Days 73-74: Now this is what I call spring skiing!
That phrase usually conjures up images of warm sun, soft corn snow and BBQs. That, however, is at most places and this is Little Cottonwood Canyon, after all. Things can be a little bit different around here. This "spring skiing" was a full-on powder weekend.
After getting out of bed on Saturday I checked the weather as part of my pre-ski ritual, and conditions were perfect. The cold front had stalled just south of the central Wasatch and there was a large pool of moisture with which to work behind the front. This is just about the best set-up one could hope for.
Now this is what I like to see when I wake up on Saturday morning!
Friday night's rain/snow line was surprisingly low in the canyon, down around Tanner's Flat at 7,200 feet. As I headed up canyon the Chevy pickup in front of me peeled off at Snowbird Entry 4 and its driver stuck his arm out the window to wave. I had no clue who it was but nevertheless tooted my horn to return the morning greeting. After all, that wave was a full hand, not a single finger. I wouldn't learn until nearly 24 hours later that it was FTO Liftlines user BobMc. One of these days we have to actually meet one another.
Despite the low snow level the seven inches that fell at Alta overnight and the additional two inches during the day on Saturday was perhaps the wettest snow I've ever experienced in Utah. Saturday was as deserted as it's been this whole spring season, and the Wildcat lot never filled by more than half or so. Folks huddled on their couches in the Valley as it rained down there all day, however, didn't know what they were missing. That in itself is unusual in a high arid environment, and I logged a remarkable 0.79 inches of water in my rain gauge at home on Saturday, not including Friday night's precipitation. Around here that's enough to start building an ark. Despite its girthy water weight the new snow skied spectacularly well where it hadn't yet been skied, and with so few people on the mountain that wasn't hard to find even with so little terrain officially open. All you had to do was ski part-way out the High T and drop into West Rustler somewhere.
Where it had been skied, however, it quickly transitioned into thick roller balls. Alta management thankfully fired up Wildcat, which hadn't been scheduled to run this weekend, providing a whole new smooth white canvas upon which to paint. We thus had three lifts to ride -- Collins, Sunnyside and the Kitty -- instead of the two that had been scheduled. Normally you could reach the top of Wildcat from Collins by traversing across Baldy Shoulder and beneath Bad News, but Ballroom and the Shoulder both remained closed due to avalanche concerns (along with Main Street, too). Backside never opened, either, so we were pretty hemmed in.
And once the Wildcat terrain played out Alta Ski Patrol opened the Sugarloaf "backcountry" gate around 11 a.m. During these bonus weekends all of the terrain east of Germania Pass at the top of Collins and served by the now-dormant Sugarloaf lift is designated as backcountry. Very few folks were heading back there and I had one of my best runs of the season along the Chartreuse Nose ropeline -- I didn't cross a single track from top to bottom.
Wildcat wasn't supposed to open this weekend, but Alta Ski Lifts management gave us a special gift.
The thick, wet new snow on Saturday balled up easily.
The sun never came out on Saturday, but that doesn't mean that the evil Death Star can't do its damage. By lunch time the greenhousing effect had settled the new snow down to about two inches of sticky, wet glop. There was little untracked left at that point, so I opted to head home and save some gas in the tank for Sunday.
That was a good call, for Sunday dawned with another four inches of new snow. Temperatures were lower behind yet another cold front and the breeze had picked up, so this stuff was much drier. This was full-on winter snow. The rain/snow line was down around B Gate at 5,800 feet. It wasn't April 27th, it was February 29th, and the additional snowfall on Saturday night even managed to suck some moisture from the underlying snow to boot. The base never froze solid. This was some amazing skiing for the end of April!
Word had apparently gotten out about how good Saturday had been, and by mid-morning the parking lot was full and folks were parked up the hill along the driveway. One of those who showed up was the esteemed Dr. Jim Steenburgh, who we bumped into on Collins along with his son. He must've been out there doing research for his new book. :wink:
A full house
Somehow, however, that didn't parlay itself into any liftlines, which never exceeded about five minutes on Collins and zero on Wildcat, which Alta management graciously re-opened again at around 10 a.m. There was zero greenhouse effect on Sunday, either, so the snow stayed cold and playful throughout the day.
And so did we.
More fresh snow for Sunday on Wildcat
Morning coffee at Baldy Brews (L to R: Admin, Skidog, Corey, Telejon, Bobby Danger, AmyZ); Photo by Julie, one of our favorite baristas
Bobby strikes his best Playgirl pose and "come hither" look on the Watson Shelter's old Thiokol Spryte. Any takers?
Backside and Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder stayed closed, but the whole Sugarloaf backcountry delivered ample acreage. By 2 p.m. Bobby and AmyZ headed through the Westward Ho gate for a lap through Snowbird. With the Alta/Snowbird connection closed and buses done for the season, however, returning to our vehicles would have meant a hike to the High Baldy Traverse to a closed Armpit gate, then skiing down along the ropeline to the top of Wildcat. That's a lot of hiking to reach a rather boring line to ski, not enough to make Westward Ho sufficiently enticing to me. None of the rest of us were interested, so those of us who remained at Alta took one more lap around the world through the Sugarloaf backcountry before we all quit, already rather spent at 2:30.
This storm's third impluse is scheduled to move through tonight and deliver another six inches of the white stuff. While Alta won't reopen until Friday for its final bonus weekend, this will nevertheless smooth everything out and fill in this weekend's tracks, leaving perfectly untracked corn in its wake for Alta's last three days of the 2013-14 ski season. We're already hatching parking lot party plans for Sunday afternoon.
That phrase usually conjures up images of warm sun, soft corn snow and BBQs. That, however, is at most places and this is Little Cottonwood Canyon, after all. Things can be a little bit different around here. This "spring skiing" was a full-on powder weekend.
After getting out of bed on Saturday I checked the weather as part of my pre-ski ritual, and conditions were perfect. The cold front had stalled just south of the central Wasatch and there was a large pool of moisture with which to work behind the front. This is just about the best set-up one could hope for.
Now this is what I like to see when I wake up on Saturday morning!
Friday night's rain/snow line was surprisingly low in the canyon, down around Tanner's Flat at 7,200 feet. As I headed up canyon the Chevy pickup in front of me peeled off at Snowbird Entry 4 and its driver stuck his arm out the window to wave. I had no clue who it was but nevertheless tooted my horn to return the morning greeting. After all, that wave was a full hand, not a single finger. I wouldn't learn until nearly 24 hours later that it was FTO Liftlines user BobMc. One of these days we have to actually meet one another.
Despite the low snow level the seven inches that fell at Alta overnight and the additional two inches during the day on Saturday was perhaps the wettest snow I've ever experienced in Utah. Saturday was as deserted as it's been this whole spring season, and the Wildcat lot never filled by more than half or so. Folks huddled on their couches in the Valley as it rained down there all day, however, didn't know what they were missing. That in itself is unusual in a high arid environment, and I logged a remarkable 0.79 inches of water in my rain gauge at home on Saturday, not including Friday night's precipitation. Around here that's enough to start building an ark. Despite its girthy water weight the new snow skied spectacularly well where it hadn't yet been skied, and with so few people on the mountain that wasn't hard to find even with so little terrain officially open. All you had to do was ski part-way out the High T and drop into West Rustler somewhere.
Where it had been skied, however, it quickly transitioned into thick roller balls. Alta management thankfully fired up Wildcat, which hadn't been scheduled to run this weekend, providing a whole new smooth white canvas upon which to paint. We thus had three lifts to ride -- Collins, Sunnyside and the Kitty -- instead of the two that had been scheduled. Normally you could reach the top of Wildcat from Collins by traversing across Baldy Shoulder and beneath Bad News, but Ballroom and the Shoulder both remained closed due to avalanche concerns (along with Main Street, too). Backside never opened, either, so we were pretty hemmed in.
And once the Wildcat terrain played out Alta Ski Patrol opened the Sugarloaf "backcountry" gate around 11 a.m. During these bonus weekends all of the terrain east of Germania Pass at the top of Collins and served by the now-dormant Sugarloaf lift is designated as backcountry. Very few folks were heading back there and I had one of my best runs of the season along the Chartreuse Nose ropeline -- I didn't cross a single track from top to bottom.
Wildcat wasn't supposed to open this weekend, but Alta Ski Lifts management gave us a special gift.
The thick, wet new snow on Saturday balled up easily.
The sun never came out on Saturday, but that doesn't mean that the evil Death Star can't do its damage. By lunch time the greenhousing effect had settled the new snow down to about two inches of sticky, wet glop. There was little untracked left at that point, so I opted to head home and save some gas in the tank for Sunday.
That was a good call, for Sunday dawned with another four inches of new snow. Temperatures were lower behind yet another cold front and the breeze had picked up, so this stuff was much drier. This was full-on winter snow. The rain/snow line was down around B Gate at 5,800 feet. It wasn't April 27th, it was February 29th, and the additional snowfall on Saturday night even managed to suck some moisture from the underlying snow to boot. The base never froze solid. This was some amazing skiing for the end of April!
Word had apparently gotten out about how good Saturday had been, and by mid-morning the parking lot was full and folks were parked up the hill along the driveway. One of those who showed up was the esteemed Dr. Jim Steenburgh, who we bumped into on Collins along with his son. He must've been out there doing research for his new book. :wink:
A full house
Somehow, however, that didn't parlay itself into any liftlines, which never exceeded about five minutes on Collins and zero on Wildcat, which Alta management graciously re-opened again at around 10 a.m. There was zero greenhouse effect on Sunday, either, so the snow stayed cold and playful throughout the day.
And so did we.
More fresh snow for Sunday on Wildcat
Morning coffee at Baldy Brews (L to R: Admin, Skidog, Corey, Telejon, Bobby Danger, AmyZ); Photo by Julie, one of our favorite baristas
Bobby strikes his best Playgirl pose and "come hither" look on the Watson Shelter's old Thiokol Spryte. Any takers?
Backside and Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder stayed closed, but the whole Sugarloaf backcountry delivered ample acreage. By 2 p.m. Bobby and AmyZ headed through the Westward Ho gate for a lap through Snowbird. With the Alta/Snowbird connection closed and buses done for the season, however, returning to our vehicles would have meant a hike to the High Baldy Traverse to a closed Armpit gate, then skiing down along the ropeline to the top of Wildcat. That's a lot of hiking to reach a rather boring line to ski, not enough to make Westward Ho sufficiently enticing to me. None of the rest of us were interested, so those of us who remained at Alta took one more lap around the world through the Sugarloaf backcountry before we all quit, already rather spent at 2:30.
This storm's third impluse is scheduled to move through tonight and deliver another six inches of the white stuff. While Alta won't reopen until Friday for its final bonus weekend, this will nevertheless smooth everything out and fill in this weekend's tracks, leaving perfectly untracked corn in its wake for Alta's last three days of the 2013-14 ski season. We're already hatching parking lot party plans for Sunday afternoon.
