Day 57: Porcelain
There's no other word to describe Sunday's conditions, when sun-softened snow from Saturday underwent a 30-degree temperature drop and set up rock solid. Think "dust on crust" minus the dust, unless you count the thin layer that blew in from the desert in Saturday afternoon's dust storm.
The wind was still honking, just that this time it was from the northwest (or whatever direction it chose to swirl around the mountaintops). The sun poked out briefly for about 30 minutes in early afternoon, and just as things were on the verge of softening snow flurries blew back in. We'd waited until 11:30 or so to arrive, hoping that things would soften just a bit. They never did.
By 3 pm the ridges of corduroy had finally been shaved off the groomers, and all that was left was the glaze underneath. At one point on Main Street I pulled up to a stop and watched Mrs. Admin blow by me.
"Slow down!" I yelled, genuinely concerned for her well-being.
"I can't!" she yelled back.
I picked up the pieces just around the next corner.
That was enough to call it a day. We gathered in the parking lot for our annual BBQ, but wind and cold convinced the majority of the group to move the BBQ down to Sam's house in Cottonwood Heights. I muttered something about tradition, but my minority view carried no weight.
Thank you, Alta -- it's been amazing year. Things were slow to get started in November, but once it started snowing in December it seemed to never stop. January snowfall set a record, snowing on 25 of the month's 31 days, and it continued into February. We had powder days as recently as a week before closing. Total season snowfall stands at 678 inches, the sixth snowiest season on record. Winter 2007-08 will stick in my memory for years to come.
It's not over yet, though...Snowbird is scheduled to remain open until May 26, "or maybe later" according to a friend in a director's position there. "Or maybe later" will hinge upon completing maintenance on the Tram ahead of schedule, for they're otherwise at the mercy of lower mountain snow as every run without the Tram will require a return to the base of Peruvian.
There's no other word to describe Sunday's conditions, when sun-softened snow from Saturday underwent a 30-degree temperature drop and set up rock solid. Think "dust on crust" minus the dust, unless you count the thin layer that blew in from the desert in Saturday afternoon's dust storm.
The wind was still honking, just that this time it was from the northwest (or whatever direction it chose to swirl around the mountaintops). The sun poked out briefly for about 30 minutes in early afternoon, and just as things were on the verge of softening snow flurries blew back in. We'd waited until 11:30 or so to arrive, hoping that things would soften just a bit. They never did.
By 3 pm the ridges of corduroy had finally been shaved off the groomers, and all that was left was the glaze underneath. At one point on Main Street I pulled up to a stop and watched Mrs. Admin blow by me.
"Slow down!" I yelled, genuinely concerned for her well-being.
"I can't!" she yelled back.
I picked up the pieces just around the next corner.
That was enough to call it a day. We gathered in the parking lot for our annual BBQ, but wind and cold convinced the majority of the group to move the BBQ down to Sam's house in Cottonwood Heights. I muttered something about tradition, but my minority view carried no weight.
Thank you, Alta -- it's been amazing year. Things were slow to get started in November, but once it started snowing in December it seemed to never stop. January snowfall set a record, snowing on 25 of the month's 31 days, and it continued into February. We had powder days as recently as a week before closing. Total season snowfall stands at 678 inches, the sixth snowiest season on record. Winter 2007-08 will stick in my memory for years to come.
It's not over yet, though...Snowbird is scheduled to remain open until May 26, "or maybe later" according to a friend in a director's position there. "Or maybe later" will hinge upon completing maintenance on the Tram ahead of schedule, for they're otherwise at the mercy of lower mountain snow as every run without the Tram will require a return to the base of Peruvian.
That makes it hard to justify a ride to JH or anywhere else for that matter.
There's nothing quite so depressing as full-on spring conditions at Alta in the middle of January. 
How much easier for 16 year-olds to get alcohol in Wyoming versus Utah? :roll: