Day 62: No farming required.
Let's have a look at some current conditions as I'm writing this, shall we?
Rutland, VT: 83.2ºF
Burlington, VT: 80.5ºF
Montreal: 81.0ºF
North Conway, NH: 79.2ºF
Kingfield, ME: 79.0ºF
Snowbird, UT: 21.0ºF
:stir:
Face shots on May 22nd. Bottomless untracked powder on May 22nd. 100% of terrain skiable on May 22nd. \
/
Did I mention it was May 22nd? :-s
I awoke this morning and observed that the snow/rain line sat a mere 500-700 vertical feet above my house, which is right smack at 5,000 feet. I dressed early and got moving, for Snowbird is now open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. to maximize snow quality. Dale and I hopped into the truck and headed up.
The morning report said only 2", but it was clear that far more fell, even at the base:
They're now saying 5", but that's still drastically understated. It was more like 9" or so and surprisingly fluffy. And for the first few hours that the mountain was open today, ridiculously empty.
How empty? How about during a 9:30 a.m. ride on Little Cloud when there was only one other person riding the entire lift besides us? At 10:00 a.m., after being open for two hours already, we laid the absolute first tracks down the very middle of Little Cloud Bowl, directly beneath the chair! We didn't even bother thinking about searching out untracked snow, or farming our lines -- it was untracked everywhere.
It was just ridiculous. This would've been a decent day in February. And did I mention that it was May 22nd?
New snow depths varied widely. Out Hyena Ridge in Mineral Basin it was only a few inches deep and you were riding the firm yet perfectly smooth base underneath.
Out in Whoopsies and the Rasta Chutes it was literally bottomless and untracked.
Too bad that I didn't get any action shots as my camera batteries died, after which I just shot a couple more pics with my cell phone.
The highlight of the day, though, was a trip out to Gad 2, skiing a completely untracked, unblemished and bottomless Gadzooks and Carbonite top to bottom, right before lunch.
Edit: Here's what the SnowCam looks like on the website -- note that it's snowing again now: \/
After lunch we ventured out to Snowbird East, finding Armpit now a little chunky that it had been skied and the snow was quickly wetting. We were redeemed, however, with perfectly smooth and absolutely untracked snow all the way down through Wildcat trees. It was then time to head home. Of course, in the Valley where trees are fully leafed out, folks were biking, playing golf, etc.
The forecast for this week?
Tomorrow just might be a repeat of today! And Snowbird just extended to June 20.
Let's have a look at some current conditions as I'm writing this, shall we?
Rutland, VT: 83.2ºF
Burlington, VT: 80.5ºF
Montreal: 81.0ºF
North Conway, NH: 79.2ºF
Kingfield, ME: 79.0ºF
Snowbird, UT: 21.0ºF
:stir:
Face shots on May 22nd. Bottomless untracked powder on May 22nd. 100% of terrain skiable on May 22nd. \
/ Did I mention it was May 22nd? :-s
I awoke this morning and observed that the snow/rain line sat a mere 500-700 vertical feet above my house, which is right smack at 5,000 feet. I dressed early and got moving, for Snowbird is now open 8 a.m.-2 p.m. to maximize snow quality. Dale and I hopped into the truck and headed up.
The morning report said only 2", but it was clear that far more fell, even at the base:
They're now saying 5", but that's still drastically understated. It was more like 9" or so and surprisingly fluffy. And for the first few hours that the mountain was open today, ridiculously empty.
How empty? How about during a 9:30 a.m. ride on Little Cloud when there was only one other person riding the entire lift besides us? At 10:00 a.m., after being open for two hours already, we laid the absolute first tracks down the very middle of Little Cloud Bowl, directly beneath the chair! We didn't even bother thinking about searching out untracked snow, or farming our lines -- it was untracked everywhere.
It was just ridiculous. This would've been a decent day in February. And did I mention that it was May 22nd?
New snow depths varied widely. Out Hyena Ridge in Mineral Basin it was only a few inches deep and you were riding the firm yet perfectly smooth base underneath.
Out in Whoopsies and the Rasta Chutes it was literally bottomless and untracked.
Too bad that I didn't get any action shots as my camera batteries died, after which I just shot a couple more pics with my cell phone.
The highlight of the day, though, was a trip out to Gad 2, skiing a completely untracked, unblemished and bottomless Gadzooks and Carbonite top to bottom, right before lunch.
Edit: Here's what the SnowCam looks like on the website -- note that it's snowing again now: \
/ After lunch we ventured out to Snowbird East, finding Armpit now a little chunky that it had been skied and the snow was quickly wetting. We were redeemed, however, with perfectly smooth and absolutely untracked snow all the way down through Wildcat trees. It was then time to head home. Of course, in the Valley where trees are fully leafed out, folks were biking, playing golf, etc.
The forecast for this week?
Tomorrow just might be a repeat of today! And Snowbird just extended to June 20.
and the weather cams well really aren't comparable cause there ain't nowhere like here ... tomorrow morn. should be stellar with a few inches tonight and some wind . ow ya i almost forgot the three trams and the armpit gate run into snowbird east back through a westward ho gate while the others skied the ridge down and around to snowbird. top half of tombstone slide a bit but the bottom half was perfection and smooooth !!!!
