Q: What's better than two powder days in a row?
A: Three powder days in a row, especially when that third day is bathed in sunshine!
OK, I'm three for three on powder days since last Sunday. With over 80 inches of snow in the past week, 5 more fell last night overnight after the lifts stopped spinning. They got the Collins lift repaired before today, too.
Sure enough, as announced the Little Cottonwood Canyon road was closed for a couple of hours this morning for avalanche control. I waited until the road reopened to leave home, but traffic on Wasatch was still bumper-to-bumper stop and go from a half mile south of Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. Ugh! My 23-minute drive turned into 75 minutes as seemingly half of the Salt Lake Valley headed up canyon. The first sunny day in a week following more than 80 inches of new snow will do that.
And that avi control was clearly necessary, too. Just about everything slid -- White Pine, Tanners, Maybird -- but the big'un was Superior. That baby was huge, and ran clear across the road.
Riding Collins first thing with Marc C, the effect of not running Collins yesterday was apparent, for virtually all the named lines on the West Rustler face were only very lightly tracked. As the masses headed out Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, the rope for which was dropped early this morning for the first time this week, we instead headed out the High Traverse for multiple, multiple laps of thigh-deep fresh.
Finally, before lunch, we did the hike from High Traverse through Third Entrance down into the Backside. I still managed to score completely untracked lines between North Rustler and the Snake Pit! It was nearly 1pm now as the snow was getting progressively heavier in the mid-day late March sun wherever the slope's aspect allowed direct heating. They had just dropped the rope on Devil's Castle, and we decided to head there, but upon reaching the top of Sunnyside the hordes descending upon the Castle were apparent, and we instead headed in to Alf's for lunch.
Third Entrance was a new one for me, and we decided to tick another run off my "to-do" list by dropping into Regal Chute. Wow! Steep, narrow, and lightly tracked. One more ride up Wildcat proved that my legs were shot for the day, and we quit at 2:35 pm feeling very satisfied.
Lots and lots of pictures to share today!
A: Three powder days in a row, especially when that third day is bathed in sunshine!
OK, I'm three for three on powder days since last Sunday. With over 80 inches of snow in the past week, 5 more fell last night overnight after the lifts stopped spinning. They got the Collins lift repaired before today, too.
Sure enough, as announced the Little Cottonwood Canyon road was closed for a couple of hours this morning for avalanche control. I waited until the road reopened to leave home, but traffic on Wasatch was still bumper-to-bumper stop and go from a half mile south of Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. Ugh! My 23-minute drive turned into 75 minutes as seemingly half of the Salt Lake Valley headed up canyon. The first sunny day in a week following more than 80 inches of new snow will do that.
And that avi control was clearly necessary, too. Just about everything slid -- White Pine, Tanners, Maybird -- but the big'un was Superior. That baby was huge, and ran clear across the road.
Riding Collins first thing with Marc C, the effect of not running Collins yesterday was apparent, for virtually all the named lines on the West Rustler face were only very lightly tracked. As the masses headed out Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, the rope for which was dropped early this morning for the first time this week, we instead headed out the High Traverse for multiple, multiple laps of thigh-deep fresh.
Finally, before lunch, we did the hike from High Traverse through Third Entrance down into the Backside. I still managed to score completely untracked lines between North Rustler and the Snake Pit! It was nearly 1pm now as the snow was getting progressively heavier in the mid-day late March sun wherever the slope's aspect allowed direct heating. They had just dropped the rope on Devil's Castle, and we decided to head there, but upon reaching the top of Sunnyside the hordes descending upon the Castle were apparent, and we instead headed in to Alf's for lunch.
Third Entrance was a new one for me, and we decided to tick another run off my "to-do" list by dropping into Regal Chute. Wow! Steep, narrow, and lightly tracked. One more ride up Wildcat proved that my legs were shot for the day, and we quit at 2:35 pm feeling very satisfied.
Lots and lots of pictures to share today!
Attachments
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15 snowbird.jpg -
14 mt superior slide at road.jpg -
13 mt superior slide.jpg -
12 alta regal chute.jpg -
11 alta down high rustler.jpg -
10 snowbird mineral basin clouds.jpg -
09 alta freshies at 1215h.jpg -
08 alta thirds and gunsight.jpg -
07 alta collins gulch from thirds.jpg -
06 alta thirds.jpg -
05 alta gunsight.jpg -
04 alta collins mid.jpg -
03 alta admin pow.jpg -
02 alta marc c pow.jpg -
01 alta bumper to bumper.jpg
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