Snowbird, Alta and Solitude, UT 3/3/07

[Admin]

Day 50: One day, two canyons, three ski areas

Looking out across Sugarloaf Pass at 3:30 pm yesterday I realized that Mineral Basin never opened at all yesterday. Snowbird therefore seemed like the obvious destination of choice for first thing this morning.

Unfortunately, it seems like all of Utah had the same idea.

At 8:30 a.m. parking on the bypass road was already full most of the way to the heli-port. The Kid and I skied down to the Tram Plaza for our planned meeting with Bob Dangerous and his houseguests, but Bob was nowhere to be found, so The Kid and took one look at the Tram line snaking through the entire corral, out to the back patio and out onto the Plaza, and headed for the new Peruvian Chair and tunnel instead to gain immediate access to Mineral.

Sure enough, the place was untracked, but the gazillion people back there made sure that it got tracked up in a hurry. The Kid joined me for one run out of the tunnel and one windbuffed run on Toad Hill before deciding that the 15-minute line for Mineral Basin Express was unbearable and headed for the front side. I decided to stick it out and developed a slimeball strategy of hunting down a group of three who were about four groups from the head of the line and asking to join them. It worked like a charm.

I just kept yo-yo'ing both MBE and Baldy Express, and on one run was so fortunate to be the first one out the Sugar Cliffs gate right as they opened it, gazing at acres of completely untracked beneath my feet. Nice!

Eventually I struck off through the Sugar Shack access and into Alta, skiing Ballroom down to Wildcat, up Wildcat and out the Keyhole back into Snowbird. Atop the Keyhole, The Kid called to tell me that he went to Brighton. Things were tracked out but I wasn't ready to quit, so after I tried to help a guy unbury his truck (the tow strap snapped) I drove down the canyon and up Big Cottonwood Canyon, where I met up with Marc_C, Pat, John and Amy at Solitude by 1:30.

We headed up Powderhorn and out the Parachute Gate, making our way over to Middle Slope for some lightly tracked with occasional untracked turns. John and I waited as Marc_C and Amy got cliffed out and hiked back up a bit to reach a skiable line, then we all boarded Summit. John and I headed out the highest Honeycomb traverse line to ski Voltaire, while the others took a lower traverse route. I ended up getting clotheslined while playing on either side of the rope separating Voltaire and Prince of Wales (it got stuck between my helmet and goggles, so I now have a very unique rope burn ), and we ended up regrouping at the Honeycomb Return lift for one more run back down to the parking lot, where I said my goodbyes at 3:30.

I called The Kid to see if he wanted a ride home, but crap-fer-brains went to Brighton without remembering that he didn't have his Brighton pass on him. No more day comps were available, so he sat all afternoon waiting for night skiing to start. :lol:

Sorry, no alti data today, for this crap-fer-brains forgot his watch this morning.

 

[JohnL]

We headed up Powderhorn and out the Parachute Gate, making our way over to Middle Slope for some lightly tracked with occasional untracked turns. John and I waited as Marc_C and Amy got cliffed out and hiked back up a bit to reach a skiable line, then we all boarded Summit.

There is usually some nice snow at the top of Middle Slope, but that mini cliff band 2/3 of the way down makes knowledge of the terrain essential. After several times getting into the same situatlon as Marc_C and Amy, I generally punt at the crux and follow other tracks, hoping they're not from someone who's willing to huck. There is one large rock outcropping that tracks often lead to; IIRC it is either at the lowest point of the draining funnel of Middle Slope or at the top of the ridge separting the Parachute and Middle Slope drainages. I'm sure I'll "find" it again in the near future.

I was spoiled the first time I explored that area in the winter of 05; the cliffs were filled in and you could ski almost anywhere. I found out the hard way the next year that 05 was atypical.

 

[Marc_C]

After several times getting into the same situatlon as Marc_C and Amy, I generally punt at the crux and follow other tracks, hoping they're not from someone who's willing to huck.

That was the problem - tracks led to the two options I had. Both were unskiable and unhuckable. (Right hand option had a tangle of branches above and roots below with a 15 footer onto a flat landing. Left option would have required a 90 degree change of direction in mid-air if hucked - something generally not possible without wings and control surfaces :wink: ) So sanity prevailed and I climbed the 20' or so of steep vertical out of there (which doesn't sound like much until you do it).