With sunny skies continuing through the weekend and no fresh snow in sight, there was no reason to choose one Cottonwoods ski area over another for Sunday, so I opted for Snowbird because I hadn't skied there in 12 years and it's the home area of SLC friend BobMc. I hadn't seen him since he moved over to the Bird in 2012 after a decade and a half at Solitude, where he was the OP of the TGR thread "Solisunday" (still going 15 years later) and ringleader of weekend tailgate ceremonies in the far corner of the Moonbeam parking lot.
He's since become a Snowbird regular/loves it there, and we met his bud Travis and son Dylan (both on tele). I asked Admin to join us for a few runs but he's still carrying a Snowbird grudge.
:wink:
Despite a few short delays, we somehow managed to make it to the first tram. As someone who works in NYC, being in a very cramped box-like space with a 100+ other people ain't my idea of a vacation (and for the record, I don't like it in the Alps either); however, it's the quickest way to the top so no grumbling.
From the summit tram station, looking out over untouched Mineral Basin -- plenty of snow back there but it won't open until Friday. They were blaming electrical issues with the lifts (same as Great Western at Brighton) but locals suspected that they just wanted to save money.
Heading down from the tram, conditions were hard and fast but edgeable with some leftover loose snow from Wednesday's 14-inch storm (double compared to BCC):
A fair portion of the ski terrain never got out of the shade:
I don't think I've ever seen a faster teleskier than Travis -- carving like no one's business and always at least a quarter mile downhill from the rest of us.
Their local's tour included heading into the woods to a secluded rest stop on top of Howitzer ammo boxes:
The big adventure for the day was taking Dylan (9 years old!) for his first-ever run down the Cirque, which included an at-times tricky traverse in:
Setting up cameras halfway down:
We congratulated Dylan for toughing it out and having a story to tell at school on Monday. I can't imagine having the stones to do that run at his age.
Due to it being a non-powder day, it was actually relaxing there. Odd as I don't usually think of Snowbird as a place to relax.
He's since become a Snowbird regular/loves it there, and we met his bud Travis and son Dylan (both on tele). I asked Admin to join us for a few runs but he's still carrying a Snowbird grudge.
:wink:
Despite a few short delays, we somehow managed to make it to the first tram. As someone who works in NYC, being in a very cramped box-like space with a 100+ other people ain't my idea of a vacation (and for the record, I don't like it in the Alps either); however, it's the quickest way to the top so no grumbling.
From the summit tram station, looking out over untouched Mineral Basin -- plenty of snow back there but it won't open until Friday. They were blaming electrical issues with the lifts (same as Great Western at Brighton) but locals suspected that they just wanted to save money.
Heading down from the tram, conditions were hard and fast but edgeable with some leftover loose snow from Wednesday's 14-inch storm (double compared to BCC):
A fair portion of the ski terrain never got out of the shade:
I don't think I've ever seen a faster teleskier than Travis -- carving like no one's business and always at least a quarter mile downhill from the rest of us.
Their local's tour included heading into the woods to a secluded rest stop on top of Howitzer ammo boxes:
The big adventure for the day was taking Dylan (9 years old!) for his first-ever run down the Cirque, which included an at-times tricky traverse in:
Setting up cameras halfway down:
We congratulated Dylan for toughing it out and having a story to tell at school on Monday. I can't imagine having the stones to do that run at his age.
Due to it being a non-powder day, it was actually relaxing there. Odd as I don't usually think of Snowbird as a place to relax.
