We got home from Indonesia late March 19 and were soon reading favorable snow forecasts for Utah. The earliest we could get away was March 23, which was a 19-inch powder day. So our first day was Thursday March 24, and we started at Snowbird for terrain that had not been open the day before.
We were not well organized, still perhaps on Asian time. I forgot my jacket and had to go back down the LCC road to get it. Liz started skiing but found her gloves inadequate, needed mittens but I was on the tram by the time I got the message. We agreed to meet base of Little Cloud so I could give her the car key. She was at the base of Gadzoom, which then stopped running for 15 minutes.
Low and sun exposed areas had taken some sun effect late 3/23 but there were thick clouds nearly all day, so there was minimal further sun softening. The cloud did create flat light in wide open areas though.
The key exchange was at 10:45, so then I could finally start skiing. I got lucky, as Powder Paradise had opened just a few minutes before I arrived at the top of Little Cloud. First run was just short of Hillary Step, passing by the Snowbird powdershots photographer. Powder Paradise:
Zoom 1st run:
Next run I went farther out, diverting skier’s right around the Flora Cliffs. At this point the Mineral Basin lift line hit its max of about 10 minutes. But when I got up top people were waiting for Road to Provo, and the rope dropped just before I got there.
Little Cloud Bowl had taken a lot of wind, which had stripped the powder completely from its upper third. I slipped past that, started making powder turns and failed to see a lower wind stripped spot which upended me. Lower down I was able to stay in the powder on that first run. The next runs were all out the Knucklehead traverse, going a little farther each time for the fresh snow. I ran into Liz on the last of these.
We then skied out the Powder Paradise traverse and then took a lunch break at the new Hidden Peak restaurant. We got our lunch efficiently but had to go upstairs to find a free table.
After lunch we took the High Baldy traverse to enter Alta via Upper Armpit. The hike was slow going, as much altitude sensitivity as either of us recall in Utah, no doubt assisted by our jet lag. Upper Armpit:
We had untracked turns above the Ballroom traverse line, but the snow was well churned below that. Extensively skied snow was heavy and a lot of work at both areas Thursday.
We took a Collins lap, then Wildcat to Westward Ho. The latter was sun affected but manageable as much of it was untracked. Liz then went to see Steve at Christy Sports for boot work. I took a last Peruvian run out the low Baldy traverse to Needles Eye. I skied 14,800 vertical at Snowbird, 6,300 at Alta, about 5K of varied quality powder.
On Friday March 25 we slept in some, took our time getting up the hill and were pleasantly surprised. We arrived at 10:30 and it had snowed hard the previous 2 hours. The new snow softened ungroomed areas and even covered up some of the spring conditions.
We met Bobby Dwore, Colin and Scott (visiting for a long weekend at the Cliff Lodge) in the tram line, also just starting their day. After an excellent Silver Fox run we skied down to Gadzoom and returned to the top via Little Cloud. Here we met Arnie and Kay and headed out the Cirque Traverse. They went to Forbidden Forest, but I followed a different group by mistake and ended up on Restaurant Roll. We continued through delightful soft snow to skier’s right while the group traversed left into some confined chutes.
Still not realizing I was following the wrong group I took this pic of some air time.
Liz and I continued to Gad 2, skied a run on Gadzooks, then went back up Little Cloud. We skied another Restaurant Roll due to its snow quality, this time far skier’s right.
We ended up in equally good Taxwoods Slide, continuing down into the bottom of South Chute and reconnecting with the group at Rendezvous for lunch. After lunch we repeated the morning runs: Tram to Silver Fox, Gad Valley lifts up to the Cirque traverse. Liz and I found a Restaurant Roll variation between the two morning runs.
Liz called it a day while I rejoined the group for a last Peruvian run to Green Forest. Most suspected refrozen snow below Rothman’s, but Colin tried Sunrise Gully and when I heard no scraping I followed into the sheltered packed powder snow and finished with 21,500 vertical.
We were not well organized, still perhaps on Asian time. I forgot my jacket and had to go back down the LCC road to get it. Liz started skiing but found her gloves inadequate, needed mittens but I was on the tram by the time I got the message. We agreed to meet base of Little Cloud so I could give her the car key. She was at the base of Gadzoom, which then stopped running for 15 minutes.
Low and sun exposed areas had taken some sun effect late 3/23 but there were thick clouds nearly all day, so there was minimal further sun softening. The cloud did create flat light in wide open areas though.
The key exchange was at 10:45, so then I could finally start skiing. I got lucky, as Powder Paradise had opened just a few minutes before I arrived at the top of Little Cloud. First run was just short of Hillary Step, passing by the Snowbird powdershots photographer. Powder Paradise:
Zoom 1st run:
Next run I went farther out, diverting skier’s right around the Flora Cliffs. At this point the Mineral Basin lift line hit its max of about 10 minutes. But when I got up top people were waiting for Road to Provo, and the rope dropped just before I got there.
Little Cloud Bowl had taken a lot of wind, which had stripped the powder completely from its upper third. I slipped past that, started making powder turns and failed to see a lower wind stripped spot which upended me. Lower down I was able to stay in the powder on that first run. The next runs were all out the Knucklehead traverse, going a little farther each time for the fresh snow. I ran into Liz on the last of these.
We then skied out the Powder Paradise traverse and then took a lunch break at the new Hidden Peak restaurant. We got our lunch efficiently but had to go upstairs to find a free table.
After lunch we took the High Baldy traverse to enter Alta via Upper Armpit. The hike was slow going, as much altitude sensitivity as either of us recall in Utah, no doubt assisted by our jet lag. Upper Armpit:
We had untracked turns above the Ballroom traverse line, but the snow was well churned below that. Extensively skied snow was heavy and a lot of work at both areas Thursday.
We took a Collins lap, then Wildcat to Westward Ho. The latter was sun affected but manageable as much of it was untracked. Liz then went to see Steve at Christy Sports for boot work. I took a last Peruvian run out the low Baldy traverse to Needles Eye. I skied 14,800 vertical at Snowbird, 6,300 at Alta, about 5K of varied quality powder.
On Friday March 25 we slept in some, took our time getting up the hill and were pleasantly surprised. We arrived at 10:30 and it had snowed hard the previous 2 hours. The new snow softened ungroomed areas and even covered up some of the spring conditions.
We met Bobby Dwore, Colin and Scott (visiting for a long weekend at the Cliff Lodge) in the tram line, also just starting their day. After an excellent Silver Fox run we skied down to Gadzoom and returned to the top via Little Cloud. Here we met Arnie and Kay and headed out the Cirque Traverse. They went to Forbidden Forest, but I followed a different group by mistake and ended up on Restaurant Roll. We continued through delightful soft snow to skier’s right while the group traversed left into some confined chutes.
Still not realizing I was following the wrong group I took this pic of some air time.
Liz and I continued to Gad 2, skied a run on Gadzooks, then went back up Little Cloud. We skied another Restaurant Roll due to its snow quality, this time far skier’s right.
We ended up in equally good Taxwoods Slide, continuing down into the bottom of South Chute and reconnecting with the group at Rendezvous for lunch. After lunch we repeated the morning runs: Tram to Silver Fox, Gad Valley lifts up to the Cirque traverse. Liz and I found a Restaurant Roll variation between the two morning runs.
Liz called it a day while I rejoined the group for a last Peruvian run to Green Forest. Most suspected refrozen snow below Rothman’s, but Colin tried Sunrise Gully and when I heard no scraping I followed into the sheltered packed powder snow and finished with 21,500 vertical.
