Alta, UT 3/24/12

[Admin]

Day 52: May in March

It's been in the 70s in the Salt Lake Valley this week, so you can probably figure out how things were up in LCC today. Mira and Sima are in town with their friend Baron, plus we had the usual contingent including Bobby Danger, Skidog, AmyZ and Telejon.

First run this morning was tooth-rattling corduroy that you couldn't leave a mark in. Baron was getting itchy to explore; the rest of us weren't. Things gradually softened, however, first the east facing then the west facing in the afternoon. The stuff that hadn't been skied actually skied the best today, especially Greeley Hill which was downright great for a couple of runs.

Telejon left before 11. AmyZ and I stuck it out until 2:30. The rest were still going when I left.

 

[Bobby Danger]

i saw kingslug at g.m.d. just before 4:30 this afternoon . asked him if he wanted to ski pipeline off the center twin at snowbird tom. he sounded sincere . there was quite a group of folks up there just before noon , snowbird closed the knife edge boot pack at 11:00 before things got to soft up there . hopeing admin will bring his ave beacon in the morning for an ascent to pipeline. im going to use mikes he's gone to vegas for a five day business show . about the same weather tom. as today just a bit winder tom. first three runs of the day i don't think i left a mark in the snow -pretty much friction less with the corduroy frozen that firmly - i mean one wouldn't even shave the tops of the groomers . mineral basin skied in prime time about half an hour after i departed from alta . skied right regulator at 2p.m. just short of pucker brush down to the top of gadzoom chair two inches of corn perrrrrrfffffeeeeeccccction the whole way. CROW@DS WERE NILL AT SNOWBIRD TODAY THE SAME AS ALTA

 

[Tony Crocker]

CROWDS WERE NILL AT SNOWBIRD TODAY THE SAME AS ALTA

Gotta ask admin again... :stir:
Don't you even think about spending some time at Snowbird when spring conditions have advanced this far per BobbyD? Wouldn't you rather be skiing winter snow in Silver Fox, Rasta Bowl (assuming it's similar to Iron Blosam week this year) in the morning than frozen corduroy?

I'm looking forward to the Pipeline report.

 

[kingslug]

Well, everyone is pretty slow this morning, not even there yet..Once I looked up what pipeline is...not sure it's something I could do. Probably get to the bird around 11 which looks like the right time with these conditions. Spent most of the day off Supreme yesterday. Alta for Monday...

 

[Marc_C]

Wouldn't you rather be skiing winter snow in Silver Fox, Rasta Bowl (assuming it's similar to Iron Blosam week this year) in the morning than frozen corduroy?

Anything not groomed this morning was refrozen coral. There is no longer any winter snow anywhere here at the moment. Once again, as in every previous year, we suggest you not guess at conditions from over a kilo-mile away.

 

[Marc_C]

Well, everyone is pretty slow this morning, not even there yet..Once I looked up what pipeline is...not sure it's something I could do. Probably get to the bird around 11 which looks like the right time with these conditions.

It's a long slog and the entire trip must be treated as a DFU zone. There are several areas where a fall would result in certain injury or death. Also, the gate necessary for Pipeline was only open from 9a-10a.

Today, although forecast to be a little warmer, is far more overcast and breezy, which is conspiring to keep everything on the distinctly firm side. When I left an hour ago, the only thing approaching softer was from the Collins angle station down. It's questionable if any of the west aspects will come into condition today - the east ones certainly didn't.

 

[Marc_C]

I'm looking forward to the Pipeline report.

No Pipeline today - Bobby D missed the open gate window and Admin rightfully decided conditions really weren't good for it today.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Once again, as in every previous year, we suggest you not guess at conditions from over a kilo-mile away.

I was just in LCC for a whole week with advancing spring conditions, ~90% by the end of the week. If the conditions are even more springlike than then, that's not a particularly good argument for favoring Alta over Snowbird. Ay least one visiting skier who normally prefers Alta agrees with me on this point.

My 3-day anecdotal experience seems to bear that out. Skied Alta Wed and Fri last week, and Snowbird Thurs. All were mid-40's days prior to the weekend storm. The only winter snow to be had at Alta was Ballroom/Baldy shoulder. Even Devils Castle stayed overly firm into the PM. East Greely was decent in the PM.

At Snowbird, Bookends offered great winter snow (at least Thurs AM). And Mark Malu Fork/Last Choice held up well in the PM that day also with cold snow. I definitely enjoyed my 1 day at Snowbird better than my 2 days at Alta this trip. I have been to both resorts several times over the years. Normally I prefer Alta, but not under these conditions.

 

[Admin]

Tony, I spent most of the morning at Alta and I'm still at Snowbird. It's the same shit on both sides of the border. Heed Marc_c's advice when you're in California and have zero idea of what in the hell you're talking about. What you experienced last week has no bearing whatsoever to what it's like today.

Sent from my Android device using Tapatalk

 

[Marc_C]

Once again, as in every previous year, we suggest you not guess at conditions from over a kilo-mile away.

I was just in LCC for a whole week with advancing spring conditions, ~90% by the end of the week. If the conditions are even more springlike than then, that's not a particularly good argument for favoring Alta over Snowbird.

That might make some sense if there were any mid-winter conditions in existence in the Wasatch. There aren't at this point, so your argument is baseless, since you have no clue about current conditions.

At least one visiting skier who normally prefers Alta agrees with me on this point.

My 3-day anecdotal experience seems to bear that out. Skied Alta Wed and Fri last week, and Snowbird Thurs. All were mid-40's days prior to the weekend storm. The only winter snow to be had at Alta was Ballroom/Baldy shoulder. Even Devils Castle stayed overly firm into the PM. East Greely was decent in the PM.

At Snowbird, Bookends offered great winter snow (at least Thurs AM). And Mark Malu Fork/Last Choice held up well in the PM that day also with cold snow. I definitely enjoyed my 1 day at Snowbird better than my 2 days at Alta this trip. I have been to both resorts several times over the years. Normally I prefer Alta, but not under these conditions.

That was over 2 weeks ago - things are vastly different now. Again, you're making your comments based on what you *think* should be the case, not on reality.

 

[kingslug]

Had a good day at the bird once it softened up..but actualy liked it better towards the end of the day when some areas got firmer. We had a fairly large group but kept it together most of the time. I opted out of a cirque run which proved ,maybe the right choice as they reported the entrance was trashed. Spent some time in the moguls, which was the most fun for me, still like them! Tomorrow should be..different?

 

[Bobby Danger]

i missed the twins gate by about twenty min. . not even knowing the patroller in charge of the twins gate did any good !! picture taking today would have been somewhat dissappointing , as the sky was about the same tone of white as the ground , would have probably been ok in pipeline proper , because no sky would have been in the pic. . there was though a bit a wind polishing going on on upper primrose between all the switch back roads off the northeast side of hidden peak only down as far as about the summit of peruvian chair then it quickly vanished .crowds looked rather ugly in mineral basin when amy-admin -and i went in from alta but there was no line at the bottom . mineral basin off anything groomed really didn't soften to the preferred softness today !!!!

 

[kingslug]

We jumped in mineral..then jumped out..I was hoping to spend some time in there but it never looked good. The area off Peruvian was the best of the day for us.