Pajarito-Bred
New member
Note: This post is an attempt at rebuiding the original, which was brutally whisked into the cold vacuum of cyberspace as I hit the "sumbit" button on Sunday. this time I'll ctrl^C it just in case
Snowbird Thurs. Jan 8th.
I've only skied Snowbird about 12 times over the past 35 years, but still appointed myself amateur guide for myself and girlfriend, who should know better than to follow me through gates. We splurged on the tram tix, took a warm-up down Chips, then into the bowl on the Road to Provo, where there was quite a bit of nice-looking untracked. Why is nobody skiing this, I wondered? Sucked into the trap, we found plenty of breakable crust, as the wind and snow of the the previous couple of days had abused the untracked. Under the top of Little Cloud, though, each turn was a different variety of wind-buff, and actually fun to ski. We found some very nice soft snow down low, both along Gad2 and Peruvian Gulch, and some nice lightly tracked powder in the cirque. Mineral basin was closed most of the day, we could see several slides from the top of LC chair, and a very large fracture line just to the left of the top of mineral basin chair (as seen from the lift). It was a great day, and the snowbird terrain is such a blast!
Alta, Friday, Jan 9th
Snow report was 8" new, and for our first run off Collins, that seemed accurate, as we could feel the underlying wind-blasted and sun-hammered crust underneath the fresh on the west-facing bowl above the Watson Shelter. The line at Collins looked long, so we spent 4 or 5 runs on Wildcat, where the conditions were excellent, felt like 18" deep, and the upper bowls/lower chutes and slots were full of grins. Next we headed over to supreme, as Sugarloaf gates were still closed, and found plenty more powder. The traverse back to Watson Shelter was brutally windy, but the brew and chili helped us forget. (I don't remember the shelter being such a nice place)
We took the high traverse out towards high rustler (too high, apparently, as we found ourselves staring into Greeley bowl, where the snow was fabulous. An even greater day!
I was amazed at the number of skiers on mega-fat boards like the K2 Pontoon, reverse camber, and backwards sidecut, I guess you could ski that light fluff on damn near anything, like whiskey-barrel staves (with one magnificent exception!). Too bad my license to laugh at ridiculous ski shapes has been revoked, since I just got a pair of Scotty-Bob "Fat Bastards" for telemark.
Snowbasin, Saturday, Jan 10th
Met up with some older and younger family for today, locals who know how to navigate the mountain. I hadn't skiied Snowbasin in decent snow conditions in about 10 years, there's been a couple of changes since then. We spent the morning on the fast groomers off the Needles gondola, as the winds at the top of Strawberry were fierce. there were some bits of nice wind-buff especially near the top. We took one run up the Olympic Tram (more like a Tram-dola) 15-passenger, single cable, no towers at all between the base and top stations.
Lunch at John Paul lodge was actually less spendy and better than Alta/Snowbird. The new lodges really test my tolerance for opulence, what with all the gold-plated chandeliers, granite cafeteria counters, red persian-rug-style carpeting, etc & etc. Yet another great day!
The terrain at all three areas is such a blast, and I got started thinking about how much of Colorado terrain consists of wide, smooth boulevards bulldozed through lodgepole pine forests, compared to the joy of exploring the chutes and slots and bowls, twists and turns of each Utah run.
Snowbird Thurs. Jan 8th.
I've only skied Snowbird about 12 times over the past 35 years, but still appointed myself amateur guide for myself and girlfriend, who should know better than to follow me through gates. We splurged on the tram tix, took a warm-up down Chips, then into the bowl on the Road to Provo, where there was quite a bit of nice-looking untracked. Why is nobody skiing this, I wondered? Sucked into the trap, we found plenty of breakable crust, as the wind and snow of the the previous couple of days had abused the untracked. Under the top of Little Cloud, though, each turn was a different variety of wind-buff, and actually fun to ski. We found some very nice soft snow down low, both along Gad2 and Peruvian Gulch, and some nice lightly tracked powder in the cirque. Mineral basin was closed most of the day, we could see several slides from the top of LC chair, and a very large fracture line just to the left of the top of mineral basin chair (as seen from the lift). It was a great day, and the snowbird terrain is such a blast!
Alta, Friday, Jan 9th
Snow report was 8" new, and for our first run off Collins, that seemed accurate, as we could feel the underlying wind-blasted and sun-hammered crust underneath the fresh on the west-facing bowl above the Watson Shelter. The line at Collins looked long, so we spent 4 or 5 runs on Wildcat, where the conditions were excellent, felt like 18" deep, and the upper bowls/lower chutes and slots were full of grins. Next we headed over to supreme, as Sugarloaf gates were still closed, and found plenty more powder. The traverse back to Watson Shelter was brutally windy, but the brew and chili helped us forget. (I don't remember the shelter being such a nice place)
We took the high traverse out towards high rustler (too high, apparently, as we found ourselves staring into Greeley bowl, where the snow was fabulous. An even greater day!
I was amazed at the number of skiers on mega-fat boards like the K2 Pontoon, reverse camber, and backwards sidecut, I guess you could ski that light fluff on damn near anything, like whiskey-barrel staves (with one magnificent exception!). Too bad my license to laugh at ridiculous ski shapes has been revoked, since I just got a pair of Scotty-Bob "Fat Bastards" for telemark.
Snowbasin, Saturday, Jan 10th
Met up with some older and younger family for today, locals who know how to navigate the mountain. I hadn't skiied Snowbasin in decent snow conditions in about 10 years, there's been a couple of changes since then. We spent the morning on the fast groomers off the Needles gondola, as the winds at the top of Strawberry were fierce. there were some bits of nice wind-buff especially near the top. We took one run up the Olympic Tram (more like a Tram-dola) 15-passenger, single cable, no towers at all between the base and top stations.
Lunch at John Paul lodge was actually less spendy and better than Alta/Snowbird. The new lodges really test my tolerance for opulence, what with all the gold-plated chandeliers, granite cafeteria counters, red persian-rug-style carpeting, etc & etc. Yet another great day!
The terrain at all three areas is such a blast, and I got started thinking about how much of Colorado terrain consists of wide, smooth boulevards bulldozed through lodgepole pine forests, compared to the joy of exploring the chutes and slots and bowls, twists and turns of each Utah run.
