Tired Old Skier (TOS) was out visiting from Vermont. PattiMac, Patti's friend Leon, and Patti's niece Paige were visiting from NY. Marc_C and I were the designated tour guides.
I picked TOS up at his hotel (Homewood Suites in Ft Union -- really nice rooms for a ski trip, BTW, with a full breakfast buffet downstairs in the lobby included each morning) and we headed up, somewhat behind the others and Bob Dangerous. We found them, however, skiing back to the Collins lift queue as we were heading up, and headed down Devil's Elbow as a group.
Now, PattiMac, Leon and Paige are primarily groomed intermediate cruisers. TOS, on the other hand, is a Green Mountain Valley School race coach. I pushed off first, but I hadn't gotten more than a couple of turns down Devil's Elbow en route to Supreme before both Bob and TOS turned on the afterburners and blew by me like I was standing still. :shock: It was gonna be an "interesting" day. :roll:
A couple of runs on Supreme showed that the off-piste had been beaten pretty hard by traffic and refrozen sun crust since Thursday's storm. We thus opted for quality over quantity, and with beacon, shovel, probe and skins in each of our packs, TOS and I headed out and over Catherine's Pass for some backcountry adventure.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=12&n= ... ayer=DRG25
After a brief hike, skate and herringbone we arrived at the ridgeline and caught our first view of Sunset Peak's north side. The south wind howled across the ridgeline ahead of the approaching storm. I fumbled in the gale to retrieve my camera and snap a shot of our route. I looked at the display to frame my shot.
No CF card inserted.
#-o
The avalanche report rated low with pockets of moderate risk on wind-loaded north-facing slopes. We traversed out to the north-facing aspect of Sunset Peak, carefully following proper avalanche protocols -- one at a time across obvious potential slide paths, regrouping at protected safety points. We spied a lightly tracked 500-vert shot down to Lake Catherine, and skied it one at a time, with a pre-determined escape route ready in case things went south. What we found was wonderfully consistent cream cheese ("May I have a bagel with that, please?") top to bottom. We regrouped just above the flats to figure out our game plan.
"Well, the original plan was to skin back up there to Catherine's Pass, but do you want to continue down to Brighton?"
"I dunno. What do you want to do?"
"Well, we'll get a much longer run..."
"Do it."
We tramped across Lake Catherine, ascending the gentle bank on its north side as we glanced back over our shoulders at what we had just skied, and worked our way across various gullies...one by one...to the northeast below the summit of Pioneer Peak, where some mad snowmobilers had laid insane tracks up/down one of the chutes. There was only one set of ski tracks heading in my chosen direction. \
/ We continued to the northeast and crested the last roll atop the Dog Lake Chutes...to find about a half-dozen people standing there. :shock:
"Steve?"
"Marc?"
It was Ski Utah's Interconnect Tour, and they were standing atop the very line that I had planned to ski. ](*,)
We hadn't seen their tracks for they ascended the knoll from lower down. No matter, though, for there was plenty of room for all.
They, of course, held the honors, and the guides carefully let them descend one by one. I cautioned TOS about the terrain features as one worked to skier's right, then watched him disappear over the convex roll. Once I saw him rejoin the others beyond the bottom of the pitch, I dropped in.
I hugged skier's right, working my way as far onto the ~48-degree slope in that direction as I dared, and found a gorgeous slot through some evergreens that was trackless. Snow billowed up around my waist as I let go of my inhibitions, scoring what was, for me, the run of the day. The snow, perfectly even and consistent, was much lighter than it had been on Sunset Peak. Cheers and smiles from the Interconnect group at the bottom inflated my ego. Continuing on down to Brighton had been the right decision.
After that it was a brief uphill slog to reach Brighton's in-bounds terrain, and we cruised down to the Millicent chair, where I popped out my cell phone to see if Solitude sold single-ride tickets.
Nope. :evil:
So my thought of perhaps taking the Highway to Heaven traverse to ski back to Alta via Grizzly Gulch was squashed, and we instead boarded a UTA bus for what turned out to be a 90-minute return to Alta. No matter, though, for the day was, as you'll recall, dedicated to quality over quantity. The bus ride held entertainment value, too, with TOS coaching the bus driver on how to prevent people from passing on the uphills ("C'mon, you own the road! Just swerve from left to right...") and trying to score a free massage from the Gold Miner's Daughter LMT who was on her way to work.
We went back up Collins, aiming for Alf's via Yellow Trail and a full-on sandblasting from the increasing winds where the traverse carries skiers into East Greeley. The rest of the crew was still lunching, although Dangerous had to head out to the airport to pick up more houseguests. After a quick bite to eat TOS and I shared a few more runs with the group. We stood atop Sugarloaf, buffeted by wind and blowing snow.
"Hey, Marc_C...remind me again why we're here?"
"Because we're hosting visitors."
"Oh. Yeah. Right."
A trip down Eagle's Nest wrapped up the day for TOS and me. The big storm was moving in for the morning.
I picked TOS up at his hotel (Homewood Suites in Ft Union -- really nice rooms for a ski trip, BTW, with a full breakfast buffet downstairs in the lobby included each morning) and we headed up, somewhat behind the others and Bob Dangerous. We found them, however, skiing back to the Collins lift queue as we were heading up, and headed down Devil's Elbow as a group.
Now, PattiMac, Leon and Paige are primarily groomed intermediate cruisers. TOS, on the other hand, is a Green Mountain Valley School race coach. I pushed off first, but I hadn't gotten more than a couple of turns down Devil's Elbow en route to Supreme before both Bob and TOS turned on the afterburners and blew by me like I was standing still. :shock: It was gonna be an "interesting" day. :roll:
A couple of runs on Supreme showed that the off-piste had been beaten pretty hard by traffic and refrozen sun crust since Thursday's storm. We thus opted for quality over quantity, and with beacon, shovel, probe and skins in each of our packs, TOS and I headed out and over Catherine's Pass for some backcountry adventure.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=12&n= ... ayer=DRG25
After a brief hike, skate and herringbone we arrived at the ridgeline and caught our first view of Sunset Peak's north side. The south wind howled across the ridgeline ahead of the approaching storm. I fumbled in the gale to retrieve my camera and snap a shot of our route. I looked at the display to frame my shot.
No CF card inserted.
#-o
The avalanche report rated low with pockets of moderate risk on wind-loaded north-facing slopes. We traversed out to the north-facing aspect of Sunset Peak, carefully following proper avalanche protocols -- one at a time across obvious potential slide paths, regrouping at protected safety points. We spied a lightly tracked 500-vert shot down to Lake Catherine, and skied it one at a time, with a pre-determined escape route ready in case things went south. What we found was wonderfully consistent cream cheese ("May I have a bagel with that, please?") top to bottom. We regrouped just above the flats to figure out our game plan.
"Well, the original plan was to skin back up there to Catherine's Pass, but do you want to continue down to Brighton?"
"I dunno. What do you want to do?"
"Well, we'll get a much longer run..."
"Do it."
We tramped across Lake Catherine, ascending the gentle bank on its north side as we glanced back over our shoulders at what we had just skied, and worked our way across various gullies...one by one...to the northeast below the summit of Pioneer Peak, where some mad snowmobilers had laid insane tracks up/down one of the chutes. There was only one set of ski tracks heading in my chosen direction. \
/ We continued to the northeast and crested the last roll atop the Dog Lake Chutes...to find about a half-dozen people standing there. :shock: "Steve?"
"Marc?"
It was Ski Utah's Interconnect Tour, and they were standing atop the very line that I had planned to ski. ](*,)
We hadn't seen their tracks for they ascended the knoll from lower down. No matter, though, for there was plenty of room for all.
They, of course, held the honors, and the guides carefully let them descend one by one. I cautioned TOS about the terrain features as one worked to skier's right, then watched him disappear over the convex roll. Once I saw him rejoin the others beyond the bottom of the pitch, I dropped in.
I hugged skier's right, working my way as far onto the ~48-degree slope in that direction as I dared, and found a gorgeous slot through some evergreens that was trackless. Snow billowed up around my waist as I let go of my inhibitions, scoring what was, for me, the run of the day. The snow, perfectly even and consistent, was much lighter than it had been on Sunset Peak. Cheers and smiles from the Interconnect group at the bottom inflated my ego. Continuing on down to Brighton had been the right decision.
After that it was a brief uphill slog to reach Brighton's in-bounds terrain, and we cruised down to the Millicent chair, where I popped out my cell phone to see if Solitude sold single-ride tickets.
Nope. :evil:
So my thought of perhaps taking the Highway to Heaven traverse to ski back to Alta via Grizzly Gulch was squashed, and we instead boarded a UTA bus for what turned out to be a 90-minute return to Alta. No matter, though, for the day was, as you'll recall, dedicated to quality over quantity. The bus ride held entertainment value, too, with TOS coaching the bus driver on how to prevent people from passing on the uphills ("C'mon, you own the road! Just swerve from left to right...") and trying to score a free massage from the Gold Miner's Daughter LMT who was on her way to work.
We went back up Collins, aiming for Alf's via Yellow Trail and a full-on sandblasting from the increasing winds where the traverse carries skiers into East Greeley. The rest of the crew was still lunching, although Dangerous had to head out to the airport to pick up more houseguests. After a quick bite to eat TOS and I shared a few more runs with the group. We stood atop Sugarloaf, buffeted by wind and blowing snow.
"Hey, Marc_C...remind me again why we're here?"
"Because we're hosting visitors."
"Oh. Yeah. Right."
A trip down Eagle's Nest wrapped up the day for TOS and me. The big storm was moving in for the morning.