Alta, UT 12/12-14/2014

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Days 9-11: The beauty and the beast.

My favorite kind of storm is the kind that under-promises and over-delivers. This weekend's storm, which was predicted to leave 3-6" but instead has dropped 14" so far and it's still snowing, is definitely one of those. That was the beauty.

But Friday was the beast. After this week's wind and remarkably warm temperatures it was hard to find any soft snow anywhere. Kingslug was in town, and I did my best to find some wind deposits. We were successful in the gullies of Rabbit Hill in Catherine's Area (Friday was the first day for the Supreme lift this season), and also in Greeley Slot/North Greeley, but hardly anywhere else. By 2:30 p.m. we were all spent and retired to GMD for beers to soothe our aching joints.

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The storm that was drowning the California coast was moving inland, but as it encountered the ridge of high pressure that's been dominating our weather this week its energy split. That meant that instead of snow to be measured in feet, we'd be lucky to get 3-6". By Saturday morning we had picked up 4" of heavy, dense snow on the warm side of the storm, and it was remarkable what a difference a mere 4" of snow meant for ski surfaces. Alta was a different place. Kingslug was actually smiling. It kept snowing all day and stacking up. After lunch we kept lapping Wildcat trees because it was just so good. The Kitty delivered until our legs gave up the ghost around 3:30 p.m.

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Today, however, was the day. We had gone from Friday's beast to full-on beauty. Storm totals started the day at 11" and the snow was Wasatch-typical right side up, with the overnight snow falling light and fluffy. Kingslug spent the day skiing with his girlfriend (he figured that he had better do that by the last day, lest he find himself sleeping on the couch). We went straight to Wildcat, and those first two runs were going to be tough to beat. The first was a non-stop top to bottom marathon that delivered my first face shots of the year. While we paused once or twice on the second run, it was every bit as good as the first. We picked up some scraps on Supreme, too, although we had no need to hike out to Catherine's today.

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We picked up BraveSkiMom and her family, visiting from Grand Junction, Colo., for the afternoon with another full complement of Kitty laps as snow continued to fall. Now totaling 14", true Chamber of Commerce-style flakes floated down from the sky on nary a breath of wind.

We concluded the day with a pair of bus runs. As hard as it was going to be to beat those first two Wildcat runs this morning, that last run at 4 p.m. topped them all!

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The forecast calls for the storm to wrap up with another 1-3" overnight, which will leave totals at 15-17". Not bad for a 3-6" prediction.
 
Saturday was pretty epic...good thing i recovered from friday. Sunday spent the day showing Jackie around. Started with Wildcat which was the perfect place for her to practice powder turns. Then just cruised around hitting the other areas. Awesome day...then back to nyc on...the flight from hell... :rotfl:
thats what was next to me on the plane..oy...
 
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