Alta, UT 4/4/2009

[Admin]

Day 52: A new best day of the year

Amazing. 27" of new in 24 hours, some of the lightest cold smoke I've skied all year. Waist deep. Face shots on literally every turn, no matter how fast or how slow you were going. Don't fall, because you can't get up. Base depths are now approaching 200". Season snowfall has surpassed 600". To quote Pat today, "It just doesn't get any better than this."

Or rather, we can quote Brett Kobernik from today's avi report:

The Park City ridgeline and Big Cottonwood picked up about another 4 to 7 inches overnight, a few inches in the Provo area mountains and basically nothing in the Ogden area mountains. Little Cottonwood picked up 140 inches overnight. That’s just a joke folks reflecting the huge amounts of snow that’s fallen. They’re really only up to around 22 inches since yesterday morning. The last foot that fell is ridiculously light density. This does bring totals in Little Cottonwood to over 150 inches in the two week period. Temperatures are in the teens. Along the highest ridgelines there was a bump in wind speeds overnight from the northwest but they’ve slowed again. Mid and lower elevations were spared of any wind affect.

We lapped Wildcat in the a.m., moving over to West Rustler and Greeley Hill afterward before I had to leave by 12:30 as my kid had hockey tryouts with the Utah Grizzlies in the afternoon in front of college scouts, and I was threatened by my wife with physical violence if I didn't show up to lend moral support. A 1-2pm canyon closing for mid-day avalanche control kept me on schedule.

I'm working on the video tonight. Skidog, get me those clips. There's a higher whooping and hollering quotient than normal. While I'm working on it, here's a quick clip to illustrate what I'm talking about:

[skitube2]http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/files/2009-04-04_Alta_admin.flv[/skitube2]

 

[jasoncapecod]

Your a sadist !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[tirolerpeter]

Admin nailed it. I got up there about 11 AM and had to park up by the High Rustler Lodge. Skiing down to the tow rope started my day in the powder. There wasn't a line I skied today that didn't have face shot potential. "Cold Smoke" is a good description for the stuff that was blowing up at me in the trees. I briefly ran into Dale on a trip into GMD but didn't see anyone else in the FTO crew the rest of the day. My legs finally coaxed me into quitting around 4 PM. A really sweet day number 77 (I think)!

 

[Marc_C]

There wasn't a line I skied today that didn't have face shot potential. "Cold Smoke" is a good description for the stuff that was blowing up at me in the trees.

The top 18" or so was that super light 4% Utah pixie dust. Waist and chest deep in the Wildcat trees. All of us, on one run or another, paid heavily by going too low over there.

 

[Marc_C]

Your a sadist !!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, soggy Northeasterners, you could move out here too, like we did.

 

[rfarren]

=D> =D> =D> That was beautiful! Face-shots are so freaking great! If it was like that all over, you might have needed a scuba mask!

 

[Admin]

=D> =D> =D> That was beautiful! Face-shots are so freaking great! If it was like that all over, you might have needed a scuba mask!

No, but I do need to learn to ski with my mouth shut!

Video is nearing completion.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Whatever you do, don't put that droning, repetitive music over this video... it'll take away from Marc C's magnificent turns.

 

[Admin]

April in the Wasatch, baby!

[skitube2]http://www.firsttracksonline.com/modules/crpVideo/pnmedia/videos/2009-04-04_Alta.flv[/skitube2]

 

[Admin]

Back for more today under warm, sunny skies. The temperature will rise quickly and the April sun is strong, so we'll have to get to it early today.

 

[Bobby Danger]

just slightly deeper with a snorkel!

 

[Tony Crocker]

So what didn't open Saturday and was thus untracked Sunday? Quite a bit I suspect.

Some places in the video the surface is chopped up some. But it doesn't matter when the snow is that light. Very rare in my experience, like the epic day at Mammoth 10 years ago. The snow In Jackson in 2006 with Patrick was that light, but not that deep.

 

[Marc_C]

So what didn't open Saturday and was thus untracked Sunday? Quite a bit I suspect.

Ballroom, Baldy Shoulder, Devil's Castle.
East Castle remained closed today.

 

[Admin]

So what didn't open Saturday and was thus untracked Sunday? Quite a bit I suspect.

Ballroom, Baldy Shoulder, Devil's Castle.
East Castle remained closed today.

And the Bookends, Sunday Cliffs and Chamonix Chutes. Video nearly done already. :shock: The post will be done when the video is.

 

[jtran10]

wow...

 

[Skiace]

You need better ski models for your videos imo. I volunteer to take on this burden and all I ask in exchange is to sleep in your basement 5 months out of the year.

 

[Admin]

You need better ski models for your videos imo. I volunteer to take on this burden and all I ask in exchange is to sleep in your basement 5 months out of the year.

But you already flunked your audition:

 

[Bobby Danger]

day 61........... DEEP pow for sure ! it was a bit unpredictable in what you would hit underneath. for the simple fact that your body penetrated all the way to the sub surface and you rode along the bottom. hence moguls were the only thing that brought you back to the surface there was no porpousing in that snow. skidog & i made our first run under wildcat chair about half way down you come to the first steep pitch . I was going mach four hit the side of a mogul with my left foot and it tried to go around behind me. now i'm on one foot going mach four trying tokeep my left foot from going around back manage to ride like that for thirty yards or so and tip over in a tree well. skidog comes over to me completely buried sideways in a tree well and asks if i'm ok. ow yah just fine just buried it's hard to get hurt in that kind of snow. did two more runs before hooking up with the rest of the group. the rest is on video.

 

[Skiace]

You need better ski models for your videos imo. I volunteer to take on this burden and all I ask in exchange is to sleep in your basement 5 months out of the year.

But you already flunked your audition:
*snip*

Given the circumstances I maintain I gave you photographic-gold.

 

[Admin]

Given the circumstances I maintain I gave you photographic-gold.

Nah, it was Ben who delivered that the following morning. Let Ben know that if he's willing to take another white ride he can live in my basement for 5 months next winter. :wink: