admin would no doubt be amused that the Needles gondola maze at Snowbasin was full all day until 3PM. Of course it was <5 minutes in the singles line. The reason for this was that Strawberry was closed all day for wind.
It was otherwise warm and sunny, and the snow was much better than I expected with the east exposure, packed powder on most runs with some softening lower down midday. It was a day mainly for groomers, particularly enjoyable in the early morning with a thin layer of wind sift on top. With Strawberry closed the main blue runs near Needles saw a lot of traffic, and had quite a few moguls in spots by afternoon. Some of us figured out that about 1,500 vertical of Main Street was still accessible without the Strawberry lift, and it was great all day long with minimal traffic.
I did a few runs on John Paul for steeper and/or ungroomed terrain. The lower part was sketchy, but there was a well-defined traverse out through the trees to the middle of the Grizzly Downhill, which is now an ungroomed bowl, and from there you can reach the lower part of Wildflower Downhill to ski the lower mountain. The tram was closed for wind but opened in early afternoon for some nice pics and a short and steep mogul run near the tram line.
My last run on John Paul I tempted fate by skiing the chair liftline in the middle section. I spotted another traverse track, but this one was much rougher, with sideslip sections and much deciduous brush. It ended on the lower part of the Grizzly Downhill, which was quite brushy but clear enough to get down. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago the Olympic Men were schussing this slope.
Like Powder Mt. yesterday, this may have been as big a crowd as you get at the quiet Ogden Mts. But even with the lift closures I managed 26,800 by 3:45PM.
It was otherwise warm and sunny, and the snow was much better than I expected with the east exposure, packed powder on most runs with some softening lower down midday. It was a day mainly for groomers, particularly enjoyable in the early morning with a thin layer of wind sift on top. With Strawberry closed the main blue runs near Needles saw a lot of traffic, and had quite a few moguls in spots by afternoon. Some of us figured out that about 1,500 vertical of Main Street was still accessible without the Strawberry lift, and it was great all day long with minimal traffic.
I did a few runs on John Paul for steeper and/or ungroomed terrain. The lower part was sketchy, but there was a well-defined traverse out through the trees to the middle of the Grizzly Downhill, which is now an ungroomed bowl, and from there you can reach the lower part of Wildflower Downhill to ski the lower mountain. The tram was closed for wind but opened in early afternoon for some nice pics and a short and steep mogul run near the tram line.
My last run on John Paul I tempted fate by skiing the chair liftline in the middle section. I spotted another traverse track, but this one was much rougher, with sideslip sections and much deciduous brush. It ended on the lower part of the Grizzly Downhill, which was quite brushy but clear enough to get down. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago the Olympic Men were schussing this slope.
Like Powder Mt. yesterday, this may have been as big a crowd as you get at the quiet Ogden Mts. But even with the lift closures I managed 26,800 by 3:45PM.