Holy s**t!
The 5 am report stated 6" new, but it was a good foot already by the time we arrived at Goldminer's Daughter for a 9am rendezvous. It was tough to guage depths, for the wind moved snow from some places and deposited it in others, but the day started with an honest-to-goodness face shot on only my second turn of the first run of the day in Liftline Trees.
After 4 weeks of dry weather, it was about time. Alta is reporting a total of 21" from this storm as of 5pm, and I have no doubt as to its accuracy -- perhaps that estimate is even a bit light. Mid-mountain settled base depth is now 156 inches. The sky positively puked snow all day, at times 2 and perhaps even 3 inches per hour, and it never seemed to let up. Tracks kept getting filled back in all day. Anything less than a black diamond wasn't even skiable for first tracks as you couldn't get up enough momentum. While we expected this stuff to be heavy, wet sludge (the snow level was forecast for 7,000 feet, although we had 2" at the First Tracks offices at 5,000 feet), it was surprisingly light. The wind also continued unabated all day.
FTO weather forecaster Scott Braaten is reporting that the Collins weather station shows 30" from the storm total at this point, and 7" in a 2-hour period when the front blew through this morning. Can you believe that it's still snowing up there?! We're still getting snain at 5,000 feet as I type this.
The longest liftline we waited in all day was around 5 minutes, although we spent most of the day on Supreme which was about a 60-second wait max all day. Last run was planned to be down Eagle's Nest, but upon finding the Germania Return closed due to the risk of East Baldy sliding, we skied Chartreuse Nose and found some of the best turns of the day. Top honors, however, had to go to Liftline Trees, Fred's Trees, and way out east in White Squaw Chutes. I can honestly say that we hit hip-deep in places. Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder and Devil's Castle of course remained closed for avi danger, and we avoided like the plague anything without trees for definition in the whiteout conditions. We thus never made it to places off the High T or on the Backside. Catherine's was heavily drifted, and the weather made the hike and traverse a bit on the nasty side.
We had obligations this evening, so we quit at 2:30 after 17,150 vertical feet. To be honest, my legs had nothing left in them at that point, anyway.
It's still snowing up there, so if you can head up canyon tomorrow, that's a wise decision indeed. I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures below do the rest of the talking.
The 5 am report stated 6" new, but it was a good foot already by the time we arrived at Goldminer's Daughter for a 9am rendezvous. It was tough to guage depths, for the wind moved snow from some places and deposited it in others, but the day started with an honest-to-goodness face shot on only my second turn of the first run of the day in Liftline Trees.
After 4 weeks of dry weather, it was about time. Alta is reporting a total of 21" from this storm as of 5pm, and I have no doubt as to its accuracy -- perhaps that estimate is even a bit light. Mid-mountain settled base depth is now 156 inches. The sky positively puked snow all day, at times 2 and perhaps even 3 inches per hour, and it never seemed to let up. Tracks kept getting filled back in all day. Anything less than a black diamond wasn't even skiable for first tracks as you couldn't get up enough momentum. While we expected this stuff to be heavy, wet sludge (the snow level was forecast for 7,000 feet, although we had 2" at the First Tracks offices at 5,000 feet), it was surprisingly light. The wind also continued unabated all day.
FTO weather forecaster Scott Braaten is reporting that the Collins weather station shows 30" from the storm total at this point, and 7" in a 2-hour period when the front blew through this morning. Can you believe that it's still snowing up there?! We're still getting snain at 5,000 feet as I type this.
The longest liftline we waited in all day was around 5 minutes, although we spent most of the day on Supreme which was about a 60-second wait max all day. Last run was planned to be down Eagle's Nest, but upon finding the Germania Return closed due to the risk of East Baldy sliding, we skied Chartreuse Nose and found some of the best turns of the day. Top honors, however, had to go to Liftline Trees, Fred's Trees, and way out east in White Squaw Chutes. I can honestly say that we hit hip-deep in places. Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder and Devil's Castle of course remained closed for avi danger, and we avoided like the plague anything without trees for definition in the whiteout conditions. We thus never made it to places off the High T or on the Backside. Catherine's was heavily drifted, and the weather made the hike and traverse a bit on the nasty side.
We had obligations this evening, so we quit at 2:30 after 17,150 vertical feet. To be honest, my legs had nothing left in them at that point, anyway.
It's still snowing up there, so if you can head up canyon tomorrow, that's a wise decision indeed. I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures below do the rest of the talking.
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10 alta how much snow did we get.jpg28 KB · Views: 3,680
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09 alta the wonderful effect of face shots.jpg35.2 KB · Views: 3,637
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09 alta admin in supreme trees 6.jpg19.8 KB · Views: 3,632
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08 alta admin in supreme trees 5.jpg26 KB · Views: 3,637
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07 alta admin in supreme trees 4.jpg25 KB · Views: 3,648
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06 alta admin in supreme trees 3.jpg29.6 KB · Views: 3,630
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05 alta admin in supreme trees 2.jpg34.2 KB · Views: 3,634
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04 alta admin in supreme trees.jpg36.1 KB · Views: 3,631
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03 alta maybe 3 inches per hour.jpg36.3 KB · Views: 3,632
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02 alta really coming down.jpg14.4 KB · Views: 3,641
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01 alta skier in powder.jpg15.5 KB · Views: 3,633