Day 2: Damned early.
I'm was sitting in Suehiro last night with Bobby Danger, having sushi and hatching plans. I thought that he was out of his freakin' gourd when he announced plans to get in the tram line at 7:45 am tomorrow. He had a point that the bucket would likely be a total crap show for opening day today, so crazy as it was Skidog and I stupidly agreed to his plan.
So there we were at 7:45. The alarm absolutely hurt at 6:30, and I rolled out of bed and waddled into the bathroom to pop four ibuprofen, still sore from Thursday at Brighton. I was the first to arrive at Snowbird :shock: and looked inside the Tram maze and saw no one standing there other than a few patrollers on the dock. Shortly thereafter, however, Bobby and Skidog showed up and we got in line -- numbers 2, 3 and 4 for the first public bucket of the season. We were interviewed again for Park City TV, but that video's not online yet.
Snowbird was clear, Peruvian Gulch was closed. Not backcountry, but closed. So was everything off Road to Provo, leaving Regulator Johnson the only real open way down.
Up top, you couldn't see Jack crap as it was socked in and lightly snowing. Heading through a wet snow gun at tower 4, we worked our way to skier's left of Regulator, finding untracked snow that nonetheless had a crust from the gun overspray. Great skiing for mid-November, but not the stuff that dreams are made of. Bassackwards was groomed nicely, and we shot across Death Road to play in the ungroomed to skier's right of Harper's Ferry, dodging the lumps (covered boulders) and whippets. For only the second day of the season, and with legs still sore from the first, 3000 vertical foot runs were absolutely thigh-burning.
Stephanie had called while we were boarding the Tram and she was one bucket behind us, so we agreed to wait on the Tram Plaza for her to catch up. She unfortunately made a wrong turn and ended up at Gadzoom, but she was a little put off by the vertigo-inducing visibility and opted to instead stay there. Bumped into pro skier Jamey Parks while we were waiting, but he was waiting on some other folks. Surprisingly the Tram wasn't the total zoo that we'd expected today, even though Gadzoom and Chickadee were the only other lifts running. Starting with our second Tram run we had walk-on Trams all day.
Our second lap was far better. Wanting to avoid the wet gun at Tower 4 and shot down the ridgeline to the top of Little Cloud. The rope on Road to Provo was set a couple of hundred yards back so we were able to get to Old Lady's and ski the ropeline, which was slightly windslabbed but adequately covered. Pretty decent skiing, actually. Midway down we cut all the way across to the lower half of Puckerbrush, which had been upwind of the snow guns all week and also skied very well if you were careful and knew where the rocky cliff bands lie. Lower down, we set off on a long traverse out to nearly lower Dalton's and were rewarded for our efforts as well.
So, in the end it turned into a day of exploration. It was nearly 11 a.m. by the time mbaydala and ilikewinter arrived, and we headed back to Old Lady's. ilikewinter, however, wore herself out climbing last night after two days of skiing, and by the time we got to the top of Big Emma she opted instead to head off in search of Stephanie on Gadzoom, leaving the boys to head back up the Tram for one final run down Puckerbrush from the top.
Today was also the first day on my new S7s, which I had mounted yesterday with my Fritschis after I sold the Volkl CMHs Thursday night. I had questioned the sensibility of skiing new skis today, knowing that we'd be exploring, but all I added were a few edge burrs. Honestly, I'm downright shocked at how versatile they are. They make excellent tight turns on hardpack, yet they plowed through the crust with ease and as would be expected, floated in untracked like nothing I've ever skied before. I think that I have a new everyday ski in my quiver, and I'm now seriously considering selling the Goliaths.
It was 12:15 p.m. as I rode Chickadee to return to my car. Of course, that's when the light finally cleared as well.
I love opening day. It's like Homecoming, folks bumping into each other for the first time since last ski season ended. Saw Grizzly Adams and PerryH on the Tram Plaza, and they joined us for a few turns as well. I'll head back tomorrow assuming my legs can ski, for I'm pretty sore right now. Nearby Alta, where there's a lot more snow at the base, opens Friday.
I'm was sitting in Suehiro last night with Bobby Danger, having sushi and hatching plans. I thought that he was out of his freakin' gourd when he announced plans to get in the tram line at 7:45 am tomorrow. He had a point that the bucket would likely be a total crap show for opening day today, so crazy as it was Skidog and I stupidly agreed to his plan.
So there we were at 7:45. The alarm absolutely hurt at 6:30, and I rolled out of bed and waddled into the bathroom to pop four ibuprofen, still sore from Thursday at Brighton. I was the first to arrive at Snowbird :shock: and looked inside the Tram maze and saw no one standing there other than a few patrollers on the dock. Shortly thereafter, however, Bobby and Skidog showed up and we got in line -- numbers 2, 3 and 4 for the first public bucket of the season. We were interviewed again for Park City TV, but that video's not online yet.
Snowbird was clear, Peruvian Gulch was closed. Not backcountry, but closed. So was everything off Road to Provo, leaving Regulator Johnson the only real open way down.
Up top, you couldn't see Jack crap as it was socked in and lightly snowing. Heading through a wet snow gun at tower 4, we worked our way to skier's left of Regulator, finding untracked snow that nonetheless had a crust from the gun overspray. Great skiing for mid-November, but not the stuff that dreams are made of. Bassackwards was groomed nicely, and we shot across Death Road to play in the ungroomed to skier's right of Harper's Ferry, dodging the lumps (covered boulders) and whippets. For only the second day of the season, and with legs still sore from the first, 3000 vertical foot runs were absolutely thigh-burning.
Stephanie had called while we were boarding the Tram and she was one bucket behind us, so we agreed to wait on the Tram Plaza for her to catch up. She unfortunately made a wrong turn and ended up at Gadzoom, but she was a little put off by the vertigo-inducing visibility and opted to instead stay there. Bumped into pro skier Jamey Parks while we were waiting, but he was waiting on some other folks. Surprisingly the Tram wasn't the total zoo that we'd expected today, even though Gadzoom and Chickadee were the only other lifts running. Starting with our second Tram run we had walk-on Trams all day.
Our second lap was far better. Wanting to avoid the wet gun at Tower 4 and shot down the ridgeline to the top of Little Cloud. The rope on Road to Provo was set a couple of hundred yards back so we were able to get to Old Lady's and ski the ropeline, which was slightly windslabbed but adequately covered. Pretty decent skiing, actually. Midway down we cut all the way across to the lower half of Puckerbrush, which had been upwind of the snow guns all week and also skied very well if you were careful and knew where the rocky cliff bands lie. Lower down, we set off on a long traverse out to nearly lower Dalton's and were rewarded for our efforts as well.
So, in the end it turned into a day of exploration. It was nearly 11 a.m. by the time mbaydala and ilikewinter arrived, and we headed back to Old Lady's. ilikewinter, however, wore herself out climbing last night after two days of skiing, and by the time we got to the top of Big Emma she opted instead to head off in search of Stephanie on Gadzoom, leaving the boys to head back up the Tram for one final run down Puckerbrush from the top.
Today was also the first day on my new S7s, which I had mounted yesterday with my Fritschis after I sold the Volkl CMHs Thursday night. I had questioned the sensibility of skiing new skis today, knowing that we'd be exploring, but all I added were a few edge burrs. Honestly, I'm downright shocked at how versatile they are. They make excellent tight turns on hardpack, yet they plowed through the crust with ease and as would be expected, floated in untracked like nothing I've ever skied before. I think that I have a new everyday ski in my quiver, and I'm now seriously considering selling the Goliaths.
It was 12:15 p.m. as I rode Chickadee to return to my car. Of course, that's when the light finally cleared as well.
I love opening day. It's like Homecoming, folks bumping into each other for the first time since last ski season ended. Saw Grizzly Adams and PerryH on the Tram Plaza, and they joined us for a few turns as well. I'll head back tomorrow assuming my legs can ski, for I'm pretty sore right now. Nearby Alta, where there's a lot more snow at the base, opens Friday.
