This was the second year in a row that Iron Blosam week was skunked with zero new snow. Nonetheless the weather warmed gradually and skiing was very good early, pretty good late in the week and only bad with the weekend cooldown after we all left. Sunday was sunny but only in the 30's so I estimate that only about 30% of Snowbird melt/froze. North facing, even very low on the mountain, remained packed powder on an overcast Monday into Tuesday.
On Monday nearly 30 of us loaded into one tram after the usual 10AM meetup. I watched Adam negotiate Jaws' chokepoint carefully and decided I didn't need to do that for my first run and moved down to Shot 12 on the Upper Cirque. Most of the group followed Ed Meisner down Chip's we we regrouped at Anderson's Hill. The younger group was doing Green Forest, so I brought Liz along for that as she had had not been there with us on Sunday.
Liz and rejoined Ed's group at Gadzoom and headed up to Little Cloud. Once was enough up there as there was a strong upslope wind sandblasting us nearly the entire length of Road to Provo. We continued through the right side Black Forest gate into very nice snow in the Organ Grinder area. Just before lunch we skied Tigertail.
One more tram after lunch (top was windy but not as bad as Little Cloud) and down Silver Fox. This year Rock Chute had nice snow; last year it was tight in there and we usually traversed left into more open open slopes to bypass it. Monday afternoon after lunch I was with Adam's group for awhile while Liz was with Ed's group. Eventually I left them and skied a last run with Liz on Peruvian from Upper Primrose to Hotfoot Gully and finishing with Waterfall. The latter had a chokepoint to step over rocks but the snow was still good down there. With wind and overcast, not good for pictures but very good skiing. 16,900 vertical
Tuesday was mostly sunny with a warmup into the 40's, but even at the end of the day Snowbird remained about half packed powder. Liz and I were with Ed's group all day. In the morning we had 3 runs into Middle Cirque, which had a nice layer of windsift from the day before, particularly in the sheltered chutes far skier's right.
Sending the same group of 10 down there 3 times packed out the windsift, though on the 3rd run I took the run down the ropeline to get some more. The second run I skied Shot 11 of the Upper Cirque, which did not have as much windsift as mid-Cirque.
Liz had issues with the highest mid-Cirque entry, preferred this one though there were more small rocks to avoid at the top.
First run we continued down Dalton's and lower Dalton's.
We liked these lower Peruvian runs today, and we knew they wouldn't have winter snow much longer as it continued to warm.
Ed led the usual before lunch run on Tigertail. Liz's favorite section was the softer snow in these trees.
Lower down we showed some of the newcomers this year Baby Thunder. I expected crunchy snow down there, but Tiny Tiger was pretty decent.
After lunch we headed up to Little Cloud in far more hospitable weather than Monday. Excellent snow in Whoopsie's
Andrew is just getting up on his snowboard in foreground. He's in much better shape now after his year in California Conservation Corps and his snowboarding is now well beyond where his skiing was when he gave that up in 2008 due to chronic boot problems. He was at Iron Blosam 4 days, enjoyed Snowbird much more than before. He rode with Ed's group some and had little trouble keeping up except for the tougher traverses.
And the Rasta Chutes.
Most of the group headed in around 2:30, but Liz and I decided to check out Mineral Basin. Liz by the Guntower.
At that time of day we continued out to the Bookends short of Hillary Step to assure skiing in winter snow.
Our last run from the top was another mid-Cirque where I got Liz to squeeze into that ropeline fall line with the best snow.
From there we went to Christmas Tree Chute.
Good skiing but there was a rock stepover at the top that took some time. 23,200 vertical, biggest day of the week. Adam and friends skied 33,000.
On Monday nearly 30 of us loaded into one tram after the usual 10AM meetup. I watched Adam negotiate Jaws' chokepoint carefully and decided I didn't need to do that for my first run and moved down to Shot 12 on the Upper Cirque. Most of the group followed Ed Meisner down Chip's we we regrouped at Anderson's Hill. The younger group was doing Green Forest, so I brought Liz along for that as she had had not been there with us on Sunday.
Liz and rejoined Ed's group at Gadzoom and headed up to Little Cloud. Once was enough up there as there was a strong upslope wind sandblasting us nearly the entire length of Road to Provo. We continued through the right side Black Forest gate into very nice snow in the Organ Grinder area. Just before lunch we skied Tigertail.
One more tram after lunch (top was windy but not as bad as Little Cloud) and down Silver Fox. This year Rock Chute had nice snow; last year it was tight in there and we usually traversed left into more open open slopes to bypass it. Monday afternoon after lunch I was with Adam's group for awhile while Liz was with Ed's group. Eventually I left them and skied a last run with Liz on Peruvian from Upper Primrose to Hotfoot Gully and finishing with Waterfall. The latter had a chokepoint to step over rocks but the snow was still good down there. With wind and overcast, not good for pictures but very good skiing. 16,900 vertical
Tuesday was mostly sunny with a warmup into the 40's, but even at the end of the day Snowbird remained about half packed powder. Liz and I were with Ed's group all day. In the morning we had 3 runs into Middle Cirque, which had a nice layer of windsift from the day before, particularly in the sheltered chutes far skier's right.
Sending the same group of 10 down there 3 times packed out the windsift, though on the 3rd run I took the run down the ropeline to get some more. The second run I skied Shot 11 of the Upper Cirque, which did not have as much windsift as mid-Cirque.
Liz had issues with the highest mid-Cirque entry, preferred this one though there were more small rocks to avoid at the top.
First run we continued down Dalton's and lower Dalton's.
We liked these lower Peruvian runs today, and we knew they wouldn't have winter snow much longer as it continued to warm.
Ed led the usual before lunch run on Tigertail. Liz's favorite section was the softer snow in these trees.
Lower down we showed some of the newcomers this year Baby Thunder. I expected crunchy snow down there, but Tiny Tiger was pretty decent.
After lunch we headed up to Little Cloud in far more hospitable weather than Monday. Excellent snow in Whoopsie's
Andrew is just getting up on his snowboard in foreground. He's in much better shape now after his year in California Conservation Corps and his snowboarding is now well beyond where his skiing was when he gave that up in 2008 due to chronic boot problems. He was at Iron Blosam 4 days, enjoyed Snowbird much more than before. He rode with Ed's group some and had little trouble keeping up except for the tougher traverses.
And the Rasta Chutes.
Most of the group headed in around 2:30, but Liz and I decided to check out Mineral Basin. Liz by the Guntower.
At that time of day we continued out to the Bookends short of Hillary Step to assure skiing in winter snow.
Our last run from the top was another mid-Cirque where I got Liz to squeeze into that ropeline fall line with the best snow.
From there we went to Christmas Tree Chute.
Good skiing but there was a rock stepover at the top that took some time. 23,200 vertical, biggest day of the week. Adam and friends skied 33,000.