baldyskier
Member
(I apologize for the mixed up post- I don't do this enough)
Snow Basin, 2/8/2014
Only beginner Lift was open at 9:00, with more to open at 9:45. Wind was high, though, and Snow Basin decided to close for the day. We got weather vouchers and headed back down for lunch.
Solitude 2/9/2014
Road said chains or 4WD, but storm was warm and bus lot was full, so we drove up w/o incident.
There was powder in the trees off Powderhorn 2 Lift. Summit Lift had good snow, although was more skied off in spots. Traversing further out led to more steepness.
I wiped out in an especially steep part. My skis stayed on but my right pole came off. I staged my skis in front of a tree and struggled to climb up about 30' in deep and steep to look for the pole, to no avail. My first time at Solitude, and I was impressed. Plenty of powder, and some challenging terrain off Summit.
Snow Basin, 2/10/2014
We decided to go back to SB today to use the weather voucher from Saturday's wind closure. SB had received around 4-5" of new snow overnight. It was hero snow on top of a harder base where yesterday's crowd had skied on ungroomed areas off Strawberry Lift. Closer to the bottom the ungroomed areas were hard enough underneath that it was best to head to the groomed areas to get back to the lift.
We headed for John Paul Lift, then on up the Mt. Allen Tram. There was a fair amount of powder on the top. I hiked up NoName. The upper portion was excellent, but the lower section was not so nice, as the surface was hard and the going more tedious.
Later I took the same lifts again, but headed down at the Women's Downhill start house. The powder was nice once again. I worked my way further to skier's right after that, and was able to find a mixture of some nice powder in the trees, then some sections of the tedious harder surface.
We had lunch a the John Paul Lodge, which is always a treat. The weather was windy with some fog.
The sun shone through at times in the morning, degrading the powder on the women's downhill run.
I headed over to Middle Bowl to avoid having to go all the way to the bottom and found great powder in the trees.
Powder Mountain, 2/11/2014
Powder was closed on Saturday and Sunday due to an avalanched that blocked the access road. We started skiing at about 9:30 this morning, making our way to Hidden Lakes Lift from the main lodge. Hidden Lakes area was open on Monday, so it was mostly skied off with some powder occasionally in the trees. We went on over to Sunrise Lift, which just opened today. The Poma Lift line was quite long (about 15 minutes), but the powder was worth it. The weather was somewhat windy, overcast and oftentimes foggy, with snow falling at times. On my 2nd time doing Sunrise I opted to hike up, avoiding the Poma Lift line. As I got toward the area that gives access to Cobabe Canyon a patrolman announced that the Paradise Lift was open, and that he was therefore able to open the Cobabe area. The powder was nice and deep (not super-light, but it skied like a dream). I went up the Paradise Left, then back across to Hidden Lakes Lift. The slope in between still had good powder. I went back up to the Sunrise Lift, which almost deserted (more empty Pomas than occupied). Apparently everyone had gone to the slopes under Paradise. I took a look at that terrain next time I went back up, but opted to go back to Cobabe once again. Though there were more tracks, lots of fresh powder was there for the taking. This was a great day; Powder Mountain came through for me, yet again. My friend Jeff, who had skied with me in Utah last year (on older, narrow skis), had new equipment this year, and was instantly hooked on powder skiing.
Snow Basin, 2/8/2014
Only beginner Lift was open at 9:00, with more to open at 9:45. Wind was high, though, and Snow Basin decided to close for the day. We got weather vouchers and headed back down for lunch.
Solitude 2/9/2014
Road said chains or 4WD, but storm was warm and bus lot was full, so we drove up w/o incident.
There was powder in the trees off Powderhorn 2 Lift. Summit Lift had good snow, although was more skied off in spots. Traversing further out led to more steepness.
I wiped out in an especially steep part. My skis stayed on but my right pole came off. I staged my skis in front of a tree and struggled to climb up about 30' in deep and steep to look for the pole, to no avail. My first time at Solitude, and I was impressed. Plenty of powder, and some challenging terrain off Summit.
Snow Basin, 2/10/2014
We decided to go back to SB today to use the weather voucher from Saturday's wind closure. SB had received around 4-5" of new snow overnight. It was hero snow on top of a harder base where yesterday's crowd had skied on ungroomed areas off Strawberry Lift. Closer to the bottom the ungroomed areas were hard enough underneath that it was best to head to the groomed areas to get back to the lift.
We headed for John Paul Lift, then on up the Mt. Allen Tram. There was a fair amount of powder on the top. I hiked up NoName. The upper portion was excellent, but the lower section was not so nice, as the surface was hard and the going more tedious.
Later I took the same lifts again, but headed down at the Women's Downhill start house. The powder was nice once again. I worked my way further to skier's right after that, and was able to find a mixture of some nice powder in the trees, then some sections of the tedious harder surface.
We had lunch a the John Paul Lodge, which is always a treat. The weather was windy with some fog.
The sun shone through at times in the morning, degrading the powder on the women's downhill run.
I headed over to Middle Bowl to avoid having to go all the way to the bottom and found great powder in the trees.
Powder Mountain, 2/11/2014
Powder was closed on Saturday and Sunday due to an avalanched that blocked the access road. We started skiing at about 9:30 this morning, making our way to Hidden Lakes Lift from the main lodge. Hidden Lakes area was open on Monday, so it was mostly skied off with some powder occasionally in the trees. We went on over to Sunrise Lift, which just opened today. The Poma Lift line was quite long (about 15 minutes), but the powder was worth it. The weather was somewhat windy, overcast and oftentimes foggy, with snow falling at times. On my 2nd time doing Sunrise I opted to hike up, avoiding the Poma Lift line. As I got toward the area that gives access to Cobabe Canyon a patrolman announced that the Paradise Lift was open, and that he was therefore able to open the Cobabe area. The powder was nice and deep (not super-light, but it skied like a dream). I went up the Paradise Left, then back across to Hidden Lakes Lift. The slope in between still had good powder. I went back up to the Sunrise Lift, which almost deserted (more empty Pomas than occupied). Apparently everyone had gone to the slopes under Paradise. I took a look at that terrain next time I went back up, but opted to go back to Cobabe once again. Though there were more tracks, lots of fresh powder was there for the taking. This was a great day; Powder Mountain came through for me, yet again. My friend Jeff, who had skied with me in Utah last year (on older, narrow skis), had new equipment this year, and was instantly hooked on powder skiing.
