Snowbird, UT 5/6/07 - another powder day!!

[Admin]

Day 72: Skidog's first Utah powder day as a local...in May

We had a much bigger bunch today than yesterday. In addition to Bob Dangerous, we were joined by Skidog, Amy, Pat, Tele Jon, and for one run by Snowbird patroller Steve (on his day off) and Heather.

Word obviously got out about yesterday, too, for our posse wasn't the only bigger one today. At 8:20 a.m. I had to park way up by the heli-port on the Bypass Road. Apparently all of the local doubters heard yesterday from us true believers.

It was another early day. In addition to scoring what was left from yesterday, plus another 4 or 5 inches from overnight, we knew that once the May sunshine broke through it would quickly turn to glop. Today was an early start, early quit kind of day.

Bob D, Skidog, Pat, Amy and yours truly boarded the tram at 8:30 sharp and headed right for the lower Cirque. Lots of untracked lines remained, and we once again all remarked that we couldn't believe this was May. Snow was still light and fluffy as the sun was only making a brief appearance via a hole in the clouds.

We cut over to hard left Anderson's, then over to the trees between Anderson's and Dalton's. Bob D, Skidog and I headed across Rothman Way to Gadzoom and somehow got separated from the ladies, who apparently went back to the Tram. Up Gadzoom to the Little Cloud chair, we all three independently noticed only a couple of tracks on the Bass Benches, with acres and acres still completely untracked. At the end of the first lap, as we packed up the camera, we heard whoops and hollers descending upon us from above. It was Pat and Amy.

It was so good, we schlepped out there again for a second serving. Great stuff -- deep and untracked.

It was time for an expedition: back up Little Cloud, then all the way out the sidestep Knucklehead Traverse to the top of Tigertail above the dormant Gad II chair. We dropped the first pitch, noting from a rollerball or two that our light snow window was about to close, then caught the usual Tigertail traverse that one takes from Gad II. Up and over the ridge, there were only four or five sets of tracks on the first steep pitch down into the avi runout zone, where numerous other tracks converged. While the top part was absolute deep and fluffy heaven, the runout got progressively heavier. We ran into Steve, Heather, Amy, Pat and Tele Jon at the start of the runout gully, and worked through progressively heavier mashed potatoes down to the top of the Baby Thunder chair, long since stopped for the season. In fact, in an effort to find something slightly lighter, Jon and Skidog followed me into the trees to the left of the final pitch, hoping that the shade from the conifers would have slowed the snow's deterioration.

Back up Gadzoom, the rest of the gang headed for lunch at the Forklift while Bob, Skidog and I boarded Little Cloud for one final run: down mid-Cirque, across Chips and out into Blackjack to reach our vehicles. My legs were jello, and it took everything that I could do to just make it down alive. We had a couple of final divine turns in upper Blackjack before things got heavier where they flattened out above the road down lower. At that point I was cruising right along when - bam! - my right ski hit a submerged rock that nearly ripped the ski from my foot. So much for last night's fresh tune job! I had nearly made it through the day unscathed. It took everything I had left in me just to get myself turned around and upright from that concrete.

We paused momentarily along the road to take in the views when mbaydala skied by. We overheard his friend mutter something about a great way to end the season as they pushed off down Whodunit. We headed down to the trucks at noon, feeling fully satisfied.

11,860 verts, 7 runs, all of it in untracked.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Great Pictures Marc! I considered trying to meet you all at 0830 this AM, but I don't have the right skis for this stuff yet, and I'm afraid that I would really be a drag on the hill considering my lack of conditioning. In any case, I enjoyed just seeing you all "whoopping it up."

 

[mbaydala]

Marc it was good seeing you guys out today, I actually managed to get my good friend George up at 6:30 am so we were able to make the second tram of the morning. Our first run was on the lower cirque which was quite deep as you guys would later find out for yourselves and our second run was down the steeper upper cirque. We got into one of those upper shoots, not quite sure of its name but it sure was fun once you got below the boney entrance.

George and I decided to spend the rest of the day tearing up the High Baldy Traverse, because we had so much fun there the day before. We found a stash that for some reason remained untracked until 11 am besides our own of course. By the time anyone had figured out where we were we had already gotten three laps 3 laps in our little powder paradise. I?ll try and describe it so maybe some of you can hit up our scraps tomorrow if you so desire. We headed out the Upper Alta Keyhole and skied the shoulder down to the second entrance back into the Bird. Upon entering the Bird we skied down then hung a right into two completely wide open powder fields. Let me tell you I owe George big time for bringing me up there because the snow was by far the deepest I?ve skied all year, it was clear that no one had made it out there the two prior days either. Unfortunately our camera skills were lacking a bit and we missed the best shots but God was it fun. After our third lap and right as we passed you (Marc) on Who Dunnit George had another brilliant idea, head over to Alta for some more untracked and take it all the way down to the Wildcat lot for our last run of the year, so that?s just what we did!

Unfortunately, by the time we made it back around the High Traverse the sun was beating down on Wildcat and the rest of Alta as a cloud bank held tough over in Peruvian. Either way we were going to get some more fresh tracks as we made our way down to the base. We found the snow to be much heavier over at Alta but at least they were all fresh lines, really what could we expect at 1:30 pm on May 6th. Even though it wasn?t the best snow of the day it was a great way to end the ski season in the Wasatch. Hey does anyone know who groomes Alta after its closed for the season? I'm sure the skinners were loving that though. Well got to get back to packing, but at least I?ll have some awesome late season memories to carry me eastward back to Long Island. Not looking forward to this 3 day drive but I?ll see you all next year!