There was an upside to yesterday's closures. A large contingent of our Iron Blosam group went up the tram at 9:45. I went into patrol shack to get ETA's for Road to Provo and Bookends. No need, both opened within minutes of our arrival. We all made a beeline for Road to Provo, but chose our own lines. I dropped off the road about halfway out and the powder layer there was not deep enough to prevent bottoming on the old crust. So I traversed left to lower angle for round 1 of untracked. My next 3 runs were out the Rasta/Knucklehead traverse. Run #2 had a logjam at the end of Road to Provo, so I dropped off to get the lower traverse. The Little Cloud lift line was beyond the end of the maze only at the end of this run and surprisingly decreased after that. I thought I would have to go to the end of that traverse to get fresh tracks, but it didn't turn out that way. Admin might not have liked the aesthetics of not having ours be the only tracks, but Rasta/Knucklehead is expansive enough that I was skiing powder only turns all the way down all 3 runs before I decided to check out the Bookends. I was concerned that I would burn out quickly after yesterday but the snow out there was still light and didn't take that much effort.
It turned out the rest of our group had only taken 1 or 2 Little Cloud runs before heading into Mineral Basin. Just as I finished climbing Hillary Step, Adam, Ben and Eddie appeared behind me. As the area had been open over an hour we traversed fairly far out before Adam ripped the open bowl down to tree line in a few seconds. I followed more deliberately, as the snow was still powder turns but a bit heavier than off Little Cloud. I found some lighter snow near those trees and then followed Adam to the chair. Ben came in a bit later as he was watching someone launch 20+ feet of air off a rock above the line we skied. We then took our own lines in Little Cloud again, and Adam and I went back up for one more as we still had time before the scheduled lunch regroup at the Tram Plaza at 1PM.
Many of us were slowing down after the past 1 1/2 days. But we heard Tigertail was also open, and I figured that would be the last hurrah for me. So up the tram, down through Little Cloud, where I still found fresh far out the Rasta/Knucklehead traverse. The locals had all been out yesterday; I don't think many of them were around today. I cruised to Gad 2, but only Michael and Amy showed up soon. Adam & company took one more Little Cloud lap. Tigertail is always an endurance test for me and today was little different. I pushed the traverses far enough out to get lightly tracked instead of chowder, but eventually ended in some steep and tight trees. Fortunately there was enough snow in there to slow me down. Reaching the last pitch above the top of Baby Thunder I once again traversed left to get less tracked snow. I met Amy at the base of Baby Thunder and the rest of the crew (Michael bailed as his ACL reconstructed knee was complaining a lot after Tigertail) at the top of our ride up. Up Gadzoom Eddie set a line skier's right of the gun tower for us to get up there and get a few more tracks. After that I called it a day at 3:20, which pleased me as it was quite a bit longer than I thought I would last after Admin's tour yesterday. 18,700, 9K of powder, admittedly under more competitive conditions than yesterday.
It turned out the rest of our group had only taken 1 or 2 Little Cloud runs before heading into Mineral Basin. Just as I finished climbing Hillary Step, Adam, Ben and Eddie appeared behind me. As the area had been open over an hour we traversed fairly far out before Adam ripped the open bowl down to tree line in a few seconds. I followed more deliberately, as the snow was still powder turns but a bit heavier than off Little Cloud. I found some lighter snow near those trees and then followed Adam to the chair. Ben came in a bit later as he was watching someone launch 20+ feet of air off a rock above the line we skied. We then took our own lines in Little Cloud again, and Adam and I went back up for one more as we still had time before the scheduled lunch regroup at the Tram Plaza at 1PM.
Many of us were slowing down after the past 1 1/2 days. But we heard Tigertail was also open, and I figured that would be the last hurrah for me. So up the tram, down through Little Cloud, where I still found fresh far out the Rasta/Knucklehead traverse. The locals had all been out yesterday; I don't think many of them were around today. I cruised to Gad 2, but only Michael and Amy showed up soon. Adam & company took one more Little Cloud lap. Tigertail is always an endurance test for me and today was little different. I pushed the traverses far enough out to get lightly tracked instead of chowder, but eventually ended in some steep and tight trees. Fortunately there was enough snow in there to slow me down. Reaching the last pitch above the top of Baby Thunder I once again traversed left to get less tracked snow. I met Amy at the base of Baby Thunder and the rest of the crew (Michael bailed as his ACL reconstructed knee was complaining a lot after Tigertail) at the top of our ride up. Up Gadzoom Eddie set a line skier's right of the gun tower for us to get up there and get a few more tracks. After that I called it a day at 3:20, which pleased me as it was quite a bit longer than I thought I would last after Admin's tour yesterday. 18,700, 9K of powder, admittedly under more competitive conditions than yesterday.
here.