Day 56: The white board at the base of Collins said it all:
"Were you here yesterday?
Thursday leftover day."
Then they inexplicably added, "Poor snow conditions."
Talk about false advertising!
Today offered anything but poor snow conditions, with 34" of storm total ending overnight and the final 5" falling after Wednesday's closing. What I hadn't counted on, however, was the wind. At 7 a.m. it was gusting to over 51 mph atop Collins. It was apparently more than ASP expected, too, for even though Backside was on the a.m. route list for Expected Openings, we never got it. They also sent a guinea pig out across Ballroom but he or she descended before they even got to Baldy Shoulder. Neither Backside nor Ballroom has opened since the storm began on Tuesday evening.
But the leftovers were still pretty darned good. It's just that due to effects of the wind, it didn't ski anywhere near as deep as it did on Wednesday. It was kind of anti-climactic; I'm glad that I got out yesterday.
Wednesday was also surprisingly quiet. Today, however, the whole world finally figured it out and showed up. Although the Wildcat lot filled up, all of our lift rides were pretty much ski-on, or had at most a 30-second lift line. Next door at Snowbird, however, the 42-inch storm claim brought people out in droves. When I drove down the canyon at 1 p.m. Snowbird parking lots had overflowed and cars were parked bumper to bumper on both sides of LCC Road from Entry 4 all the way down to Entry 1. That has to be the biggest parking overflow I've ever witnessed there, although I can't speak to what effect that had on lift lines. I've been told that on Wednesday there was a four-tram wait over there.
Why did I leave at 1 p.m.? My legs were shot. We pounded non-stop yesterday until I left at 12:30, and again today we barely stopped for a rest break. Repeated trips out the High Traverse both days had a devastating effect on my stamina. We had a group today that fluctuated between 6 and 8, including Skidog, AmyZ, Telejon, TRam (back from extensive injury!), Corey, Julien, rdwore and yours truly. Mbaydala was back again, too, this time with George. I didn't take any photos today, so I'm posting with permission a few shot by Corey Kopischke Photography:
A word of advice to Skidog: don't hit the photographer!
"Were you here yesterday?
Thursday leftover day."
Then they inexplicably added, "Poor snow conditions."
Talk about false advertising!
Today offered anything but poor snow conditions, with 34" of storm total ending overnight and the final 5" falling after Wednesday's closing. What I hadn't counted on, however, was the wind. At 7 a.m. it was gusting to over 51 mph atop Collins. It was apparently more than ASP expected, too, for even though Backside was on the a.m. route list for Expected Openings, we never got it. They also sent a guinea pig out across Ballroom but he or she descended before they even got to Baldy Shoulder. Neither Backside nor Ballroom has opened since the storm began on Tuesday evening.
But the leftovers were still pretty darned good. It's just that due to effects of the wind, it didn't ski anywhere near as deep as it did on Wednesday. It was kind of anti-climactic; I'm glad that I got out yesterday.
Wednesday was also surprisingly quiet. Today, however, the whole world finally figured it out and showed up. Although the Wildcat lot filled up, all of our lift rides were pretty much ski-on, or had at most a 30-second lift line. Next door at Snowbird, however, the 42-inch storm claim brought people out in droves. When I drove down the canyon at 1 p.m. Snowbird parking lots had overflowed and cars were parked bumper to bumper on both sides of LCC Road from Entry 4 all the way down to Entry 1. That has to be the biggest parking overflow I've ever witnessed there, although I can't speak to what effect that had on lift lines. I've been told that on Wednesday there was a four-tram wait over there.
Why did I leave at 1 p.m.? My legs were shot. We pounded non-stop yesterday until I left at 12:30, and again today we barely stopped for a rest break. Repeated trips out the High Traverse both days had a devastating effect on my stamina. We had a group today that fluctuated between 6 and 8, including Skidog, AmyZ, Telejon, TRam (back from extensive injury!), Corey, Julien, rdwore and yours truly. Mbaydala was back again, too, this time with George. I didn't take any photos today, so I'm posting with permission a few shot by Corey Kopischke Photography:
A word of advice to Skidog: don't hit the photographer!
I'm still standing by my 100" April claim. C'mon winter, bring it!