Day 64: All hemmed in.
With 7" of dense new snow overnight and this the final weekend for Alta, both Skidog and I took the day off. We expected the place to be empty and it was. What we didn't expect was to be so limited.
With temps at the top of Collins only 15ºF plus a brisk wind blowing, it felt downright winter-like. We were joined by Dave from H2OG and his friend Steve from Jackson. Conditions were variable, to say the least. Where the wind had placed the snow it was smooth, creamy and dreamy. Where the wind had taken the snow from was rough and bulletproof. Occasionally the wind would gust and the ground would disappear in a swirl. The net result, though, was pure fun.
The problem was that we couldn't go anywhere. They were bombing like crazy as we waited for Collins to open and they must've gotten a lot to move (I heard that Gunsight ran top to bottom). It wasn't like they were trying to save money because they were spending a lot of explosive collateral, they were clearly just nervous about the 1.18" of water weight that fell upon the snowpack last night. The "Sugarloaf backcountry" including Backside stayed closed. The High T was closed, which meant no West Rustler, no North Rustler, no Greeley Hill, no High Boy, Eagle's Nest, etc.. The Saddle Traverse was closed, which meant nothing beyond lower Sunspot, including Saddle or the lower part of West Rustler. Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder was closed, which meant no access to the top part of Wildcat, either. Even Pinball Gully was closed, something that I've never seen before.
As a result, we were hemmed into a narrow corridor off of Collins, so even with the tiny crowd where the snow was decent it got tracked out very quickly. And we didn't hear a single bomb after 9:30, which meant that we were unlikely to see much more opening today.
AmyZ was coming up at noon following a meeting. Snowbird is now 8 a.m.to 2 p.m. only, so mrgskier was going to head over to Alta after lunch. We waited for neither. Dave and Steve were gone by 11:15 or so, and Skidog and I called it at noon after I picked up a new helmet and goggles at Motherlode's half price off everything sale.
So we've got two more days this season at Alta before it closes for the season and it becomes Snowbird East backcountry. Yesterday I stopped at the store and picked up matching outfits for AmyZ, Bobby Danger, Skidog and yours truly. I won't reveal the details before photos, but the theme is a luau. I think I've got some arm twisting ahead of me to get Bobby to wear the whole thing, but Skidog seems to be far too anxious to wear it. :lol:
With 7" of dense new snow overnight and this the final weekend for Alta, both Skidog and I took the day off. We expected the place to be empty and it was. What we didn't expect was to be so limited.
With temps at the top of Collins only 15ºF plus a brisk wind blowing, it felt downright winter-like. We were joined by Dave from H2OG and his friend Steve from Jackson. Conditions were variable, to say the least. Where the wind had placed the snow it was smooth, creamy and dreamy. Where the wind had taken the snow from was rough and bulletproof. Occasionally the wind would gust and the ground would disappear in a swirl. The net result, though, was pure fun.
The problem was that we couldn't go anywhere. They were bombing like crazy as we waited for Collins to open and they must've gotten a lot to move (I heard that Gunsight ran top to bottom). It wasn't like they were trying to save money because they were spending a lot of explosive collateral, they were clearly just nervous about the 1.18" of water weight that fell upon the snowpack last night. The "Sugarloaf backcountry" including Backside stayed closed. The High T was closed, which meant no West Rustler, no North Rustler, no Greeley Hill, no High Boy, Eagle's Nest, etc.. The Saddle Traverse was closed, which meant nothing beyond lower Sunspot, including Saddle or the lower part of West Rustler. Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder was closed, which meant no access to the top part of Wildcat, either. Even Pinball Gully was closed, something that I've never seen before.
As a result, we were hemmed into a narrow corridor off of Collins, so even with the tiny crowd where the snow was decent it got tracked out very quickly. And we didn't hear a single bomb after 9:30, which meant that we were unlikely to see much more opening today.
AmyZ was coming up at noon following a meeting. Snowbird is now 8 a.m.to 2 p.m. only, so mrgskier was going to head over to Alta after lunch. We waited for neither. Dave and Steve were gone by 11:15 or so, and Skidog and I called it at noon after I picked up a new helmet and goggles at Motherlode's half price off everything sale.
So we've got two more days this season at Alta before it closes for the season and it becomes Snowbird East backcountry. Yesterday I stopped at the store and picked up matching outfits for AmyZ, Bobby Danger, Skidog and yours truly. I won't reveal the details before photos, but the theme is a luau. I think I've got some arm twisting ahead of me to get Bobby to wear the whole thing, but Skidog seems to be far too anxious to wear it. :lol:
