Never say quit.
As most of you know, Snowbird called it a season on Monday, July 4. This year, however, they've agreed to allow skis and snowboards on its summer scenic tram rides for those with a partner, shovel, beacon and probe, and willing to sign a liability waiver. Getting a lift to the top of 10,992-foot Hidden Peak sure makes the morning hike a lot easier! 14 year-old son Michaël and I planned to first drop into Mineral Basin for an early morning run, then we'd head back up to Peruvian Ridge (Michaël on snowshoes, me on skins) and on up to Baldy. Marc_C stayed home -- he's decided that his season is in the can.
It sure was a different scene this morning when we arrived at the Tram Plaza this morning. No more than a half dozen people were milling around, and only one with skis. The tram was supposed to depart at 10:30, but some casual repairs to Cabin 1 pushed that back to 10:45. We had a late start ourselves -- Michaël didn't arrive for the summer until the wee hours of Wednesday morning of this week, and the kid's growing like a weed. His ski boots no longer fit, and finding a pair of rental boots in Salt Lake at this time of year was a challenge, to say the least. Eventually we found a pair at Utah Ski & Golf's downtown location, and headed up canyon a bit more than an hour later than planned.
A whopping seven of us filled the tram cabin during the ascent, and three were employees. One other skier was on board, headed for the east-facing snowfields below Pipeline. A hiker on board was gunning for the top of American Fork Twin Peaks, but only after first detouring to the base of a cliff to retrieve a frying pan dropped during a ski-season BBQ. Our late arrival canned our planned first run into Mineral Basin. We therefore went straight to run #2: Baldy Main Chute.
We skied down Chip's run to the low point on the Peruvian Ridge at 10,550, then hiked up to 11,068-foot Mount Baldy. It was the usual 45 minute hike, mostly on sharp scree. Beautiful flowers bloomed amongst the tundra: white, yellow and purple. We paused for a few moments on top before traversing over to Main Chute, requiring a short walk across bare rock between Little Chute and Main.
Funny, though: Main Chute didn't look much different than it did 6 weeks ago. Sure, the snow has receded a bit from the rock walls lining the chute, making the choke point even narrower, but for the most part it skied the same way as it did in May. It was Michaël's first time down Main, and his nerves were humming a bit at the top, but after his first couple of turns managed to calm down and enjoy the rest of the chute. 800 vertical feet later, we were now back in-bounds at the closed Alta Ski Area.
After dropping Harold's on the apron, we traversed a hard left and worked our way over to Wildcat where the snow ran out. A short 50-yard walk brought us back to snow, where we found a continuous ribbon to a point under the Wildcat chair that required us to remove our skis for another 50 yards to access Wildcat Gully. The Gully held continuous snow all the way back to the base.
A nearly 3,000 vertical-foot descent, with only two 50-yard walks, in mid-July. Uh-huh!! \
/
This will likely do it for me for July. I'll start hunting for patches of skiable snow for the first weekend in August.
As most of you know, Snowbird called it a season on Monday, July 4. This year, however, they've agreed to allow skis and snowboards on its summer scenic tram rides for those with a partner, shovel, beacon and probe, and willing to sign a liability waiver. Getting a lift to the top of 10,992-foot Hidden Peak sure makes the morning hike a lot easier! 14 year-old son Michaël and I planned to first drop into Mineral Basin for an early morning run, then we'd head back up to Peruvian Ridge (Michaël on snowshoes, me on skins) and on up to Baldy. Marc_C stayed home -- he's decided that his season is in the can.
It sure was a different scene this morning when we arrived at the Tram Plaza this morning. No more than a half dozen people were milling around, and only one with skis. The tram was supposed to depart at 10:30, but some casual repairs to Cabin 1 pushed that back to 10:45. We had a late start ourselves -- Michaël didn't arrive for the summer until the wee hours of Wednesday morning of this week, and the kid's growing like a weed. His ski boots no longer fit, and finding a pair of rental boots in Salt Lake at this time of year was a challenge, to say the least. Eventually we found a pair at Utah Ski & Golf's downtown location, and headed up canyon a bit more than an hour later than planned.
A whopping seven of us filled the tram cabin during the ascent, and three were employees. One other skier was on board, headed for the east-facing snowfields below Pipeline. A hiker on board was gunning for the top of American Fork Twin Peaks, but only after first detouring to the base of a cliff to retrieve a frying pan dropped during a ski-season BBQ. Our late arrival canned our planned first run into Mineral Basin. We therefore went straight to run #2: Baldy Main Chute.
We skied down Chip's run to the low point on the Peruvian Ridge at 10,550, then hiked up to 11,068-foot Mount Baldy. It was the usual 45 minute hike, mostly on sharp scree. Beautiful flowers bloomed amongst the tundra: white, yellow and purple. We paused for a few moments on top before traversing over to Main Chute, requiring a short walk across bare rock between Little Chute and Main.
Funny, though: Main Chute didn't look much different than it did 6 weeks ago. Sure, the snow has receded a bit from the rock walls lining the chute, making the choke point even narrower, but for the most part it skied the same way as it did in May. It was Michaël's first time down Main, and his nerves were humming a bit at the top, but after his first couple of turns managed to calm down and enjoy the rest of the chute. 800 vertical feet later, we were now back in-bounds at the closed Alta Ski Area.
After dropping Harold's on the apron, we traversed a hard left and worked our way over to Wildcat where the snow ran out. A short 50-yard walk brought us back to snow, where we found a continuous ribbon to a point under the Wildcat chair that required us to remove our skis for another 50 yards to access Wildcat Gully. The Gully held continuous snow all the way back to the base.
A nearly 3,000 vertical-foot descent, with only two 50-yard walks, in mid-July. Uh-huh!! \
/ This will likely do it for me for July. I'll start hunting for patches of skiable snow for the first weekend in August.
Attachments
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11 alta wildcat gully michael 050709.jpg -
10 alta baldy 050709.jpg -
09 alta michael main chute bottom 050709.jpg -
08 alta michael main chute 050709.jpg -
07 alta michael main chute 050709.jpg -
06 alta michael main chute 050709.jpg -
05 alta main chute 050709.jpg -
04A snowbird admin & son atop baldy 050709.jpg -
04 snowbird mineral 050709.jpg -
03 snowbird hidden peak from baldy 050709.jpg -
02 snowbird michael baldy hike 050709.jpg -
01 snowbird cirque 050709.jpg
