Alta, UT 3/4/2007 - major slides

[Admin]

Day 51: "Winter" days don't get any better than this.

Deep blue skis, a warm (hot?) sun, no wind, and temperatures in the 30s made today feel like spring. I stripped down to my base layer top while having lunch outside on the Goldminer's Daughter deck and was comfortable, almost too warm.

I was skiing with Marc_C and Bob Dangerous along with friends Pat and Amy, John and John's friend Val, and our friend Patti Mac would join us from NYC by 11. It would've been an even better day if I would've had some energy today, but after Friday and Saturday's big days, followed by a 3-mile full-moon snowshoe in Big Cottonwood Canyon Saturday night, this morning I could barely get out of bed.

Today was thus a day by and large spent cruising groomers. The Alta Ski Patrol supplied the morning entertainment playing with some rather large firecrackers.

On our first ride up Collins the morning plan was evident: bomb the crap out of the old layers of sugar snow clinging to anything on Mount Baldy. The results of the morning cleared out Main Chute, Little Chute, and the entire "Yard" between the two, the latter down to bare rock. The debris field spread cross groomed portions of Main Street, and patrollers were spread out along the top of a massive crown at the summit where the slides had released.

Their biggest work, though, was yet to come.

I'm so sorry that I missed the huge one. Bob got to see it as I waited for Bob at the bottom of Collins, out of view. The entire Baldy Shoulder let go with a single hand charge, and the debris field ran clear down the shoulder, out across the Main Street flats, and over the top starting just a little bit down the last pitch of Main Street. Bob reports that the entire bowl filled with a cloud of snow hanging 300 feet high.

After lunch we rode Supreme to ski Challenger, and I broke off from the group for one run through the top gate of White Squaw Chutes (noticing for the first time a memorial plaque to a fallen skier at the top). The way my legs and body felt, though, I feared becoming the subject of the next plaque, so I bid the group farewell and skied to my truck at 1:30 after only 6 runs and 10,210 verts. No matter, though, for I enjoyed the best of the goods Friday and Saturday.

Sure enough, I slept until 5. :roll:

 

[ChrisC]

Today was thus a day by and large spent cruising groomers. The Alta Ski Patrol supplied the morning entertainment playing with some rather large firecrackers.

On our first ride up Collins the morning plan was evident: bomb the crap out of the old layers of sugar snow clinging to anything on Mount Baldy. The results of the morning cleared out Main Chute, Little Chute, and the entire "Yard" between the two, the latter down to bare rock. The debris field spread cross groomed portions of Main Street, and patrollers were spread out along the top of a massive crown at the summit where the slides had released.

Their biggest work, though, was yet to come.

I'm so sorry that I missed the huge one. Bob got to see it as I waited for Bob at the bottom of Collins, out of view. The entire Baldy Shoulder let go with a single hand charge, and the debris field ran clear down the shoulder, out across the Main Street flats, and over the top starting just a little bit down the last pitch of Main Street. Bob reports that the entire bowl filled with a cloud of snow hanging 300 feet high.

Did the patrol close off the groomer when bombing? Or did they not know how far the slides were going to run?

Does this mean the chutes - Main/Little are less likely to open this year?

I've seen this at Crested Butte. The patrol will bomb the front side chutes - Banana, Peel - and snow accumulation will need to start over.

 

[Admin]

Did the patrol close off the groomer when bombing?

Yes.

Does this mean the chutes - Main/Little are less likely to open this year?

No, most of the snow that slid came from the Yard and Baldy Shoulder. And besides, the Chutes have already been open this season.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Here's a pic.

 

[Admin]

Here's a pic.

I'll see your pic, and raise you a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ0osmXOfvs

 

[JohnL]

for one run through the top gate of White Squaw Chutes (noticing for the first time a memorial plaque to a fallen skier at the top).

I came across that plaque myself last Thursday; it was the first time I actually stopped to read the sign.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Notice to Utah locals: I arrive Friday night for my annual Iron Blosam trip. Get your sunscreen and T-shirts ready.

Are Main/Little Chute still skiable after that slide? What are the chances of them being open a week from now?

 

[Admin]

Judging by the forecasts, your weather prognostications are right on target.

Yesterday's slides appear to have done little to affect cover in Main. the entrance to Little, however, now looks, uh..."sporting." See the closeup of the patrollers standing atop the crown - that's at the entrance to Little.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I think I'll wait for another year like 2005 for Little. But I'd like to show Main to some of our Iron Blosam group, weather/conditions permitting.

 

[ChrisC]

Does this mean the chutes - Main/Little are less likely to open this year?

No, most of the snow that slid came from the Yard and Baldy Shoulder. And besides, the Chutes have already been open this season.

When did those chutes open this year? It's been medium-to-below snowfall-wise. Never skied them. But curious about their opening schedule?

 

[Admin]

It's a magical combination of snow (which there's been plenty of, the wind fills them in), low avi danger, and a reasonably soft surface. They open and close frequently through the winter, then stay open most of the spring. They haven't been open a lot this winter, but they've been open.

 

[Marc_C]

When did those chutes open this year? It's been medium-to-below snowfall-wise. Never skied them. But curious about their opening schedule?

I don't remember exact dates, but there have been about 4 openings this season, each lasting 2 - 4 days. Only Main has been open; there was never enough snow to open Perla's and Little and Dog Leg would have been suicidal.

As Marc said, there is no fixed schedule. Even in the spring, it's hit or miss depending on snow cover and avi conditions, and ASP is very conservative. Some years they never open.

 

[ChrisC]

They haven't been open a lot this winter, but they've been open.

So when did they open? Curious.

 

[Admin]

I even saw Main open and skiable in December. Sorry, though, I haven't paid much attention to dates. I generally don't pay them much attention until spring -- there's too much good stuff that requires much less work to draw me to the Chutes in mid-winter.

 

[Tony Crocker]

But with the weather I usually bring to Utah in March Main Chute looks like a tempting diversion :wink: .

 

[ChrisC]

Main is such a big sexy line....like Big Coulior, Big Sky / Pallisades, Squaw / etc


I'd like to ski it once.

 

[ChrisC]

Such a sexy line.

I want to ski it once.

On par with the Big Couloir, Pallisades, etc

I thought it was a March only thing....guess not.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Main Chute is not nearly as extreme as Big Couloir IMHO. Or most of the lines in the Palisades. But it is a memorable run. The scale is so large that it's misleading. You have these towering rock walls on either side, but the snow path is 20 feet wide, quality of snow was outstanding the one time I did it, and the the pitch is a consistent 40 degrees. From a skiing perspective 75 Chute at Squaw is probably the closest analogy in my experience.

I thought it was a March only thing

That's when it was for me in 1990. As I recall it was a July thing for admin and his kid 2 years ago :wink:

 

[Admin]

the pitch is a consistent 40 degrees

The first few turns are pushing 50, then it mellows into a consistent mid-40s.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Google Earth measurement top to bottom is 41. I'm sure it was due to snow conditions, but I did not feel the intimidation factor or see the potentially severe fall consequences that I did in Big Couloir.