Day 59: My best day of the year, hands down...on May 2nd!
Many factors conspired to create what was for me the best day this season, not the least of which was the 22" of shockingly light snow that fell overnight. That brings the storm total from this week's cycle to seven feet in four days! Base depths are now at a settled snow depth of 12 feet.
As I've said before, timing is everything, and timing was definitely on my side today as well. For starters I was in the right place at the right time for the canyon opening. I left the house at 7:45, grabbed coffee and a donut, filled the gas tank, and found myself in line awaiting the opening of the road right at the balancing rock between A & B gates. I couldn't have been more than 25 or so cars from the head of the line.
The road was predicted to open at 8:30. It opened at 9. I hustled up the canyon and headed straight for the Bypass Road...and right into a total crapshow.
You see, they never plowed the lot before the road opened. Snowbird, what in the hell were you thinking?! People parked anywhere and everywhere, and every which way. Vehicles were getting stuck. Snowbird attendants were walking around asking people to leave so that they could plow it first. I actually felt sorry for them.
The plow truck was starting his work up by the heliport, so while everyone was trying to make a U-turn out of the lot I high-tailed it up there and pulled into a spot right after the plow made a pass. To hell with getting any closer. I called the boys as I booted up and learned that they were still a few minutes behind me, so we made plans to meet at Peruvian before I pushed off down to the lift.
However, as I skated past Peruvian there was no sign of life. No spinning, no lifties. I wondered if it would open at all. I continued to the Tram Plaza, thought for just a moment about waiting for my friends there and decided again, to hell with it. The Tram was still walk-on, and I figured that with Peruvian still down the Tram line would form quickly. I checked in and then called the boys again, this time from the dock to tell them to meet me at Little Cloud instead, even though I could see out the window that crews had finally arrived at Peruvian and beginning to get the lift ready to open. It would be a while before they started loading the chair anyway.
Sure enough, as our tram cabin pulled out of the dock at 9:45 I could see that the line had already filled the maze. I made the right call.
However, as we reached the summit station the Tram abruptly stopped a half dozen times as it entered the dock. It was frustrating, being that close to the goods but still stuck inside. Little did I realize at the time that this would be my saving grace.
It turns out that one of the doors on the tram cabin was tripping the safety switch. As a result, the Tram would be down for the next hour as crews worked to correct the fault. And with Mineral Basin still closed, there was no other way to reach Little Cloud. I somehow had the good fortune to have stepped into my own private powder paradise.
Visibility, however, was virtually non-existent. Skiing down to Regulator was pure vertigo, the kind where you can't tell where the sky ends and the ground begins. The kind of stuff where you can't quite tell which direction is downhill. I wanted trees and I wanted them fast, so I was thrilled to see everyone else from my bucket heading out the Mid-Cirque Traverse, leaving Puckerbrush all for me. Just me.
Hip deep and absolutely untracked. I couldn't believe how light this stuff was for May 2nd. The stunted trees provided just enough definition to let 'em rock. Face shots lasted continuously for two, three, four turns. Snow billowed over my head. Bottomless. Orgasmic.
No one was waiting at Little Cloud, so I skied right on single. The first run was so good I would repeat it no fewer than nine times, encountering hardly any tracks other than my own each and every time. Every time I'd ride single because no one else was there. I was skiing alone so I could only take photos of other folks from the lift.
Except for a self-portrait of one happy Admin.
Heading up the lift for my seventh run, I finally spotted Bobby Danger, Skidog, Tele Jon and The Other Bobby D emerging from the soup on Regulator Johnson. I waited at the top for them, learning for the first time what had happened down below. They discovered that the Tram had closed following my ride up, so they boarded Peruvian but arrived at the top only to find the tunnel and all of Mineral Basin closed, so they skied back to the base. By the time they got back to the base the Tram was open, but with a line filling the maze and winding back across the Tram Plaza. They didn't reach Little Cloud until 11:15. By that time, though, I had already put a good dent in my energy with non-stop Right Regs one after the other.
Along with the boys arrived a bunch of other folks from the reopened Tram. My private paradise was no longer private, but it was still skiing ridiculously well. After two more trips down Puckerbrush we started to work our way further north down the Gad Chutes, skiing Hourglass and Slide Chute and still finding legitimate waist-deep untracked well into the afternoon. In fact, we didn't break for lunch until nearly 2 p.m.
Skiing deep powder, I managed to get moisture within the viewfinder on my camera, rendering it useless for the rest of the day. So our group's action shots would all have to come from The Other Bobby D's camera.
After our late lunch I was positively shot. Thanks to a dozen laps bombing Little Cloud throughout the morning, the amber low fuel light on my dashboard was shining brightly. We went up Peruvian and through the tunnel into Mineral, but I had to stop numerous times to let the burning in my legs fade. So while the others headed off for a sidecountry run into the now-O.B. Tiger Tail I headed off on my own toward my truck.
Instead of joining them, I had the longest run of my life down Chip's to the car. I couldn't see jack, top to bottom. The upper switchbacks were hell -- I couldn't see the edge to save my life. And just to add insult to injury Blackjack was still closed, which meant that I had to follow the ropeline down to the road and then walk a ways up the hill to my truck.
No matter, though, May 2nd will remain vivid in my mind as the best day of 2009-10. Amazing. I'm totally satisfied.
Many factors conspired to create what was for me the best day this season, not the least of which was the 22" of shockingly light snow that fell overnight. That brings the storm total from this week's cycle to seven feet in four days! Base depths are now at a settled snow depth of 12 feet.
As I've said before, timing is everything, and timing was definitely on my side today as well. For starters I was in the right place at the right time for the canyon opening. I left the house at 7:45, grabbed coffee and a donut, filled the gas tank, and found myself in line awaiting the opening of the road right at the balancing rock between A & B gates. I couldn't have been more than 25 or so cars from the head of the line.
The road was predicted to open at 8:30. It opened at 9. I hustled up the canyon and headed straight for the Bypass Road...and right into a total crapshow.
You see, they never plowed the lot before the road opened. Snowbird, what in the hell were you thinking?! People parked anywhere and everywhere, and every which way. Vehicles were getting stuck. Snowbird attendants were walking around asking people to leave so that they could plow it first. I actually felt sorry for them.
The plow truck was starting his work up by the heliport, so while everyone was trying to make a U-turn out of the lot I high-tailed it up there and pulled into a spot right after the plow made a pass. To hell with getting any closer. I called the boys as I booted up and learned that they were still a few minutes behind me, so we made plans to meet at Peruvian before I pushed off down to the lift.
However, as I skated past Peruvian there was no sign of life. No spinning, no lifties. I wondered if it would open at all. I continued to the Tram Plaza, thought for just a moment about waiting for my friends there and decided again, to hell with it. The Tram was still walk-on, and I figured that with Peruvian still down the Tram line would form quickly. I checked in and then called the boys again, this time from the dock to tell them to meet me at Little Cloud instead, even though I could see out the window that crews had finally arrived at Peruvian and beginning to get the lift ready to open. It would be a while before they started loading the chair anyway.
Sure enough, as our tram cabin pulled out of the dock at 9:45 I could see that the line had already filled the maze. I made the right call.
However, as we reached the summit station the Tram abruptly stopped a half dozen times as it entered the dock. It was frustrating, being that close to the goods but still stuck inside. Little did I realize at the time that this would be my saving grace.
It turns out that one of the doors on the tram cabin was tripping the safety switch. As a result, the Tram would be down for the next hour as crews worked to correct the fault. And with Mineral Basin still closed, there was no other way to reach Little Cloud. I somehow had the good fortune to have stepped into my own private powder paradise.
Visibility, however, was virtually non-existent. Skiing down to Regulator was pure vertigo, the kind where you can't tell where the sky ends and the ground begins. The kind of stuff where you can't quite tell which direction is downhill. I wanted trees and I wanted them fast, so I was thrilled to see everyone else from my bucket heading out the Mid-Cirque Traverse, leaving Puckerbrush all for me. Just me.
Hip deep and absolutely untracked. I couldn't believe how light this stuff was for May 2nd. The stunted trees provided just enough definition to let 'em rock. Face shots lasted continuously for two, three, four turns. Snow billowed over my head. Bottomless. Orgasmic.
No one was waiting at Little Cloud, so I skied right on single. The first run was so good I would repeat it no fewer than nine times, encountering hardly any tracks other than my own each and every time. Every time I'd ride single because no one else was there. I was skiing alone so I could only take photos of other folks from the lift.
Except for a self-portrait of one happy Admin.
Heading up the lift for my seventh run, I finally spotted Bobby Danger, Skidog, Tele Jon and The Other Bobby D emerging from the soup on Regulator Johnson. I waited at the top for them, learning for the first time what had happened down below. They discovered that the Tram had closed following my ride up, so they boarded Peruvian but arrived at the top only to find the tunnel and all of Mineral Basin closed, so they skied back to the base. By the time they got back to the base the Tram was open, but with a line filling the maze and winding back across the Tram Plaza. They didn't reach Little Cloud until 11:15. By that time, though, I had already put a good dent in my energy with non-stop Right Regs one after the other.
Along with the boys arrived a bunch of other folks from the reopened Tram. My private paradise was no longer private, but it was still skiing ridiculously well. After two more trips down Puckerbrush we started to work our way further north down the Gad Chutes, skiing Hourglass and Slide Chute and still finding legitimate waist-deep untracked well into the afternoon. In fact, we didn't break for lunch until nearly 2 p.m.
Skiing deep powder, I managed to get moisture within the viewfinder on my camera, rendering it useless for the rest of the day. So our group's action shots would all have to come from The Other Bobby D's camera.
After our late lunch I was positively shot. Thanks to a dozen laps bombing Little Cloud throughout the morning, the amber low fuel light on my dashboard was shining brightly. We went up Peruvian and through the tunnel into Mineral, but I had to stop numerous times to let the burning in my legs fade. So while the others headed off for a sidecountry run into the now-O.B. Tiger Tail I headed off on my own toward my truck.
Instead of joining them, I had the longest run of my life down Chip's to the car. I couldn't see jack, top to bottom. The upper switchbacks were hell -- I couldn't see the edge to save my life. And just to add insult to injury Blackjack was still closed, which meant that I had to follow the ropeline down to the road and then walk a ways up the hill to my truck.
No matter, though, May 2nd will remain vivid in my mind as the best day of 2009-10. Amazing. I'm totally satisfied.
:-({|= :roll: