Day 41: The Around the World Tour
Fair-skinned houseguest Peter from Connecticut was wearing a bright red face mask from a sunny Saturday at Powder Mountain. He hadn't quite figured out the need for sunscreen at altitude, but perhaps now he has. Until Saturday, he hadn't skied anywhere in Utah outside of Alta, so for his last day this trip it only made sense to take him to the big bad boy of Utah skiing: Snowbird.
I promised to scare him silly for Sunday. We arrived on the Bypass Road around 9:15 under a thin overcast that was filtering the sun only slightly. It would probably be enough, however, to keep things from softening substantially despite temperatures that would reach 50 in the base area. The stiff breeze, too, would enhance the evaporational cooling of the snow surface on anything not receiving direct sun.
We skied down to the Tram, which was nearly walk-on as the warm weather would keep many locals at home. We rode with patroller friend Steve, his wife heather, and Dean Cardinale, who chatted about trips to Kilimanjaro and Peru that he'd be leading again this summer. We all stepped out of the bucket at the summit, and Peter and I headed straight for Mineral Basin.
I wasn't as pleased as I'd hoped that I'd be by east-facing surfaces, so we instead followed the Powder Paradise traverse around to Hilary Step before dropping in, finding smooth, wind-buffed chalk on the north-facing aspect. I was on a mission to introduce Peter to as much of Snowbird's signature terrain as I could, yet avoiding areas that would be rather unpleasant to ski. Next up, therefore, was Great Scott.
The first 20 verts are bony, sidestepping and threading through rocks to reach the decent snow covering the rest of the run. Much like our first run in Mineral Basin, we found smooth, wind-buffed chalk -- smooth enough to go for a ride if you fell, but soft enough to set an edge into. Not bad at all!
Boarding Peruvian Express, it was time to show him the Peruvian Tunnel, so we slipped through the passage into Mineral Basin again, simply cruising down Lupine Loop to avoid any of the chunky nasties littering the rest of the eastern half of the Basin to return again to Mineral Basin Express. Still looking for north-facing, we headed out Road to Provo and traversed over to the short steeps of the Knucklehead Chutes, continuing all the way down to Creekside via Bassackwards and Big Emma to feel our thighs burn over the full 3,100 verts.
And burn they did! After our non-stop bell-to-bell marathon at Powder Mountain on Saturday, our legs were pretty much shot. Sunday was as much an exercise in determination as it was skiing, but we were on a mission that we needed to complete.
Next up: Gad 2. We decided to give ourselves a break and avoid the bumps on STH and Broomstick in favor of the gentler trees off Bananas. We again worked our way all the way down to the base of GadZoom, cruising some of the trails that wind to skier's right of Baby Thunder. I'd planned to ski the steep trees to skier's left of Bassackwards, to the right of Tigertail but much to my surprise they'd moved that gate significantly uphill. By the time I realized it, it was too late to drop in.
We cruised back to the Tram Plaza by way of Wilbere for a bite to eat on the patio. We bumped into Steve and Heather again, who advised that we had just missed Bobby Danger, who was heading over to Alta. We also learned that friend Denis, who is spending a month in Utah as part of his first winter in retirement, was at Alta for his first ski day while in town. Peter decided to purchase the AltaBird upgrade, and after I confirmed with Steve that the Baldy summit hike was closed, we headed back up the Tram to access the High Baldy Traverse.
We sped down Upper Chip's from the Tram to the Peruvian Ridge saddle. I'd told Peter to keep his speed up to gain as much elevation on the knife-edge ridge as possible before having to click out of his skis and start hiking. It was here, though, that I accomplished the day's objective of scaring him silly. There were some rather serious whoop-de-dos where the groomed path ended and the hike started. Peter got tossed into next week, but managed to stay on the ridge until coming to a stop. Once there, though, he sat down on the narrow ridge, with the cliffs and chutes of Chamonix spilling off to the south, and the steep trees above the Peruvian lift dropping away to the north. He clicked out of one ski, but being so flustered he failed to notice that he wasn't completely on the narrow spine's only flat spot. The ski began to slide off toward Peruvian Gulch before I instinctively dove onto it, digging my boot toes into the hillside as I smothered the ski with my whole body. :lol:
We completed the 5 or 10-minute hike to the High Baldy Traverse and clicked in. I cautioned Peter that the traverse across the west-facing slope was likely to be hard and icy, and that any slip off the traverse would likely result in an uncontrolled slide down West Baldy, which itself is speckled by cliff bands. Fortunately, though, the traverse had already begun to soften in the early afternoon sun and was not nearly as firm as I'd figured it would be. We rounded the ridge below Memorial Buttress and slipped through the Armpit Gate into Alta.
It was here that we found the run of the day. That high on Baldy Shoulder there were still but a few tracks in the fresh snow that had fallen on Thursday night. Peter enjoyed it despite being obviously still shaken from his experience on the Peruvian Ridge. The mid-boot powder was a pleasure until we hit the Baldy Traverse, then it was dry loose tracked-up snow down to Glitch. We phoned the posse and arranged for a meeting atop Collins, but we missed Denis by two minutes as he had to drive his eldest son to the airport. I'm looking forward to skiing with Denis again throughout the rest of his visit, as I haven't seen him in a good 8 years or so.
Along with the group which now included Marc_C, Amy, Pat and Bobby we headed back out the Baldy Traverse, returning to Tombstone, threading turns between the eight-foot trees that now have only 12" or so sticking out of the snow. One more good storm and they'll be completely buried. Back up Collins, we headed out Backside, but for something different skied a line just beyond Yellow Trail that was perfectly smooth.
Back atop Sugarloaf, Bobby, Peter and I returned to Snowbird via the Sugar Shack gate, and from Hidden Peak we carved a quick one down through Little Cloud Bowl. My legs by this point were losing what little they had left, but I was talked into riding Little Cloud back up for a run through the Mid-Cirque back to the truck. Before arriving there, however, I was the one who suggested extending our day by yet one more run, this time taking the mid-Baldy traverse from the top of Peruvian to lead Peter through the Eye of the Needle. Blackjack and Whodunit were wonderfully soft from the afternoon sun as we brought the day to an end at 3:45. We brought Bobby back to his truck at Alta and headed home, Peter completely satisfied by his four days in Utah.
No pix, no video. Sorry.
Fair-skinned houseguest Peter from Connecticut was wearing a bright red face mask from a sunny Saturday at Powder Mountain. He hadn't quite figured out the need for sunscreen at altitude, but perhaps now he has. Until Saturday, he hadn't skied anywhere in Utah outside of Alta, so for his last day this trip it only made sense to take him to the big bad boy of Utah skiing: Snowbird.
I promised to scare him silly for Sunday. We arrived on the Bypass Road around 9:15 under a thin overcast that was filtering the sun only slightly. It would probably be enough, however, to keep things from softening substantially despite temperatures that would reach 50 in the base area. The stiff breeze, too, would enhance the evaporational cooling of the snow surface on anything not receiving direct sun.
We skied down to the Tram, which was nearly walk-on as the warm weather would keep many locals at home. We rode with patroller friend Steve, his wife heather, and Dean Cardinale, who chatted about trips to Kilimanjaro and Peru that he'd be leading again this summer. We all stepped out of the bucket at the summit, and Peter and I headed straight for Mineral Basin.
I wasn't as pleased as I'd hoped that I'd be by east-facing surfaces, so we instead followed the Powder Paradise traverse around to Hilary Step before dropping in, finding smooth, wind-buffed chalk on the north-facing aspect. I was on a mission to introduce Peter to as much of Snowbird's signature terrain as I could, yet avoiding areas that would be rather unpleasant to ski. Next up, therefore, was Great Scott.
The first 20 verts are bony, sidestepping and threading through rocks to reach the decent snow covering the rest of the run. Much like our first run in Mineral Basin, we found smooth, wind-buffed chalk -- smooth enough to go for a ride if you fell, but soft enough to set an edge into. Not bad at all!
Boarding Peruvian Express, it was time to show him the Peruvian Tunnel, so we slipped through the passage into Mineral Basin again, simply cruising down Lupine Loop to avoid any of the chunky nasties littering the rest of the eastern half of the Basin to return again to Mineral Basin Express. Still looking for north-facing, we headed out Road to Provo and traversed over to the short steeps of the Knucklehead Chutes, continuing all the way down to Creekside via Bassackwards and Big Emma to feel our thighs burn over the full 3,100 verts.
And burn they did! After our non-stop bell-to-bell marathon at Powder Mountain on Saturday, our legs were pretty much shot. Sunday was as much an exercise in determination as it was skiing, but we were on a mission that we needed to complete.
Next up: Gad 2. We decided to give ourselves a break and avoid the bumps on STH and Broomstick in favor of the gentler trees off Bananas. We again worked our way all the way down to the base of GadZoom, cruising some of the trails that wind to skier's right of Baby Thunder. I'd planned to ski the steep trees to skier's left of Bassackwards, to the right of Tigertail but much to my surprise they'd moved that gate significantly uphill. By the time I realized it, it was too late to drop in.
We cruised back to the Tram Plaza by way of Wilbere for a bite to eat on the patio. We bumped into Steve and Heather again, who advised that we had just missed Bobby Danger, who was heading over to Alta. We also learned that friend Denis, who is spending a month in Utah as part of his first winter in retirement, was at Alta for his first ski day while in town. Peter decided to purchase the AltaBird upgrade, and after I confirmed with Steve that the Baldy summit hike was closed, we headed back up the Tram to access the High Baldy Traverse.
We sped down Upper Chip's from the Tram to the Peruvian Ridge saddle. I'd told Peter to keep his speed up to gain as much elevation on the knife-edge ridge as possible before having to click out of his skis and start hiking. It was here, though, that I accomplished the day's objective of scaring him silly. There were some rather serious whoop-de-dos where the groomed path ended and the hike started. Peter got tossed into next week, but managed to stay on the ridge until coming to a stop. Once there, though, he sat down on the narrow ridge, with the cliffs and chutes of Chamonix spilling off to the south, and the steep trees above the Peruvian lift dropping away to the north. He clicked out of one ski, but being so flustered he failed to notice that he wasn't completely on the narrow spine's only flat spot. The ski began to slide off toward Peruvian Gulch before I instinctively dove onto it, digging my boot toes into the hillside as I smothered the ski with my whole body. :lol:
We completed the 5 or 10-minute hike to the High Baldy Traverse and clicked in. I cautioned Peter that the traverse across the west-facing slope was likely to be hard and icy, and that any slip off the traverse would likely result in an uncontrolled slide down West Baldy, which itself is speckled by cliff bands. Fortunately, though, the traverse had already begun to soften in the early afternoon sun and was not nearly as firm as I'd figured it would be. We rounded the ridge below Memorial Buttress and slipped through the Armpit Gate into Alta.
It was here that we found the run of the day. That high on Baldy Shoulder there were still but a few tracks in the fresh snow that had fallen on Thursday night. Peter enjoyed it despite being obviously still shaken from his experience on the Peruvian Ridge. The mid-boot powder was a pleasure until we hit the Baldy Traverse, then it was dry loose tracked-up snow down to Glitch. We phoned the posse and arranged for a meeting atop Collins, but we missed Denis by two minutes as he had to drive his eldest son to the airport. I'm looking forward to skiing with Denis again throughout the rest of his visit, as I haven't seen him in a good 8 years or so.
Along with the group which now included Marc_C, Amy, Pat and Bobby we headed back out the Baldy Traverse, returning to Tombstone, threading turns between the eight-foot trees that now have only 12" or so sticking out of the snow. One more good storm and they'll be completely buried. Back up Collins, we headed out Backside, but for something different skied a line just beyond Yellow Trail that was perfectly smooth.
Back atop Sugarloaf, Bobby, Peter and I returned to Snowbird via the Sugar Shack gate, and from Hidden Peak we carved a quick one down through Little Cloud Bowl. My legs by this point were losing what little they had left, but I was talked into riding Little Cloud back up for a run through the Mid-Cirque back to the truck. Before arriving there, however, I was the one who suggested extending our day by yet one more run, this time taking the mid-Baldy traverse from the top of Peruvian to lead Peter through the Eye of the Needle. Blackjack and Whodunit were wonderfully soft from the afternoon sun as we brought the day to an end at 3:45. We brought Bobby back to his truck at Alta and headed home, Peter completely satisfied by his four days in Utah.
No pix, no video. Sorry.