Chalk up one more calendar month in which I've now skied.
The thermometer already read 75ºF as I entered Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was just Marc_C and yours truly today. We met up on the tram plaza deck and we were on board the Tram by 9:15. Skiing to the base is now out of the question as it requires a long, painful walk from mid-mountain down. As a result, not a soul was in Peruvian Cirque as we flew past in the Tram. Most lines in the upper and mid Cirque are still skiable, although getting to the snow in Great Scott would be a colossal pain, the snow has shrunk away from the ridgeline that much.
We therefore lapped Little Cloud. Four laps to be exact: Rasta Chutes, Little Cloud Bowl, Knucklehead and the trees just east of Rasta Chutes. The cats pushed a strip of snow to connect Hidden Peak to the top of Little Cloud, although numerous pebbles and small rocks were showing from the traffic. A large bare spot has now appeared on the last pitch of Mark Malou, routing descending skiers through The Grove or forcing them to walk a short bit. Regulator Johnson is still skiable all the way back to the chair, but requires negotiating a few narrow white links near the bottom. If you knew where you were going, however, cover was hardly an issue as the photos will show.
It seems like the whole world came out today -- the line was quite long on Little Cloud (I'm guessing about 25 minutes). They talked July skiing up pretty big on the local media, and a lot of people seemed to show up for the novelty factor. Many seemed to take only 1 or 2 runs before going home. We took off around noon ourselves, but only after buying the requisite "I skied Snowbird in July" t-shirts that they were selling for $10.
The Entry 2 lot was packed all the way to the LCC road as I pulled out and headed up to Alta to do some recon route-finding to reach our planned Monday tailgate BBQ at Alta. Baldy Shoulder now has a bare spot that will require a short walk across some steep terrain. Main Chute still appears skiable, but surely will be littered with significant rock debris. Dropping into Mineral Basin will require a slog up to Sugarloaf Pass to reach Devil's Castle, but should then be pretty much skiable nearly to the Albion base area. The Albion Road to the campground remains closed.
It was back up to 88ºF in the Salt Lake Valley by 1pm.
The thermometer already read 75ºF as I entered Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was just Marc_C and yours truly today. We met up on the tram plaza deck and we were on board the Tram by 9:15. Skiing to the base is now out of the question as it requires a long, painful walk from mid-mountain down. As a result, not a soul was in Peruvian Cirque as we flew past in the Tram. Most lines in the upper and mid Cirque are still skiable, although getting to the snow in Great Scott would be a colossal pain, the snow has shrunk away from the ridgeline that much.
We therefore lapped Little Cloud. Four laps to be exact: Rasta Chutes, Little Cloud Bowl, Knucklehead and the trees just east of Rasta Chutes. The cats pushed a strip of snow to connect Hidden Peak to the top of Little Cloud, although numerous pebbles and small rocks were showing from the traffic. A large bare spot has now appeared on the last pitch of Mark Malou, routing descending skiers through The Grove or forcing them to walk a short bit. Regulator Johnson is still skiable all the way back to the chair, but requires negotiating a few narrow white links near the bottom. If you knew where you were going, however, cover was hardly an issue as the photos will show.
It seems like the whole world came out today -- the line was quite long on Little Cloud (I'm guessing about 25 minutes). They talked July skiing up pretty big on the local media, and a lot of people seemed to show up for the novelty factor. Many seemed to take only 1 or 2 runs before going home. We took off around noon ourselves, but only after buying the requisite "I skied Snowbird in July" t-shirts that they were selling for $10.
The Entry 2 lot was packed all the way to the LCC road as I pulled out and headed up to Alta to do some recon route-finding to reach our planned Monday tailgate BBQ at Alta. Baldy Shoulder now has a bare spot that will require a short walk across some steep terrain. Main Chute still appears skiable, but surely will be littered with significant rock debris. Dropping into Mineral Basin will require a slog up to Sugarloaf Pass to reach Devil's Castle, but should then be pretty much skiable nearly to the Albion base area. The Albion Road to the campground remains closed.
It was back up to 88ºF in the Salt Lake Valley by 1pm.
Attachments
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10 alta baldy 050701.jpg -
09 snowbird little cloud line 050701.jpg -
08 snowbird rasta chutes 050701.jpg -
07 snowbird little cloud 050701.jpg -
06 snowbird admin summit 050701.jpg -
05 snowbird mineral 050701.jpg -
04 snowbird bookends 050701.jpg -
03 snowbird rasta bowl knucklehead 050701.jpg -
02 snowbird twins 050701.jpg -
01 snowbird leaving tram 050701.jpg
