Adam and I guided an EpicSki Forum group Monday. Despite what one reads online sometimes, the people who show up at these annual Gatherings are ~75% advanced skiers. About 50 people signed up but not necessarily all of them were present each day. We had the second fastest group, and 3 of the people were ski area locals from Sun Valley and Colorado that were much closer to Adam's speed than mine.
This was the only clear day of my 4 days in Utah, but it was still 5F when we unloaded the tram about 9:20AM. We took our "warmup cruise" on Regulator, and it certainly was not warm in the shade at the Little Cloud base. So we spent the next few runs in the sun in Mineral Basin. First run out Powder Paradise the rope admin mentioned last week was still there, but we skied just beyond it in chalky snow with some wind drift. The cut for the cat road had filled in to no more than a 2 foot drop in that area. When we got down to the Mineral Basin chair we looked up and saw that the Bookends area beyond Hillary Step was covered with powder tracks. So a belated =D> to Snowbird for not keeping that area off limits.
Adam led the second run in Mineral, dropping off the Path to Paradise and cutting back under the lift. The group spread out, and no surprise Adam and 2 of the ski area locals got way ahead. I led the others through a lower Chamonix chute, back up the lift and into the Dog Kennel chute just skier's left of the lift. That chute had both rocks and hard patches to negotiate at the top and it took awhile for a couple of people to get through, including one from a different Epic group that followed us in there. At any rate, by the time we got back up again, Adam had lapped us and we headed for Little Cloud.
We dropped off Road to Provo into little Cloud Bowl, where we could make nearly every turn in soft windsift. We informed our guests that they would get a steady diet of this at the late March Mammoth Gathering if there is enough snow by then. :evil: The next 2 runs were out the Knucklehead traverse. I was conservative about coverage and so first dropped into the most open area but cut back under the rocks to the right for some lightly tracked powder. Next time we went farther out for even less tracked but thicker powder near Gelande Hill. With lunch scheduled for 11:30 we rode Little Cloud up and headed for the Upper Cirque. Only Shot 12 had been skied much and even it had a couple of obstacles, so 2 of the group went around to Middle Cirque. We met below there, skied across Anderson's to Green Forest and to the plaza.
After lunch we took a tram to a smooth Upper Silver Fox, down through Peruvian Gulch and over to the Gad Valley. This was my first time on the new high speed Gad 2. We skied STH and Stratton's Grove, the latter having fewer rocks to avoid. We then returned to the tram for another upper Silver Fox. Adam and I cruised to the plaza while some of our more energetic guests skied the bumps on lower Silver Fox.
For our final run Adam lowered himself into Great Scott via the Rat's Nest rope while I led the rest of the group out the lower Baldy traverse to Eye of the Needle. It was now 3:30, so Adam and I called it a day, Adam with 28,100 vertical and me with 26,700. At least 2 of our guests made one more tram for 31,000.
On the only sunny day I forgot my camera. #-o Tseeb was with us, took a few pics with his phone that he will hopefully post.
This was the only clear day of my 4 days in Utah, but it was still 5F when we unloaded the tram about 9:20AM. We took our "warmup cruise" on Regulator, and it certainly was not warm in the shade at the Little Cloud base. So we spent the next few runs in the sun in Mineral Basin. First run out Powder Paradise the rope admin mentioned last week was still there, but we skied just beyond it in chalky snow with some wind drift. The cut for the cat road had filled in to no more than a 2 foot drop in that area. When we got down to the Mineral Basin chair we looked up and saw that the Bookends area beyond Hillary Step was covered with powder tracks. So a belated =D> to Snowbird for not keeping that area off limits.
Adam led the second run in Mineral, dropping off the Path to Paradise and cutting back under the lift. The group spread out, and no surprise Adam and 2 of the ski area locals got way ahead. I led the others through a lower Chamonix chute, back up the lift and into the Dog Kennel chute just skier's left of the lift. That chute had both rocks and hard patches to negotiate at the top and it took awhile for a couple of people to get through, including one from a different Epic group that followed us in there. At any rate, by the time we got back up again, Adam had lapped us and we headed for Little Cloud.
We dropped off Road to Provo into little Cloud Bowl, where we could make nearly every turn in soft windsift. We informed our guests that they would get a steady diet of this at the late March Mammoth Gathering if there is enough snow by then. :evil: The next 2 runs were out the Knucklehead traverse. I was conservative about coverage and so first dropped into the most open area but cut back under the rocks to the right for some lightly tracked powder. Next time we went farther out for even less tracked but thicker powder near Gelande Hill. With lunch scheduled for 11:30 we rode Little Cloud up and headed for the Upper Cirque. Only Shot 12 had been skied much and even it had a couple of obstacles, so 2 of the group went around to Middle Cirque. We met below there, skied across Anderson's to Green Forest and to the plaza.
After lunch we took a tram to a smooth Upper Silver Fox, down through Peruvian Gulch and over to the Gad Valley. This was my first time on the new high speed Gad 2. We skied STH and Stratton's Grove, the latter having fewer rocks to avoid. We then returned to the tram for another upper Silver Fox. Adam and I cruised to the plaza while some of our more energetic guests skied the bumps on lower Silver Fox.
For our final run Adam lowered himself into Great Scott via the Rat's Nest rope while I led the rest of the group out the lower Baldy traverse to Eye of the Needle. It was now 3:30, so Adam and I called it a day, Adam with 28,100 vertical and me with 26,700. At least 2 of our guests made one more tram for 31,000.
On the only sunny day I forgot my camera. #-o Tseeb was with us, took a few pics with his phone that he will hopefully post.
