Wednesday was supposed to be the coldest day but that’s not the way it worked out. This is 9:09AM Thursday:
There was solid overcast all day long. It was predicted to warm up in the afternoon, but the clouds got thicker with an occasional flurry. This was 1:01PM
The base temp reading later got to +3F. But the key difference between Wednesday and Thursday was losing the sun. I had my glove liners on as soon as I booted up, and around 11AM I switched from gloves to mittens. But we still had a full day of skiing due to frequent use of the Bridger gondola, which ran a reasonable 5 minute line all day. The weather did limit my use of the camera though.
Liz and I skied Gros Ventre from the Bridger gondola before meeting Tseeb’s friend Cary and his son Jordan. Unlike Tseeb and me, they are both working so Cary gets about 10 ski days per season and Jordan maybe half as many. Cary’s cousin Michelle is a Jackson instructor so she led the way until Cary and Jordan had to leave about 1PM to catch their flight home.
We all skied from the gondola to Thunder chair, where Liz had to bail for awhile because the inside of her goggles fogged and then froze. This happened to me at Mustang once and the only solution is to blow dry it with hot air.
We skied Amphitheater and Grand and then Michelle led us on North Colter Ridge, which was Cary and Jordan’s first run on the Lower Faces. Michelle:
Jordan
Cary:
Meanwhile Liz fixed her goggles and took a gondola run before rejoining us. The five of us took two more gondola runs on Gros Ventre and Ranger.
Liz had reached the point I have experienced a couple of times on cold days in Canada. She wanted to minimize groomers which create wind chill and take Lower Face runs which would be warmer and with good visibility. We rode Bridger and Thunder and skied Grand to Lower Sublette Ridge. Liz on Lower Sublette:
For our last run after riding Brdger and Thunder again she went looking for South Colter but ended up in Lander Bowl.
I ventured into Paintbrush. Like some of the Snowbird steeps there were quite a few rocks to avoid, but fortunately I navigated Paintbrush much better than I had the Upper Cirque on Sunday. View of cliff band and exit bowl below Paintbrush:
I skied 26,500 vertical Thursday.
There was solid overcast all day long. It was predicted to warm up in the afternoon, but the clouds got thicker with an occasional flurry. This was 1:01PM
The base temp reading later got to +3F. But the key difference between Wednesday and Thursday was losing the sun. I had my glove liners on as soon as I booted up, and around 11AM I switched from gloves to mittens. But we still had a full day of skiing due to frequent use of the Bridger gondola, which ran a reasonable 5 minute line all day. The weather did limit my use of the camera though.
Liz and I skied Gros Ventre from the Bridger gondola before meeting Tseeb’s friend Cary and his son Jordan. Unlike Tseeb and me, they are both working so Cary gets about 10 ski days per season and Jordan maybe half as many. Cary’s cousin Michelle is a Jackson instructor so she led the way until Cary and Jordan had to leave about 1PM to catch their flight home.
We all skied from the gondola to Thunder chair, where Liz had to bail for awhile because the inside of her goggles fogged and then froze. This happened to me at Mustang once and the only solution is to blow dry it with hot air.
We skied Amphitheater and Grand and then Michelle led us on North Colter Ridge, which was Cary and Jordan’s first run on the Lower Faces. Michelle:
Jordan
Cary:
Meanwhile Liz fixed her goggles and took a gondola run before rejoining us. The five of us took two more gondola runs on Gros Ventre and Ranger.
Liz had reached the point I have experienced a couple of times on cold days in Canada. She wanted to minimize groomers which create wind chill and take Lower Face runs which would be warmer and with good visibility. We rode Bridger and Thunder and skied Grand to Lower Sublette Ridge. Liz on Lower Sublette:
For our last run after riding Brdger and Thunder again she went looking for South Colter but ended up in Lander Bowl.
I ventured into Paintbrush. Like some of the Snowbird steeps there were quite a few rocks to avoid, but fortunately I navigated Paintbrush much better than I had the Upper Cirque on Sunday. View of cliff band and exit bowl below Paintbrush:
I skied 26,500 vertical Thursday.