Day 41: A big day for Admin
The Evil One (TEO) was still visiting from Vermont, and we headed to Snowbird for a few runs with Liftlines users/FTO Contributing Writers Marc_C and Sharon as well as Sharon's friends Pam, John and Amy before striking out on our own for a whirlwind afternoon tour of Alta.
Winds were still honking on the ridgelines and across Sugarloaf Pass right into our faces as we were the lone stupid souls braving the Baldy Express chair. It snowed at varying intensities all day, never amounting to much other than reducing visibility to one tower length or less in spots, particularly in Peruvian Gulch. We thus stuck to trees all day, save for one stupid group foray into Mineral Basin that was only done because TEO and I needed to get to Alta.
Despite the lack of new snow, we found good stuff with the gang in various Gad II woods shots, but not before slipping and sliding down thin, scratchy cover on Chip's Run to join the group at the base of GadZoom. After three rides on Gad II we all ventured to the new Peruvian chair, passed through the tunnel together, and worked out way down Not Quite Corn to the base of Mineral where we said our goodbyes.
TEO and I both agreed that the snow -- both base cover and surface -- was much better at Alta yesterday than at Snowbird. One notable exception was the High T, which is about as bad as I've seen it this season. It's ugly up there! Alta was also noticeably less crowded than Snowbird was.
But that's sometimes what's needed to get to the goods, as was the case yesterday when we used the T to access wonderfully loose slough in Eagle's Nest for our last big run of the day. Before that we skied down Devil's Elbow and Roller Coaster to a lunch at Alf's, then two laps on Supreme, one in Catherine's and one down through No. 9 Trees and subsequent tree islands to link those to White Squaw Chutes.
After our Eagle's Nest run we took one more ride up Collins to hit Fred's Trees, another surprise hit, and traverse out across Westward Ho to return to the truck at Snowbird, parked along the Bypass Road, via Blackjack.
Total vertical skied: 17,200+ IIRC over 12 runs. I don't have my Suunto S6 with me as I'm posting this, so I'll add those stats later. This was definitely one of my heavier days this season.
A quantum change in the pattern is looking more and more likely for later this week. High pressure is supposed to finally exit! \
/ The storm is expected to start Thursday night and continue through Sunday, starting out wet and warm, which is good as dense snow is needed to bury this crusty layer where it belongs. The snowfall should lighten gradually as the storm progresses and the atmosphere cools.
I took few photos, for the day wasn't terribly photogenic with limited visibility.
The Evil One (TEO) was still visiting from Vermont, and we headed to Snowbird for a few runs with Liftlines users/FTO Contributing Writers Marc_C and Sharon as well as Sharon's friends Pam, John and Amy before striking out on our own for a whirlwind afternoon tour of Alta.
Winds were still honking on the ridgelines and across Sugarloaf Pass right into our faces as we were the lone stupid souls braving the Baldy Express chair. It snowed at varying intensities all day, never amounting to much other than reducing visibility to one tower length or less in spots, particularly in Peruvian Gulch. We thus stuck to trees all day, save for one stupid group foray into Mineral Basin that was only done because TEO and I needed to get to Alta.
Despite the lack of new snow, we found good stuff with the gang in various Gad II woods shots, but not before slipping and sliding down thin, scratchy cover on Chip's Run to join the group at the base of GadZoom. After three rides on Gad II we all ventured to the new Peruvian chair, passed through the tunnel together, and worked out way down Not Quite Corn to the base of Mineral where we said our goodbyes.
TEO and I both agreed that the snow -- both base cover and surface -- was much better at Alta yesterday than at Snowbird. One notable exception was the High T, which is about as bad as I've seen it this season. It's ugly up there! Alta was also noticeably less crowded than Snowbird was.
But that's sometimes what's needed to get to the goods, as was the case yesterday when we used the T to access wonderfully loose slough in Eagle's Nest for our last big run of the day. Before that we skied down Devil's Elbow and Roller Coaster to a lunch at Alf's, then two laps on Supreme, one in Catherine's and one down through No. 9 Trees and subsequent tree islands to link those to White Squaw Chutes.
After our Eagle's Nest run we took one more ride up Collins to hit Fred's Trees, another surprise hit, and traverse out across Westward Ho to return to the truck at Snowbird, parked along the Bypass Road, via Blackjack.
Total vertical skied: 17,200+ IIRC over 12 runs. I don't have my Suunto S6 with me as I'm posting this, so I'll add those stats later. This was definitely one of my heavier days this season.
A quantum change in the pattern is looking more and more likely for later this week. High pressure is supposed to finally exit! \
/ The storm is expected to start Thursday night and continue through Sunday, starting out wet and warm, which is good as dense snow is needed to bury this crusty layer where it belongs. The snowfall should lighten gradually as the storm progresses and the atmosphere cools.I took few photos, for the day wasn't terribly photogenic with limited visibility.
