Snowbird, UT 5/30/11

[Admin]

Day 94: Face shots on Memorial Day

While others across the country were enjoying their Memorial Day BBQs, we were enjoying ours:

On the Tram Plaza

Last night's impulse was even colder than the previous two, resulting even in an inch of snow at the house this morning. LCC Road was obviously a bit greasy this morning as evidenced by the chained-up Sysco semi which nonetheless jackknifed at the curve at the top of Tanners Flats and nearly took the nonexistent north entrance to the Tanners Flat campground -- maybe the driver thought that was the delivery entrance?

Snowbird reported another 10" of 10% snow over the past 24 hours for a 14" storm total. That was enough to bring out everyone who stayed home over the past three days. The cars heading up the canyon this morning and filling the Bypass Road lot were a strong hint, as was the frothing-at-the-mouth atmosphere abundant there. The problem was that control work was getting a lot to move this morning and as a result the mountain opened two hours late. By arriving at 7:50 a.m. we were fortunately near the head of a pre-opening line that stretched all the way back up the hill to the traverse from the Bypass Road.

When Snowbird opens two hours late after more than a foot of new in May it results in mammoth liftlines.

When we finally loaded the lift at 10 a.m. I was thrilled to have so few people ahead of us and so many behind us. It was obvious that waiting for two hours standing in line had been a worthwhile endeavor.

The Peruvian line

Mineral, however, wasn't yet ready and the overhead door guarding the Peruvian Tunnel remained tightly closed. So we had to ski the frontside, but we avoided those who went before us by traversing out to the lower half of Great Scott, skiing over Some Sunny Spot and down across Anderson's Hill to the trees separating Anderson's from Dalton's. You know it's going to be a good Memorial Day when the very first two turns in Great Scott result in face shots. Oddly though the best skiing was in the trees below Rothman Way between Dalton's and Mach Schnell. Absolutely untracked the whole way top to bottom, and absolutely divine.

By the time we returned to the base we were disappointed to see that the Peruvian line wasn't any shorter. Even though Mineral Basin remained closed they were spinning Little Cloud for anyone who could get there. The problem is that getting there isn't easy with both MIneral and the Tram closed. Amazingly some were hiking all the way to Little Cloud from the base, while others had formed a steady conga line leading from the top of Peruvian to Hidden Peak.

The hike to Hidden Peak

We figured that the shortest hike would be reached via the Cool Whip traverse and booting straight up Shot 1 Route 5. That, though, was a ball buster booting up unconsolidated crotch deep snow on a 45-degree pitch.

Booting up Shot 1 Route 5

Booting up Shot 1 Route 5

We dropped into Video Chute one at a time concerned that it might slide. Adjacent chutes had already slid but Video remained clean.

We skied right onto Little Cloud and while loading we learned that Mineral Basin had just opened. It seemed at first that our effort booting up Shot 1 Route 5 was all for naught, but when we reached the summit ridgeline and looked at the humongous line at MBE down below we abandoned all thoughts of skiing into Mineral and realized that we saved ourselves waiting in that line by booting up the Cirque. The line for MBE was already nearly as long as the Peruvian line had been at opening.

That line also delayed the arrival of the masses into Little Cloud Bowl so we took a run there before they arrived. That side was definitely the windward side last night and the snow, while fun, was definitely more wind compacted and therefore more dense.

Realizing that we'd be trying to avoid crowds for the rest of the day, all three of us -- Bobby Danger, Telejon and yours truly -- decided to bag it and call it a day. We dropped an untracked 10a in the Upper Cirque and finished up with more untracked out the Blackjack gate to end things at noon on a high note rather than spend the afternoon frustrated by the crowds. After the past three days of stellar skiing in what felt like a semi-private ski area (see Friday, Saturday and Sunday)I've got to admit that we got a little bit spoiled.

[Admin]

If you want to play "Where's Waldo?" here's Guru Dave's crowd shot from this morning:

http://www.gurudavepowers.com/wp-conten ... C00022.jpg

Blow it up full-size and look hard and Bobby Danger's rather easy to spot. I'm a bit tricker to find as you only see the side of my helmet and my jacket. We really did have a decent position. Not quite the second chair of earlier this weekend but still relatively well positioned.

I also just saw mbaydala's action shots from today and they're truly amazing. He'll get them posted here later today once he finishes his video. We saved a spot for him on our morning chair but alas they were two today, not one. I just spotted him waaaay back in Dave's photo.

[mbaydala]

Marc I guess I'm technologically challenged because for the life of me I can't figure out how to upload pictures today. I reduced the size so they were below 200k but it's telling me that I have gone over the maximum pixels or something. So I figured I'd just email them to you so you can post them. I'll get working on the video now.

What a day though...

[Admin]

Marc I guess I'm technologically challenged because for the life of me I can't figure out how to upload pictures today. I reduced the size so they were below 200k but it's telling me that I have gone over the maximum pixels or something. So I figured I'd just email them to you so you can post them. I'll get working on the video now.

What a day though...

No worries. What a day indeed! Just FYI there are 2 parameters that need to be met: file size under 200 KB and image size no larger than 1024x768 pixels.

But I've got your back (all photos below credit Matt Baydala/Jason Morgan):

Skier: Matt Baydala

Skier: Matt Baydala (really, he's in there somewhere)

Skier: Matt Baydala

Skier: Matt Baydala (did you take up telemark when I wasn't looking? ;-) )

Skier: Jason Morgan

Skier: Jason Morgan (really, as if there's any doubt that there were face shots to be had today...)

Skier: Matt Baydala

[Admin]

Hey, hey...Mike Gorrell bogarted my "Juneuary" comment from Saturday in his Salt Lake Tribune article today!

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/51911 ... e.html.csp

(Ref.: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9685&p=61316&hilit=Juneuary#p61316)

[PerryH]

Long time posting, glad everyone got some, it sure was special today

[Admin]

Great to see you here again Perry! Don't be such a stranger. Fixed that video embed for ya. And hey, those are some rockin' gloves.

[Evren]

Long time reader, first time writer. Hi.
I was way in the back of that line at Peruvian and later, in the back of the line at MBE, until finally stumbling upon Little Cloud. That somewhat tempered my gratitude to Admin for inspiring me to come out (!)
More than the lines, what bothered me were the constant cutting-in-line. I spoke out twice and apparently, line-cutters agree that I need to "relax, dude". Which reminds me of my original gripe:
Seems many regulars here lead a blessed existence at LCC whereby they are the last in the canyon before the road closes and first when the rope drops. And nobody cuts in front of them because they are at the front of the line. Maybe it's just hard-earned experience. Me, I am a sometime LCCer and I never seem to catch a break at Snowbird. The lines I choose are most always skied out and there's an overall vibe of "get outta my way!" that seems more Manhattan than Utah. I usually end up having a better ski day and more first-second-or-third-tracks at Snowbasin, or Deer Valley, or Canyons, or heck -- even Sundance.
No question Snowbird delivers the goods to its favorite sons but what about the rest of us? Or do I just need to "relax, dude"?
Still, grateful that I got to ski on this next-to-last day of May.

[mbaydala]

[Admin]

Long time reader, first time writer. Hi.

Hi! Welcome. Happy to see a new face here, hope that you'll post often. That whole moderation thing applies only to your first post to weed out spammers so from now on your posts will appear immediately.

No question Snowbird delivers the goods to its favorite sons but what about the rest of us? Or do I just need to "relax, dude"?

What I think you're terming as line cutting is a long-standing practice at both Alta and Snowbird to allow friends to fill chairs. If you're near the head of the line for a quad and you only have three it's generally acceptable to allow your friend to join you to fill the chair and few if any will speak up against it. That's why I walked to the back of the line when I saw mbaydala arrive and offered him to join us as we were only three. When I learned they were two, however, that offer wouldn't work. Frankly, I think that's rather civilized and keeps you with your friends instead of trying to find them all day. For example I never saw mbaydala all day after that. And the alternative is that a chair goes up the hill at less than capacity or you simply pick up a single.

At Alta it's also a long-standing practice to place your skis in line and go do something else for a moment if necessary, then return to your skis, much as many of us did this morning at Peruvian at Snowbird when they announced that would be at least another 45 minutes before opening. Personally I went to Baked and Brewed for a latté while others hit the john or something else.

I note that Mike Gorrell reported an apparent absence of line cutting in his Tribune piece about today:

Michele Urban, of Sandy, knew her husband, Scott, was somewhere in the front of that line. He had come up early. But she was not about to try to cut her way through that mob with her 11-year-old son, Raichle.

“I have a feeling we wouldn’t have survived,” she joked. So they stood deep in a line that didn’t start moving until 9:54 a.m.

If I'm mistaken about what you're viewing as line cutting, though, I'd love to hear more.

Me, I am a sometime LCCer and I never seem to catch a break at Snowbird. The lines I choose are most always skied out

With no disrespect intended I think that you answered your own question there. A frequent LCC skier typically knows what to ski and when to ski it to score the good snow and avoid the masses. If you're not spending a lot of time there (and there are other excellent local mountains that you apparently frequent instead, and that's terrific -- I should move around more than I do) you're not going to innately head to the goods at the right time. Give me a shout anytime and come along with us, I promise you that you'll see a different set of circumstances. That said, it's still possible to pull it off. Look for example at mbaydala's photos and video. He's a Park City-ite, and skis far more frequently on the Wasatch Back than in LCC. He still scored the goods today, I dare say better than we did. But there were occasions when he tagged along with us at Alta this winter and by his own words "saw a different mountain" than he usually did. He learned a different way to ski the hill and it opened up a whole new set of possibilities to him.

Finally, I honestly didn't feel that the frenzy was overbearing today. There are admittedly certainly days when it is but I didn't feel like today was one of them. Then again I only stood in liftlines twice, both times at Peruvian. Once we hiked over the Cirque we left the crowds behind (although they surely would have caught up to us eventually if we hadn't left).

Damn, I've got to quit editing this post and adding to it...

[mbaydala]

With the exception of the first chair of the day I didn't wait in line for more then a couple of minutes all day long. A lot of it has to do with luck but at the same time, I usually find that a good plan of attack usually is the best method for avoiding the madness. For instance, this morning first lap we went straight out to the cool whip traverse and headed over to Gad chutes, took our time found 1000 foot shots of untracked powder but really just enjoyed having the zone all to ourselves. Shot some video, took some pictures and never saw another skier or rider. We knew the line was still going to be huge at P-Dawg so we didn't rush back. Upon our return, we waited in line for about 4 minutes, got to the top and the tunnel into Mineral opened. Got one lap in Mineral and knew it was going to blow up big, so at the top of Mineral Basin Express we were on our way out to Gad Chutes again for more 100% untracked lines. Then down to the base again and presto, the line was gone everyone was up in Mineral and the front side was all ours. So we did two shots in the lower Cirque, untracked again and then spent the rest of the day out in Lower Baldy.

As far as the Bro, Bra crew at Snowbird, I see it and agree with you in some respect. I feel like there are far more "Dudes" that think the Bird belongs to them simply because they are insanely good skiers and riders. They also try and use the pack mentality when bumping friends up the line on powder days. I try not to let it bother me, but I will agree you don't see that behavior at Alta or any other of the Utah resorts for that matter. Well I guess that's just my opinion.

[Bobby Danger]

what 's one to do with a mammoth line of arsses like that !!!!!!!!!!! day 84 .......... powder 5/30/11 ......... for me really this wasn't my first big memorial pow day just another pow day in a different season ... i'd say by looking at the base area pics. were starting off the SUMMER season in a mammoth way ! 1st run epic- 2nd run epic- 3rd run epic to bad there were mammoth sized lines everywhere i would have liked to have stayed longer . i saw plenty of day ticket buyers in line the bird did well this morning . nice vids from matt and perry classics

[Staley]

I suppose I'm not really bothered by letting friends join an unfilled chair. Also, if I'm a single and a few people back of a group of 3, I'll ask if I can join. Of course, people always say yes. However, if they said no and then tried to drag a friend up from much farther back in line, I think that might bother me a bit. Does this type of situation happen much at Snowbird?

In general, I think it is your responsibility to ask to move up to fill partial chairs. If you don't ask, it's fair game for somebody else to--Don't complain about line cutting after you had the opportunity to do so yourself.

[Admin]

Also, if I'm a single and a few people back of a group of 3, I'll ask if I can join. Of course, people always say yes. However, if they said no and then tried to drag a friend up from much farther back in line, I think that might bother me a bit. Does this type of situation happen much at Snowbird?

Not at all. I've never experienced that. What would be the point in doing so anyway apart from just being rude? They'd end up picking up a random single from the singles line anyway.

What may happen (and which may seem to some to be a fine line from what you've described) is they'll tell you that they have a fourth who will be there in a moment and who generally does materialize. I've never seen someone say that they have a fourth and it doesn't appear that they really do. If their friend doesn't make it in time they'll then turn to you and say that it now appears they're 3 after all and you're welcome to join them. IMO that's eminently reasonable and I've been in that situation myself.

I have had words this season with someone trying to overtly scam his way into the middle of the singles line of an obscenely long liftline that stretched beyond the maze and back up the hill. They weren't pleasant words, either. He was one of the Bro Brahs who apparently thought he was too good to go to the back of the line after every other person there had done. And this was at Alta, not Snowbird. Thankfully, though, that's a very rare occurrence around here.

And on a tangential note one thing that bugs the daylights out of me is when I see groups of two one after another in front of me in a liftline for a quad chair. For gosh sakes, people...pair up!

[Tony Crocker]

No question Utah had by far the better of snow conditions this weekend. But is Mammoth the only area that can anticipate busy days and open enough lifts to handle a crowd? Just adding Gadzoom would have been enough to relieve much of the pain. I skied 31K today and it may not have been deep powder, but it was far from chopped liver.