Day 55: What a nasty little nuisance new snow makes.
I had been contemplating going up on Saturday. Shortly after noon, The Kid and I were even dressed, packed in the truck, and heading out the driveway when I called Marc_C. It's never a good sign when he's home already.
"We already made our four runs and went home," he said, explaining that the inch or two of new snow that fell on Friday was all sticky and gluey and they decided that it wasn't worth it.
So did I, so it wasn't until Sunday morning around 10:25 that we were repeating the exercise. I called Marc_C and left a cell phone voicemail. I called molecan and left a cell phone voicemail. Undeterred, we kept on going.
What we found was that the inch or two of elephant snot from Friday had turned to a big spill of Elmer's. Groomers were heavy and wet, yet rather fun, although that wasn't quite what I was in the market to buy. Ungroomed was fine where it was untracked, if you could find it, but anything that had been skied was covered in one- and two-foot balls of heavy, wet mush. Ugh! And many lines had slid -- the Mid-Cirque Traverse to Gad Chutes, Wilbere, South Chute, etc. was closed (more on that later). In fact, South Chute had slid all the way across the road to Big Emma, depositing small evergreens on the slope below. The bottom line is that this insignificant snowfall messed up the recent corn production. Of course, all of the Peruvian Gulch terrain was closed due to chairlift construction. On the bright side, Sunday was our last chance to ski lift-served Mineral Basin for the season.
So that's straight where we went, finding pleasant but wet groomed on Powder Paradise. We decided to sample again, this time by shortcutting some switchbacks on Lupine Loop to check the ungroomed without committing ourselves. Again, where it hadn't been skied it was rather pleasant, but the skied-up final pitch through the rocks above the base terminal of Baldy Express were hell on earth.
Heading back to the front side, we found that the rope line out Knucklehead Traverse has been removed, and we kept going until we found untracked lines on the Bass Benches. Truly, those were the best turns of the day with a smooth, supportable base underneath and an inch or so of the aforementioned elephant snot on top.
I was content to head home, but The Kid wanted a couple more runs and I was happy to retire to a beer on the deck of the new Creekside. After two runs, though, he managed to pull me out kicking and screaming for one more Gadzoom lap as he pulled more tricks in the Big Emma terrain park.
I was sad to learn last evening, though, that the Mid-Cirque Traverse closure wasn't solely due to snow instability. Rather than erect a ropeline atop the Cirque, Snowbird has elected to close that traverse for the entire season because it's possible to access parts of Peruvian Gulch from there. Likewise, they have closed Baldy Ridge for hiking to access Mt. Baldy and the chutes into Alta.
By that same theory, why not just close the Tram altogether because it's possible to access Peruvian Gulch routes from the Tram? Last year, late into June the lower mountain was officially closed, yet they couldn't reasonably be expected to string a ropeline across mid-mountain from one end to the other! Frankly, by removing the Gad Chutes, South Chute, Wilbere Bowl, and access to Baldy, as well as closing Mineral Basin after yesterday, there's little else for an expert to enjoy besides the Rasta Chutes, Knucklehead Chutes, etc. accessed by the Knucklehead Traverse -- and they're all rather short lines. And who goes skiing in May anyway besides the diehards, who are typically expert skiers? This decision just seems short-sighted to me, and I'll confess that it removes much of my desire to head up there for turns until the closing bell.
I had been contemplating going up on Saturday. Shortly after noon, The Kid and I were even dressed, packed in the truck, and heading out the driveway when I called Marc_C. It's never a good sign when he's home already.
"We already made our four runs and went home," he said, explaining that the inch or two of new snow that fell on Friday was all sticky and gluey and they decided that it wasn't worth it.
So did I, so it wasn't until Sunday morning around 10:25 that we were repeating the exercise. I called Marc_C and left a cell phone voicemail. I called molecan and left a cell phone voicemail. Undeterred, we kept on going.
What we found was that the inch or two of elephant snot from Friday had turned to a big spill of Elmer's. Groomers were heavy and wet, yet rather fun, although that wasn't quite what I was in the market to buy. Ungroomed was fine where it was untracked, if you could find it, but anything that had been skied was covered in one- and two-foot balls of heavy, wet mush. Ugh! And many lines had slid -- the Mid-Cirque Traverse to Gad Chutes, Wilbere, South Chute, etc. was closed (more on that later). In fact, South Chute had slid all the way across the road to Big Emma, depositing small evergreens on the slope below. The bottom line is that this insignificant snowfall messed up the recent corn production. Of course, all of the Peruvian Gulch terrain was closed due to chairlift construction. On the bright side, Sunday was our last chance to ski lift-served Mineral Basin for the season.
So that's straight where we went, finding pleasant but wet groomed on Powder Paradise. We decided to sample again, this time by shortcutting some switchbacks on Lupine Loop to check the ungroomed without committing ourselves. Again, where it hadn't been skied it was rather pleasant, but the skied-up final pitch through the rocks above the base terminal of Baldy Express were hell on earth.
Heading back to the front side, we found that the rope line out Knucklehead Traverse has been removed, and we kept going until we found untracked lines on the Bass Benches. Truly, those were the best turns of the day with a smooth, supportable base underneath and an inch or so of the aforementioned elephant snot on top.
I was content to head home, but The Kid wanted a couple more runs and I was happy to retire to a beer on the deck of the new Creekside. After two runs, though, he managed to pull me out kicking and screaming for one more Gadzoom lap as he pulled more tricks in the Big Emma terrain park.
I was sad to learn last evening, though, that the Mid-Cirque Traverse closure wasn't solely due to snow instability. Rather than erect a ropeline atop the Cirque, Snowbird has elected to close that traverse for the entire season because it's possible to access parts of Peruvian Gulch from there. Likewise, they have closed Baldy Ridge for hiking to access Mt. Baldy and the chutes into Alta.
By that same theory, why not just close the Tram altogether because it's possible to access Peruvian Gulch routes from the Tram? Last year, late into June the lower mountain was officially closed, yet they couldn't reasonably be expected to string a ropeline across mid-mountain from one end to the other! Frankly, by removing the Gad Chutes, South Chute, Wilbere Bowl, and access to Baldy, as well as closing Mineral Basin after yesterday, there's little else for an expert to enjoy besides the Rasta Chutes, Knucklehead Chutes, etc. accessed by the Knucklehead Traverse -- and they're all rather short lines. And who goes skiing in May anyway besides the diehards, who are typically expert skiers? This decision just seems short-sighted to me, and I'll confess that it removes much of my desire to head up there for turns until the closing bell.
