Day 40: Surprisingly good
I was surprised to wake up this morning and see snow falling at the house, for I didn't expect things to get underway until afternoon. I awoke Skiace and Molly sleeping in the guest room downstairs, and we headed up the canyon.
It snowed at varying intensities all day, accumulating perhaps 6" or so, about what was forecast (Icelantic, that's crystalline precipitation). Not enough to cover the crust on what had been sunnier aspects earlier in the week, but enough to make it feel darned good, and there was no crust at all underneath the new snow on northeastern through northwestern aspects.
We had a huge group today, starting with 11 by my count including Bob Dangerous, Marc_C, Pat, Skiace and Molly (who drove out together from San Diego), Tirolerpeter, Jonathan (who was here in January from Vermont), a UVM friend of Jonathan's (who's now headed for Hailey, ID for a week of hut-to-hut), Jonathan's folks (also from Vermont) and yours truly. Bob eventually went to Snowbird to meet up with a couple of other visitors before returning at the end of the day. Noticeably absent were one whipped Skidog, Amy and Tele Jon.
Highlights of the day included Eagle's Nest, North Rustler, Max's (x2), a perimeter tour of Catherine's and one little stash that shall remain unnamed. Thanks a zillion to the guy who picked us up on the Bypass Road, piling 10 of us into his pickup with gear! The second Max's pickup was like a Vermonter family reunion, and we swapped small world stories as we figured out who we all knew in common. One Utahn FTO Liftlines lurker introduced himself as well (how do I get you to de-lurk?). We took one last run before finishing up with suds upstairs at GMD at beer:30 (thanks for the beers, guys!).
I took no stills as the weather wasn't cooperative with snow falling all day, and shot only 2 short video clips that I'll use in some later production.
Tomorrow will be another big day with the morning spent at Solitude and the afternoon at Snowbird with Tony Crocker and his crew. If the avi danger is reasonable I'll park at Snowbird and tour over to Solitude and back (~3 miles), otherwise I'll just drive between the two (~30 miles - ugh!). Bob Dangerous and the Vermonters are headed to Snowbasin and I'm not sure about the others.
I was surprised to wake up this morning and see snow falling at the house, for I didn't expect things to get underway until afternoon. I awoke Skiace and Molly sleeping in the guest room downstairs, and we headed up the canyon.
It snowed at varying intensities all day, accumulating perhaps 6" or so, about what was forecast (Icelantic, that's crystalline precipitation). Not enough to cover the crust on what had been sunnier aspects earlier in the week, but enough to make it feel darned good, and there was no crust at all underneath the new snow on northeastern through northwestern aspects.
We had a huge group today, starting with 11 by my count including Bob Dangerous, Marc_C, Pat, Skiace and Molly (who drove out together from San Diego), Tirolerpeter, Jonathan (who was here in January from Vermont), a UVM friend of Jonathan's (who's now headed for Hailey, ID for a week of hut-to-hut), Jonathan's folks (also from Vermont) and yours truly. Bob eventually went to Snowbird to meet up with a couple of other visitors before returning at the end of the day. Noticeably absent were one whipped Skidog, Amy and Tele Jon.
Highlights of the day included Eagle's Nest, North Rustler, Max's (x2), a perimeter tour of Catherine's and one little stash that shall remain unnamed. Thanks a zillion to the guy who picked us up on the Bypass Road, piling 10 of us into his pickup with gear! The second Max's pickup was like a Vermonter family reunion, and we swapped small world stories as we figured out who we all knew in common. One Utahn FTO Liftlines lurker introduced himself as well (how do I get you to de-lurk?). We took one last run before finishing up with suds upstairs at GMD at beer:30 (thanks for the beers, guys!).
I took no stills as the weather wasn't cooperative with snow falling all day, and shot only 2 short video clips that I'll use in some later production.
Tomorrow will be another big day with the morning spent at Solitude and the afternoon at Snowbird with Tony Crocker and his crew. If the avi danger is reasonable I'll park at Snowbird and tour over to Solitude and back (~3 miles), otherwise I'll just drive between the two (~30 miles - ugh!). Bob Dangerous and the Vermonters are headed to Snowbasin and I'm not sure about the others.
