Day 51: Refugees.
Yes, we were refugees from LCC yesterday, along with what seemed like half of Alta and Snowbird's season passholders. Snowbasin is offering a $12 discount with any other Utah season pass, which brings the midweek late season price down to $41. On top of that, there are no avalanche-prone canyon roads to negotiate to get there. So when the storm of the season dropped 38" in 24 hours on Alta (storm total 50") and LCC Road remained closed all day yesterday with the Town of Alta in full Interlodge and Snowbird running only Chickadee, escaping to Snowbasin seemed like a logical choice for many.
As a result, the place was far busier than I expected yesterday. The only liftlines were at the Needles Gondola at opening time, but still...the storm's 23" of new snow was tracked up more quickly than I had anticipated, even in some more obscure locations. So we just spent an inordinate amount of time in the trees, which was the right call anyway for the upper mountain was still fairly well socked in for the day, which kept visibility limited in big wide open areas. The new snow was fairly dense as well, so you tended to sink up to shin deep onto the wetter layer that fell in the storm's initial stages.
Don't mistake me, though -- it felt like full-on winter instead of early April, and skiing two feet of new was positively divine. We went bell to bell with only one 15-minute stop to pick up Bobby Danger at 12:30, and we were one of the last groups off the mountain at 4:15 p.m., still finding untracked right to the very end.
Yes, we were refugees from LCC yesterday, along with what seemed like half of Alta and Snowbird's season passholders. Snowbasin is offering a $12 discount with any other Utah season pass, which brings the midweek late season price down to $41. On top of that, there are no avalanche-prone canyon roads to negotiate to get there. So when the storm of the season dropped 38" in 24 hours on Alta (storm total 50") and LCC Road remained closed all day yesterday with the Town of Alta in full Interlodge and Snowbird running only Chickadee, escaping to Snowbasin seemed like a logical choice for many.
As a result, the place was far busier than I expected yesterday. The only liftlines were at the Needles Gondola at opening time, but still...the storm's 23" of new snow was tracked up more quickly than I had anticipated, even in some more obscure locations. So we just spent an inordinate amount of time in the trees, which was the right call anyway for the upper mountain was still fairly well socked in for the day, which kept visibility limited in big wide open areas. The new snow was fairly dense as well, so you tended to sink up to shin deep onto the wetter layer that fell in the storm's initial stages.
Don't mistake me, though -- it felt like full-on winter instead of early April, and skiing two feet of new was positively divine. We went bell to bell with only one 15-minute stop to pick up Bobby Danger at 12:30, and we were one of the last groups off the mountain at 4:15 p.m., still finding untracked right to the very end.
