Day 74: More "descending with skis" than "skiing"
I thought Snowbird closing day a couple of weeks ago (http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3210) was it. I intended for Snowbird closing day to be it. Over the past couple of weeks I've enjoyed numerous days of mountain biking and a bit of kayaking, and was quite content to hold off on skiing until November. But Skidog managed to convince me to meet him at Goldminer's Daughter this morning for an early skin and ski.
It had to be early. We're hovering around 90 in the Salt Lake Valley with nary a cloud to block the intense sun. We had to head up early and descend early, so an 8 a.m. meeting time was set.
I'd phoned Marc_C to see if he wanted to join us. "Ummm...no. Have fun, take pictures, and be sure to write home," he quipped. I was thinking he was the smarter one.
Not surprisingly, we were the only folks in the Wildcat lot at 8 a.m., save for a cruise through the lot from the Alta Marshal as we booted up. We didn't have to walk far to reach snow, though, and maybe 50 verts above the parking lot we were already clicking into our bindings and starting the skin up Corkscrew. There's still a bunch of snow, but it's clear that this was a low snow year followed by a hot spring season - it looks like it did two years ago in mid-July.
The skinning wasn't easy, I'll confess. The snow was still firm at that hour, and the quickly deepening suncups meant less skin was in contact with the snow than I'd have preferred. While we were able to skin straight up the lower part of Corkscrew, as things steepened near the run's narrowest part we had to tack a bit before things finally mellowed at the Wildcat Road.
We continued on up to the Collins lift Angle Station, where we paused for a breather and planned our next step. As we sat there, another lone skier plodded up past us -- we weren't the only nut cases. But when Skidog compared things to the folks fighting black flies on 50-foot patches remaining at Killington in Vermont, it almost made sense.
We opted to continue on upward via Aggie's Alley, at the top of which we had to once again survey the scene and determine our plan. There was no point in continuing to Germania Pass, as the west-facing stuff below it like Mambo and Main Street would've still been rock hard. Ballroom and Baldy Shoulder both possessed heinous sun cups, while Stimulation directly below the Wildcat lift's top terminal was already starting to soften in the direct morning sun. We opted for the latter, and hiked up the south-facing road to the top of the Wildcat chair.
As I said at the beginning of this post, it wasn't necessarily skiing on the descent, although the first few hundred verts on Stimulation was as close as we came to finding it. The top inch or so had softened into corn, while the modest sun cups beneath refused to yield their form. We paused for a few photos, then continued down Aggie's Alley, where things got progressively firmer and progressively less pleasant.
We had to click out of our skis for a few steps beside the Angle Station, the only time that we had to do so, and continued our descent in Pinball -- not the smartest move as the snow was undermined at the top, and again just above Corkscrew, but the remainder held on beneath our weight.
Cresting the top of Corkscrew, we saw another mindless soul plodding upward, monoski in hand. He begged a spot of sunscreen from Skidog and admitted that this was his 176th straight month of skiing. An impressive feat, and he confessed that his target is 200 straight months, after which he plans to give up the quest.
We finished via Corkscrew, where at the base of which two women from New Orleans were sampling the snow on the ground with their kids. One grabbed a camera, pointed it uphill and started snapping images of our descent. "That's right...take a picture of the morons," I yelled. We stopped to chat right as another skier began his ascent, indicating his intention to ski Main Chute. By the time he got there it might have actually been OK.
1.5 miles of skinning to ski 1,224 verts of 100% virgin untracked sun cups.
OK, now...that's absolutely, positively it for me this year. Skidog indicated a desire to repeat the exercise tomorrow -- go on, bud, knock yourself out. I've done dumber things than I've done today, but I've done plenty of smarter things, too. If I view today as a gorgeous morning for a hike, it was a great morning. If I view today as skiing, well...
I thought Snowbird closing day a couple of weeks ago (http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3210) was it. I intended for Snowbird closing day to be it. Over the past couple of weeks I've enjoyed numerous days of mountain biking and a bit of kayaking, and was quite content to hold off on skiing until November. But Skidog managed to convince me to meet him at Goldminer's Daughter this morning for an early skin and ski.
It had to be early. We're hovering around 90 in the Salt Lake Valley with nary a cloud to block the intense sun. We had to head up early and descend early, so an 8 a.m. meeting time was set.
I'd phoned Marc_C to see if he wanted to join us. "Ummm...no. Have fun, take pictures, and be sure to write home," he quipped. I was thinking he was the smarter one.
Not surprisingly, we were the only folks in the Wildcat lot at 8 a.m., save for a cruise through the lot from the Alta Marshal as we booted up. We didn't have to walk far to reach snow, though, and maybe 50 verts above the parking lot we were already clicking into our bindings and starting the skin up Corkscrew. There's still a bunch of snow, but it's clear that this was a low snow year followed by a hot spring season - it looks like it did two years ago in mid-July.
The skinning wasn't easy, I'll confess. The snow was still firm at that hour, and the quickly deepening suncups meant less skin was in contact with the snow than I'd have preferred. While we were able to skin straight up the lower part of Corkscrew, as things steepened near the run's narrowest part we had to tack a bit before things finally mellowed at the Wildcat Road.
We continued on up to the Collins lift Angle Station, where we paused for a breather and planned our next step. As we sat there, another lone skier plodded up past us -- we weren't the only nut cases. But when Skidog compared things to the folks fighting black flies on 50-foot patches remaining at Killington in Vermont, it almost made sense.
We opted to continue on upward via Aggie's Alley, at the top of which we had to once again survey the scene and determine our plan. There was no point in continuing to Germania Pass, as the west-facing stuff below it like Mambo and Main Street would've still been rock hard. Ballroom and Baldy Shoulder both possessed heinous sun cups, while Stimulation directly below the Wildcat lift's top terminal was already starting to soften in the direct morning sun. We opted for the latter, and hiked up the south-facing road to the top of the Wildcat chair.
As I said at the beginning of this post, it wasn't necessarily skiing on the descent, although the first few hundred verts on Stimulation was as close as we came to finding it. The top inch or so had softened into corn, while the modest sun cups beneath refused to yield their form. We paused for a few photos, then continued down Aggie's Alley, where things got progressively firmer and progressively less pleasant.
We had to click out of our skis for a few steps beside the Angle Station, the only time that we had to do so, and continued our descent in Pinball -- not the smartest move as the snow was undermined at the top, and again just above Corkscrew, but the remainder held on beneath our weight.
Cresting the top of Corkscrew, we saw another mindless soul plodding upward, monoski in hand. He begged a spot of sunscreen from Skidog and admitted that this was his 176th straight month of skiing. An impressive feat, and he confessed that his target is 200 straight months, after which he plans to give up the quest.
We finished via Corkscrew, where at the base of which two women from New Orleans were sampling the snow on the ground with their kids. One grabbed a camera, pointed it uphill and started snapping images of our descent. "That's right...take a picture of the morons," I yelled. We stopped to chat right as another skier began his ascent, indicating his intention to ski Main Chute. By the time he got there it might have actually been OK.
1.5 miles of skinning to ski 1,224 verts of 100% virgin untracked sun cups.
OK, now...that's absolutely, positively it for me this year. Skidog indicated a desire to repeat the exercise tomorrow -- go on, bud, knock yourself out. I've done dumber things than I've done today, but I've done plenty of smarter things, too. If I view today as a gorgeous morning for a hike, it was a great morning. If I view today as skiing, well...
Attachments
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00 alta topo 070602.JPG -
00 alta google earth 070602.jpg -
10 alta wildcat base 070602.jpg -
09 alta skidog stimulation 070602.jpg -
08 alta skidog stimulation 070602.jpg -
07 alta baldy shoulder and ballroom 070602.jpg -
06 alta top of wildcat 070602.jpg -
05 alta stimulation 070602.jpg -
04 alta baldy shoulder 070602.jpg -
03 alta skidog skinning 070602.jpg -
02 alta baldy from angle 070602.jpg -
01 alta collins gulch 070602.jpg
