Day 39: An all-you-can-eat buffet.
Yesterday was, without a doubt, the best day of the season (thus far). Storm totals had reached a foot by opening time but there was promise of significantly more as a third and final wave to this storm moved in from the northwest across the Great Salt Lake.
Almost on cue, the snow began falling at 9:10 a.m., five minutes before opening. Amazingly it had already stacked up another four inches by the time the clock read 10 a.m. Four inches in under an hour! :shock:
I was with one member of our regular ski posse who shall remain nameless as this was a workday, plus friend jshigs from L.A. and his friend Sam, who were scheduled to fly home on Sunday night but changed their itinerary to take in this storm. I don't think that they regretted their decision.
We started out with untracked on Wildcat and thereafter moved on to Collins. Virtually all gated terrain remained closed through the morning, but that really didn't matter for with snowfall that intense, every run featured free refills. West Rustler, High Stoner, Eagle's Nest, North Rustler, Greeley Bowl and Thirds all received visits from us. Face shots abounded. I had to stop once in North Rustler to let the white room clear just so that I could see where the trees were again.
By shortly after noon the snow turned showery, with short, intense bursts separated by moments of almost sunshine. In those three hours, however, the clouds had dropped another 8 inches, for 20 inches total. And when the snowfall became intermittent, so did the people.
We moved on to Supreme, where ASP had opened both Supreme Bowl and Catherine's Area. We did three laps over there -- Home Plate to Calf Rope, Spiny Chutes and Catherine's -- before returning to Wildcat for a run to happy hour at Snowbird's Tram Club at 3:30 p.m., where I also picked up by neighbor and his buddy for a ride down the canyon after he lost his car keys somewhere in the Upper Cirque. :roll:
What a day!
It now looks like we're in another warm, dry pattern until mid-month, when the models are showing a return to a stormy pattern just in time for Crocker to leave Utah. :wink:
Yesterday was, without a doubt, the best day of the season (thus far). Storm totals had reached a foot by opening time but there was promise of significantly more as a third and final wave to this storm moved in from the northwest across the Great Salt Lake.
Almost on cue, the snow began falling at 9:10 a.m., five minutes before opening. Amazingly it had already stacked up another four inches by the time the clock read 10 a.m. Four inches in under an hour! :shock:
I was with one member of our regular ski posse who shall remain nameless as this was a workday, plus friend jshigs from L.A. and his friend Sam, who were scheduled to fly home on Sunday night but changed their itinerary to take in this storm. I don't think that they regretted their decision.
We started out with untracked on Wildcat and thereafter moved on to Collins. Virtually all gated terrain remained closed through the morning, but that really didn't matter for with snowfall that intense, every run featured free refills. West Rustler, High Stoner, Eagle's Nest, North Rustler, Greeley Bowl and Thirds all received visits from us. Face shots abounded. I had to stop once in North Rustler to let the white room clear just so that I could see where the trees were again.
By shortly after noon the snow turned showery, with short, intense bursts separated by moments of almost sunshine. In those three hours, however, the clouds had dropped another 8 inches, for 20 inches total. And when the snowfall became intermittent, so did the people.
We moved on to Supreme, where ASP had opened both Supreme Bowl and Catherine's Area. We did three laps over there -- Home Plate to Calf Rope, Spiny Chutes and Catherine's -- before returning to Wildcat for a run to happy hour at Snowbird's Tram Club at 3:30 p.m., where I also picked up by neighbor and his buddy for a ride down the canyon after he lost his car keys somewhere in the Upper Cirque. :roll:
What a day!
It now looks like we're in another warm, dry pattern until mid-month, when the models are showing a return to a stormy pattern just in time for Crocker to leave Utah. :wink:
worthy.