Day 18: Escaping the crowds.
Last night over sushi Bobby Danger, AmyZ and I hatched plans to ski Cardiff Bowl today. It would be a great way to ski good snow and get away from the crowds at the ski area this holiday period. We also knew that south-facing would likely be relatively safe.
And sure enough, this morning's report from the Utah Avalanche Center confirmed our suspicions. Anything other than northwest through east looked good. Green light for go.
Before heading up, though, we skied a couple of laps within Alta Ski Area in Collins Gulch with TheOtherAmy while waiting for Backside to open for the first time since this last 20-inch storm. Literally the entire mountain was soft and fluffy, and skiing exceptionally well other than the cold, slow snow. Temperatures were nippy, just below 0ºF, but at least today I was properly dressed.
We even killed time with a latté at Baldy Brews within Watson Shelter. However, when we heard that it would be another hour before Backside would open we gave up and headed back to Wildcat base, grabbed our packs and gear, and headed up.
We rode the Alta Lodge rope tow, climbed the long covered steps of Alta Lodge, crossed Little Cottonwood Canyon Road and donned skins in front of the Shallow Shaft Restaurant.
Despite the temperatures still hovering around zero, the exertion of the climb combined with the sun and lack of wind to force us to shed layers almost instantly. Before long I was climbing just in ski pants and base layer top/bottoms...and was still sweating.
Once we made Cardiff Pass we stripped our skins and paused for the view, which was unfortunately marred by high clouds that began streaming in ahead of tomorrow's winter storm.
We then set out to break a traverse line from Cardiff Pass to the line we'd ski alongside the rocks of Toledo Peak.
We paused here once again to relax and watch a group of four ski a line just west of ours before pushing off.
We paused several more times during the descent to take in our surroundings, but the light continued to deteriorate to the point that we didn't feel like returning to lift-served skiing once we got back to the ski area. After eating our picnic lunch we headed down canyon to get ready for tomorrow's storm.
Last night over sushi Bobby Danger, AmyZ and I hatched plans to ski Cardiff Bowl today. It would be a great way to ski good snow and get away from the crowds at the ski area this holiday period. We also knew that south-facing would likely be relatively safe.
And sure enough, this morning's report from the Utah Avalanche Center confirmed our suspicions. Anything other than northwest through east looked good. Green light for go.
Before heading up, though, we skied a couple of laps within Alta Ski Area in Collins Gulch with TheOtherAmy while waiting for Backside to open for the first time since this last 20-inch storm. Literally the entire mountain was soft and fluffy, and skiing exceptionally well other than the cold, slow snow. Temperatures were nippy, just below 0ºF, but at least today I was properly dressed.
We even killed time with a latté at Baldy Brews within Watson Shelter. However, when we heard that it would be another hour before Backside would open we gave up and headed back to Wildcat base, grabbed our packs and gear, and headed up.
We rode the Alta Lodge rope tow, climbed the long covered steps of Alta Lodge, crossed Little Cottonwood Canyon Road and donned skins in front of the Shallow Shaft Restaurant.
Despite the temperatures still hovering around zero, the exertion of the climb combined with the sun and lack of wind to force us to shed layers almost instantly. Before long I was climbing just in ski pants and base layer top/bottoms...and was still sweating.
Once we made Cardiff Pass we stripped our skins and paused for the view, which was unfortunately marred by high clouds that began streaming in ahead of tomorrow's winter storm.
We then set out to break a traverse line from Cardiff Pass to the line we'd ski alongside the rocks of Toledo Peak.
We paused here once again to relax and watch a group of four ski a line just west of ours before pushing off.
We paused several more times during the descent to take in our surroundings, but the light continued to deteriorate to the point that we didn't feel like returning to lift-served skiing once we got back to the ski area. After eating our picnic lunch we headed down canyon to get ready for tomorrow's storm.