nearly to the Administration Building, with the singles line snaking back uphill toward the Wildcat lift. I entered the singles line and Amy did so very shortly thereafter. The others were taking a first run on Wildcat. We had planned to joined them, but just as we passed through the Angle Station they dropped the rope on Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder for the first time since the 37" from this storm began falling. I therefore don't need to tell you where we went. :wink: Despite some very slow people on the traverse I still managed to find a clean line down the full length of Tombstone without crossing another track until reaching the flats at the very bottom.
Rather than wait for the others, we headed back up for a second lap, but it was already hammered so we opted instead for Susie's, which still had large swaths of untracked snow. We saw Dale midway through the singles line for Collins as we headed for our second lap, but he proclaimed the lines intolerable and declared that to be his last run for the day.
The day started out beautiful and cloudless with an undercast over the Valley, but as the morning wore on light misty clouds came and went across the lower mountain.
Later in the afternoon those clouds would clear, once again bathing the mountain in unfiltered sunlight.
The next planned rope drop was Devil's Castle. We stuck around Sugarloaf and Supreme, and one run into Mineral Basin at Snowbird and back up to Sugarloaf Pass, for a good two hours waiting for that rope to come down, but that didn't happen until after we headed for a planned lunch stop at Rustler at 1 p.m. :roll:
Folks were lined up from the Castle gate back past Sugarloaf and down the EBT toward Sugarloaf Pass. We saw skrad waiting in line, but I'd rather ski than do so as you never know for sure when that gate will open. Staying in Mineral Basin was out of the question as the line for Mineral Basin Express was significantly longer than anything at Alta at the time.
My friend Stephan, a second year skier, joined us for lunch at the Rustler and I'd planned to ski groomers with him for the afternoon as my legs by now were Jell-O. As we readied for a second lap, however, we spotted Bobby Danger with mrgskier and his family boarding Wildcat. We all rode up together, and I pointed Stephan toward Aggie's Alley while the rest of us headed out to a quiet little spot that still held some untracked here and there.
By now, though, it was 3 p.m., and the condition of my legs and the prospect of down canyon traffic joined forces to get me (and others, including Bobby) to leave for the day.
Sunday was yet another jam packed day in LCC, continuing a trend seen throughout President's Week this year thanks to holiday visitors and prodigious amounts of snow that brought folks out in droves. I left the house at 8:30, 15 minutes later than normal which makes a huge difference in traffic levels. The canyon merge was backed up all the way to Bengal Blvd., and it took some very creative route-finding this morning through residential neighborhoods to still pull into the Wildcat lot at 9:15.
The Collins opening line was backed up nearly to the Administration Building, with the singles line snaking back uphill toward the Wildcat lift. I entered the singles line and Amy did so very shortly thereafter. The others were taking a first run on Wildcat. We had planned to joined them, but just as we passed through the Angle Station they dropped the rope on Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder for the first time since the 37" from this storm began falling. I therefore don't need to tell you where we went. :wink: Despite some very slow people on the traverse I still managed to find a clean line down the full length of Tombstone without crossing another track until reaching the flats at the very bottom.
Rather than wait for the others, we headed back up for a second lap, but it was already hammered so we opted instead for Susie's, which still had large swaths of untracked snow. We saw Dale midway through the singles line for Collins as we headed for our second lap, but he proclaimed the lines intolerable and declared that to be his last run for the day.
The day started out beautiful and cloudless with an undercast over the Valley, but as the morning wore on light misty clouds came and went across the lower mountain.
Later in the afternoon those clouds would clear, once again bathing the mountain in unfiltered sunlight.
The next planned rope drop was Devil's Castle. We stuck around Sugarloaf and Supreme, and one run into Mineral Basin at Snowbird and back up to Sugarloaf Pass, for a good two hours waiting for that rope to come down, but that didn't happen until after we headed for a planned lunch stop at Rustler at 1 p.m. :roll:
Folks were lined up from the Castle gate back past Sugarloaf and down the EBT toward Sugarloaf Pass. We saw skrad waiting in line, but I'd rather ski than do so as you never know for sure when that gate will open. Staying in Mineral Basin was out of the question as the line for Mineral Basin Express was significantly longer than anything at Alta at the time.
My friend Stephan, a second year skier, joined us for lunch at the Rustler and I'd planned to ski groomers with him for the afternoon as my legs by now were Jell-O. As we readied for a second lap, however, we spotted Bobby Danger with mrgskier and his family boarding Wildcat. We all rode up together, and I pointed Stephan toward Aggie's Alley while the rest of us headed out to a quiet little spot that still held some untracked here and there.
By now, though, it was 3 p.m., and the condition of my legs and the prospect of down canyon traffic joined forces to get me (and others, including Bobby) to leave for the day.