It snowed 12 inches 3/4 -3/5/09 then another 2 inches before the lifts opened on Friday 3/6, our first day. We skied Solitude that day and found lots of left-over freshies in Honeycomb (as the skiers-left traverse had apparently not been opened since the storm), in numerous tree shots skier’s-right of the Powderhorn lift, in the Headwall Forest, and under the Sunshine lift. With the cold temps and low winds, the left-over snow everywhere above the lowest 200 or so vertical-feet of the resort was surprisingly light, fluffy and well-preserved. It snowed another two inches while we skied, but by the end of the day Solitude was finally getting tracked out.
We enjoyed sunny skies but no new snow on Saturday 3/7, so we picked Alta in hopes that a staggered opening of something might provide some 2-day-old freshies. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, we were skiing some nice left-over chowder in Catherine’s when the Devil’s Castle rope dropped for the first time since Wed/Thur's 12-inch snowfall. By the time we got there, the line on the traverse was unbelievably crowded and slow. The far-eastern end of the Castle was worth the mostly uphill hike, however, as the snow out there had not been wind or sun affected. Before dropping in, we had a brief conversation with one of our fellow skiers on the traverse. She was free-heel and said it was her first day of the season, she was 62, and that she had just finished chemotherapy. She then proceeded to ski a nearly flawless line of telemark turns almost all the way down to the run out. =D> Other highlights of our day included what I’ll call some premium crud on Greeley, and a surprise powder stash of not insignificant size in the area of North Rustler.
Despite the sun, it stayed relatively cold all weekend, so decent skier-chopped and packed powder predominated throughout a second day at Alta on Sunday. We lapped the far eastern end of the Castle a couple more times (this time on a gravity traverse), found some well-preserved chowder on the apron, and had a not entirely un-Mad-River-like run down Eagle’s Nest (steep, firm, bumps that held a good edge, scattered with softer snow).
We spent Monday 3/9, our last day, skiing mostly powder at Snowbasin: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7802
All in all, a pretty satisfying 4 days in Utah.
We enjoyed sunny skies but no new snow on Saturday 3/7, so we picked Alta in hopes that a staggered opening of something might provide some 2-day-old freshies. It did not disappoint. Unfortunately, we were skiing some nice left-over chowder in Catherine’s when the Devil’s Castle rope dropped for the first time since Wed/Thur's 12-inch snowfall. By the time we got there, the line on the traverse was unbelievably crowded and slow. The far-eastern end of the Castle was worth the mostly uphill hike, however, as the snow out there had not been wind or sun affected. Before dropping in, we had a brief conversation with one of our fellow skiers on the traverse. She was free-heel and said it was her first day of the season, she was 62, and that she had just finished chemotherapy. She then proceeded to ski a nearly flawless line of telemark turns almost all the way down to the run out. =D> Other highlights of our day included what I’ll call some premium crud on Greeley, and a surprise powder stash of not insignificant size in the area of North Rustler.
Despite the sun, it stayed relatively cold all weekend, so decent skier-chopped and packed powder predominated throughout a second day at Alta on Sunday. We lapped the far eastern end of the Castle a couple more times (this time on a gravity traverse), found some well-preserved chowder on the apron, and had a not entirely un-Mad-River-like run down Eagle’s Nest (steep, firm, bumps that held a good edge, scattered with softer snow).
We spent Monday 3/9, our last day, skiing mostly powder at Snowbasin: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7802
All in all, a pretty satisfying 4 days in Utah.
