Solitude TR 1/16/15

Just a late TR from Solitude .....

Used the voucher from the Warren Miller Ski Film -- which included a free ski day at Solitude (any day).

Started the day with a proper meal at the classic "Carl's Café" on Fort Union. All American omelette from Carl's will keep you going all morning long....

The traffic up BCC was quite heavy......even stopped at times. Nevertheless, we managed to arrive at 850 am and on the lift by 910.

I figured it would be a groomer type of day, so took out my AC40's. Took a few groomers to warm up before heading over to the new Summit Express. (The whole new Summit Express high speed quad discussion is grounds for another thread. My personal viewpoint is that there are pros and cons to both options. Obviously, the old triple to double was a bit painful and.......when snowing/cold ....that triple took a loooong time. High speed quads rock -- way more vertical but the goods go quicker IMO.)

The previous night had snowed a good 6" ......and I had high hopes of hitting up Honeycomb Canyon, one of my favorite spots in Utah/SLC.

Bombs were going off, and Ski Patrol was definitely working the area......I headed back to the car to get the Super 7's. It was going to be a pow morning.......

The first runs off of Summit Express were really great -- about 6 inches of new fresh snow. As the morning went on....the traffic increased and the lift line increased in length. It was definitely an holiday weekend. The lift lines weren't painful but the snow went really quickly. I had a hard time finding scraps.

Then.....Honeycomb opened up. Welcome to the goody room. Deep, untracked pow......just a blast of a run. I don't know the area all that well, but , the general rule is.....the further you hike/traverse, the better/deeper the goods.

Back down at the Honeycomb return lift, I opted for a lesser known spot -- Navarone. Along w/ my buddy, we summarily managed to lap Navarone about 6 times.......absolutely blissful lines with deep face shots the entire time. It was a BLAST. The lines there remind me of parts of Alta (Lone Pine run). We skied these lines almost all to ourselves until 1 pm -- until lunch. Lunch from 1 to 2 and headed back up for one more lap to Honeycomb. I decided to hike/traverse even further and although it was obviously more tracked than when the rope dropped, I still found deep snow with minimal tracks......

Left around 3 pm to beat the crowds.

Solitude can really deliver the goods. I personally underrate it. Honeycomb is IMO one of the coolest spots in Utah to ski. If you can get it on a good day, you will not forget it.

Thanks Warren Miller Entertainment!
 

Attachments

  • 20160116_093757.jpg
    20160116_093757.jpg
    317.2 KB · Views: 3,544
  • solitud3.jpg
    solitud3.jpg
    48.7 KB · Views: 3,544
  • solitude 5.jpg
    solitude 5.jpg
    111.3 KB · Views: 3,546
  • solitude 1.jpg
    solitude 1.jpg
    94.1 KB · Views: 3,554
  • solitude 3.jpg
    solitude 3.jpg
    208.6 KB · Views: 3,548
Back
Top