Alta, UT 4/21/07

[Admin]

Day 68: The amazing disappearing crust

After yesterday's crust-fest, and the tracking of anything north-facing and crust-free, I didn't expect the most wonderful of conditions today. Boy, was I happy to be wrong again!

I don't know what happened. Did it sublimate? Did it merge with the underlying snowpack? Whatever the reason, stuff that was crusted over yesterday and therefore barely skied was delightful powder today! Who'da thunk it?

We had a posse of 7 today: Marc_C, Bob Dangerous, Bob's friend Jeff, Amy, Tele Jon, Pat and yours truly.

We lapped Backside repeatedly until it was tracked out, then moved over to Greeley Bowl and Greeley Hill for more of the same...multiple times. We went out Devil's Castle again all the way to the Apron. Wow. Double wow.

Weather was peculiar, too. One minute it was bright sunshine under blue skies, the next minute it was a fierce snow squall. Things started stiffening up again around 3 pm, so I called it a day right as another heavy squall moved in. If this keeps up, all we'll need is an inch or two overnight to freshen things up beautifully for tomorrow's final day at Alta. Just enough to fill in tracks will be enough.

12,960 powder-filled verts on the day.

 

[Tony Crocker]

As I suspected, you probably caught up to me in powder with the last 2 days.

I observed overnight sublimating crust at Island Lake in 2003. That crust was caused by rain. But it did not disappear from the whole mountain. The crust line just lowered from 5,100 to 4,800 feet.