Alta, UT 4/18/2014

Admin

Administrator
Staff member
Day 70: Total mank.

AmyZ and I stole away for a few runs yesterday afternoon. Temperatures at mid-mountain never dipped below 40 overnight and although I understand that the snowpack's thermal mass did allow for a shallow refreeze, we were way too late for that.

What we found was complete glop. A first run out to Jitterbug and Lone Pine through slow, sticky unconsolidated snow (despite a hot wax in my garage last weekend with a spring formula) quickly convinced me that the groomers were the place to be. So that's where we stayed.

Perhaps the best part was that it felt like a private ski area.

20140418_133334.jpg

The 1:30 p.m. "crowd" (and those cars in both rows along the parking lot's edges are all employees). I've seen twice that many cars in the weeks before the ski area even opens.

20140418_144525.jpg

Alta's newest avalanche pup "Fitz" catches a ride across the EBT aboard patroller Adam's shoulders. One of their rescue dogs (not this one) is actually a cousin to my own wonderdog Jake.

0106b.jpg

This was Fitz with Adam back in January (photo: Alta Ski Area)

On the downside, spring winds have once again deposited a layer of desert dust on the snowpack. Not only does that turn the snow an ugly shade of brown, but that also means that it will melt out more quickly as the darker color absorbs more sunlight. I was shocked at how much snow has disappeared from the later parts of the High T and beyond (such as getting to Jitterbug from the fence).

After four runs we had a cold one in the parking lot before I split. I suppose that was the other highlight of the day.
 
Back
Top