Snowbird 3/11/14

Traffic was a little slow getting up LCC -- w/ chain checks and I got about 10 cars behind the snowplow which means average speeds of 5-20 mph up the canyon. Got to Snowbird Entrance 1 at 840.

Moderate lift line....took Gadzoom over to Gad 2. 24 degrees F at Snowbird Entrance one and light snow, moderate ridgetop winds, and fairly calm winds everywhere else. A standard storm day.

Took the normal favorite line down Gad 2 , one of the firsts, of course, colossal face shots screaming down the face. Definitely more snow than last Friday.....The bumps were pretty much filled in......

Skied down to the bottom and took Gadzoom to Little Cloud for a few laps. Road to Provo was closed, but the area underneath the lift skied beautifully. Real chance to let it rip and go full throttle here, as visibility was notably quite good.

Took a few laps on Little Cloud before it seemed like there was quite a few people there. .....1 foot fresh snow , decent visibility = lots of people.

Saw that the Cirque had opened up, so immediately went there. Stayed as high as I possibly could off of LC and went down the first cirque that I could access. It was untouched. (Is this middle or upper)? Anyways, it was , hands down, the run of the day. I might not ever forget that run for a long time. Lines like that seriously demand a snorkel. Literally, I think it might be physically possible to die via suffocation by face shot. It was THAT good. I really can't describe how good it was. I had my O-face on the whole time down the run. It was glorious.

Peruvian had just opened, so took some sweet lines and went over to Blackjack Traverse. Untouched. Untouched, perfect visibility = full throttle. Insane.

Proceeded to take a few more laps up Peruvian (minimal lift lines) and took the high gate out of Peruvian (to skiers right) and traversed as far as I could. I went over near Peruvian Gulch/ West Baldy and quite frankly, I must have missed the sign that said cliff and proceeded to get myself in a less than desirable situation. It wasn't gnarly, just wasn't ideal. No matter how good a skier you are, it sure pays to have local knowledge. (Waiting for admin's comment here....) Suffice it to say, it was all good. Took a few more beautiful runs on Peruvian in various spots (basically untracked)....until Mineral opened.

Mineral skied ......there is nothing like untracked Mineral. Full speed , face shot glory. It's the stuff dreams are made of. So so so good. Proceeded to take another 1 or 2 laps up Mineral........proceeding runs were very good, but nothing is like that first run.......Went and checked at gates accessing Sugar Cliffs were open but they were not....took the line underneath Baldy Express.....completely untracked glory. The entry to these lines are as good as it gets. Unforgettable lines...I was having issues with visibility and surprisingly, it sure seemed like everything went fairly quickly. Definitely went faster than last Friday's powday. app 5 minute wait in line.

As the visibility was getting to me, I thought I'd try West Baldy/Peruvian Gulch area......it was about 1230 and it definitely seemed that most of the lines over off of the traverse were fairly skied off including lines off of the Blackjack Traverse. Since the High Baldy T was open and lots of people hiking, I assume this is the reason.

Went back over to Gad 2 and skied Tiger Tail (upper). It was good but definitely starting to get a little tracked. Pick and choose lines. Still this is a great area. Skied Lower Tiger Tail and the upper half was very very untracked, bottom half (before Gad 2 return) was fairly tracked. Decided to try for Upper Tiger tail and get really far out there. Again.....local knowledge will help.....I stayed as far as I could to the right and kept seeing Resort Area Boundary signs but never really found anything that blew me away. I dunno.......maybe I didn't hit the right line. Went up Baby Thunder ........skied to the car.

Left the Bird at 3 pm.

Some called it the best day of the year.....snowed pretty good all day.

My guess is that there were a lot of locals out today...it wasn't crowded but it sure seemed to get skied off kinda quickly. I dunno...all in all, a really blast of a day.

Congrats, sounds like a great day. I'm jealous. Living in Vegas and working M-F, it's hard to hit those mid-week storm days. Good for you.


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I was in a similar situation on 2/28. LC was open, no road to Provo, it was the first time I'd ever classify Regulator as NOT a shit show. The snow under LC was great. And I had a very similar Cirque shot once it opened, after traversing in from LC. If you took the high traverse and topped out ASAP, I'd guess you were in the Jaws area by the time you hit the Cirque. I would call the area Upper Cirque in general.


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Adam needs to post to this report. He, Edie, Ben and Mark Meisner skied 41,780 at Snowbird today, hitting most of the sequential terrain openings.

40k is definitely doable at snowbird ........i skied 6 straight hours nonstop...knowing full well to save some energy as today is going to be another rockin day....i assume you are up here tony? i'm at alta today ....

jojo_obrien":u5dmgi0c said:

Proceeded to take a few more laps up Peruvian (minimal lift lines) and took the high gate out of Peruvian (to skiers right) and traversed as far as I could. I went over near Peruvian Gulch/ West Baldy...

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*All* of the valley on the east side of the area is Peruvian Gulch - bounded on the west by the north ridge of Hidden Peak and on the east by Baldy and the Alta/Snowbird ridge line. IOW, there is no Peruvian Gulch to go near as you were in Peruvian Gulch.

Does anyone work??

jasoncapecod":131ulza2 said:

Does anyone work??

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Nope.

I emailed my boss at 4:30 p.m. Monday, telling him that if the storm didn't bust I'd be putting in for a PTO day by 8 a.m. Not only did it not bust, but it over-delivered -- while the forecast was 5-10" we ended up with 14" of medium density new snow, with just enough wind to fill in the troughs and eliminate any bumps whatsoever. Superb!

I was in the Collins line 15 minutes before opening and was joined by Skidog, loading the lift at approximately 25th chair. Our first three runs were positively orgasmic! Untracked high-speed arcs down Spruce Forest, Saddle, Eagle's Nest, High Stoner and lower Thirds/lower Gunsight. In those first turns of the day in Spruce Forest I was gunning for a narrow slot between the trees when Skidog approached from my right and slashed a huge right turn, throwing so much snow into the air in front of me that I lost all sight of the trees and was therefore forced to stop to let the air clear before proceeding.

We even got Backside and Susie's Trees before the storm breathed its last gasp (surprise, surprise!), and in Susie's I had to actually stop to clear my goggles after a face shot. By 11:30 a.m. we were joined by AmyZ and we hooked up with Tony Crocker and Liz right about the time that most locals left to return to work, leaving the place nearly deserted as the final few inches fell.

Skidog left when we went in for a late lunch around 1:20 p.m. By 3 p.m. we were taking my favorite route into Snowbird, but AmyZ and I had to leave Tony and Liz behind if we had any hope to make it back to Alta before Baldy Express closed for the day. It was well worth the choice, however, for we topped out at my favorite line to find only one (count em, one!) track from the only skier who had been there before us. At 3 p.m.!

I phoned Tony to give him specific directions on how to access that particular line (he still largely missed it :lol, but that turned out to be a mistake for after riding Peruvian, going through the tunnel and skiing down to Baldy Express we arrived there only five chairs after they had sent patrol up for sweep. We therefore had no choice but to load Mineral Basin Express to get out of there. Had I not stopped to call Crocker we would've made it, so AmyZ and I decided to blame it on him. :wink:

As long as we were stuck at the Bird we did one lap down through Puckerbrush before returning to Hidden Peak via the Little Cloud chair, finishing our day with a Tower 3 Chutes before wrapping around to upper Mach Schnell.

Our only route back to our cars was via bus, so we rode Chickadee to the Cliff Lodge bus stop. Riding back to Alta we stopped at the Blackjack Road and who boarded but...Tony.

I lost count of the face shots on the day, and I think that even Crocker would approve of using a PTO day yesterday for my 55th day of this season. No pictures, it was just too good a day to stop to shoot any.

Given the pattern of the 2 previous storms, I decided it would be most productive to get Liz over to Alta for what I expected to be a "low angle powder day." Of course the storm overperformed. After a few hiccups, we nonetheless loaded Wildcat at 9:20 and when we got down the Collins line had already dissipated by half. First time up Collins I made the error of not taking the highest gate #-o where the traverse had not yet been set out the High T. So we picked our way down, getting a catcall as admin & company passed overhead on the chair. The next 2 runs out on Greely Hill (first started from lower Thirds) were exactly what I had in mind for Liz. We were also lucky to get a sun hole on both runs for enhanced visibility.




By this time Liz' new boot tongue inserts had worked their way loose so she went into GMD to adjust them. I took a lap and arrived just after the non-hike gate to Backside had opened. When I returned to the base I grabbed Liz and went back for a repeat.


After this run we joined admin, AmyZ and Matt for a run on Vail Ridge and then went into lunch. Exiting lunch was hazardous for admin. This snow slab broke off the glass roof onto his back, missing his head by about a second.

admin":30p51a5o said:

I phoned Tony to give him specific directions on how to access that particular line (he still largely missed it :lol

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While I did not find admin's exact traverse line, I ended up in the same untracked sector. Liz missed the gate and did a condo run. She then went into Snowbird for another boot adjustment while I returned to Alta for a final run on Keyhole Right.

Liz built upon her Zermatt experience and never crashed in today's powder. I had to wait much longer for her to negotiate the High T than for any run we skied. :lol:

Tony Crocker":14g0xyhi said:

admin":14g0xyhi said:

I phoned Tony to give him specific directions on how to access that particular line (he still largely missed it :lol

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While I did not find admin's exact traverse line, I ended up in the same untracked sector.

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What you missed was the steep open untracked slope at the top. You found the same low angle run through the willows on the bottom half.

Tony Crocker":ib8sui9v said:

Adam needs to post to this report. He, Edie, Ben and Mark Meisner skied 41,780 at Snowbird today, hitting most of the sequential terrain openings.

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Better late than never I suppose.

I don't have much in the way of pictures because we were too busy skiing. I am dumb and decided not to take out my GoPro on Tuesday. Perhaps that's why it ended up being so epic. Eddie was running his Contour most of the day, so I might get some screen shots or an edit from him eventually.

The Collins plot showed 9" when we woke up, and Myself, Ben, Mark, and Eddie (Iron Blossom crew) each made it to the plaza by about 8:30, which was early enough for the first tram. When we got up top, the entire Peruvian gulch was closed still due presumably to control work. Regulator was the only open run down so we bombed it with the rest of the thundering horde. There was a bit of wind effect, as heavy turns up high were enough to break through to the subsurface. But half-way down it was smooth and skied bottomless. As we skied by the base of LIttle Cloud, the lift crew was still using a snowblower to clear snow so we headed over to Gad 2. We practically skied onto the lift, and never waited in much of a line there. The first lap was just looker's right under the lift, through some tree shots where the Snowbird camera guy had set up to make some easy cash. It was deep and untouched, I got face shots, tried to give the camera guy a show, but of course he didn't see me. The second lap was on the other side of the lift, through STH trees, which was every bit as good. The third time we loaded Gad 2, the whiteboard noted that Little Cloud was open so we headed that way next.

Again, we found virtually no line and the chair had been open maybe 5 minutes. We skied one run under the lift, as of course Road to Provo would not open until the following day. Upon loading Little Cloud a second time, the whiteboard there had been updated to show the Cirque was open from the middle traverse. So we headed out that way, again not long behind the terrain opening. When we got to the beginning of MIddle Cirque, visibility was terrible. But fortunately, the snow was knee to thigh deep and so it didn't much matter. We pigged out on the face shots and then traversed across Anderson's to Green Forest. When we got out the traverse, we saw not a single track into Green Forest, and we knew we'd be in for a treat. HOLY CRAP were we right! Eddie and I put the first two tracks down that line, and they were my best 8 or so turns of the day. I've skied that line quite a few times in recent years thanks to Admin, and the snow is always great in there, but I've never skied it that fast before. It was awesome.

From there we got more fresh turns under the lower part of Peruvian, and loaded that lift again with no line. We did one lap out the lower Baldy traverse from Peruvian. Again the snow was excellent and largely untracked.

Riding Peruvian, from left to right: Mark, Ben, Ed (click for bigger)


We rode Peruvian a second time, and when we got to the top we saw about 30 people outside the tunnel with a lifty rolling up the tunnel door. Naturally, we got in line and were on our way to Mineral Basin within a few minutes. I think it was about this time that I took this picture:



The belt stopped at one point, prompting most of us to get off and walk. We took three laps in Mineral Basin, and only on the last trip down did the line build beyond a minute or two. The snow was good and I rarely hit the subsurface, but visibility was in and out. I think after the third lap, we headed back over to the mid Cirque traverse but dropped left early, just past the rope line. I can never remember the names of these runs, but it was barely tracked and we came out just above the top of Gadzoom. We skied over to Gad 2 and headed out to Tiger Tail, which we had seen listed as open on the lightboard at the bottom of Mineral Basin on our last ride up it.

We went out the upper gate and traversed as far as the main traverse goes to ski the first pitch (I think this is Thunder Bowl?), which was excellent and again only lightly tracked. We hung another left and traversed through the trees further still, around the corner a bit and into the last open face before the boundary. I have no idea what this pitch is called, but we put the first four tracks on it in the early afternoon. The run rolled over into not-so-buried bushes, and we veered right through low angle trees in time to catch the rope boundary that led us to the bottom of the Baby Thunder lift. Everyone was in agreement that the run deserved an encore, so we rode Baby Thunder/Gadzoom/Gad 2 and hit the repeat button. Well, that was the plan anyway, until I dropped a glove 1/3rd of the way up Gadzoom. The other three did a tree run under the lift while I bombed cut up groomers and the cat road with one hand curled up in a jacket sleeve. Thankfully, I found my glove easy enough and it was mostly dry.

On the second lap out Tiger Tail/Thunder Bowl/<whatever> I ran into rdwore on the last pitch and we reveled in how good it still was. A buried tree branch ripped a ski off from under me near the bottom, and he was kind enough to retrieve it as he skied by me. After that run, I think we rode Gadzoom and went out the Cirque traverse to Wilbrere Bowl, eventually wrapping around to Peruvian. We did a run on
out the Baldy traverse again, which was great aside from the part where I cliffed myself out twice on the same run. The first time I was leading the group but it was a short traverse around, while the second time I ended up lower than everyone and had to step up about 50 feet to get out. Once more we went up Peruvian, skiing Silver Fox and into Green Forest again (which was still only lightly cut up) before heading home.

By 3:45 I had food in my face and a beer in hand.



Hands down the best day I've had at Snowbird, and certainly a top-5 lift service day anywhere for me as well. Mid-week at Mammoth in January of 2010, President's Weekend at Mammoth in 2011, and the first trip to Castle in BC are the only other lift days that were on this level. But none of them had this kind of gaudy vertical total.

skiace":3v9a9vot said:

the first trip to Castle in BC

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First trip to Castle was in 1999, first year of the upper lift. The area was so under the radar then that half the day (a Sunday yet) was powder even though the new snow was from a few days before, plus abundant wind reloads.

In 2008 we got fresh snow on a Friday (Castle gets Calgary weekend daytrippers but is still dead quiet midweek). That was the 30/20 day to which skiace refers. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6384 .

40/28 is on a completely different level, one I'm likely never to attain. My record in that record (which skiace shared) was 28/26 with Chugach Powder Guides in 2007. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3034

Skiace barely beat my Snowbird vertical record of 41,250. That was set during the once-in-a-lifetime uncrowded environment of the 2002 Olympics and was great skiing but not a powder day. viewtopic.php?t=4583