Alta, UT 3/20/2005 - Powder, baby!

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Holy s**t!

The 5 am report stated 6" new, but it was a good foot already by the time we arrived at Goldminer's Daughter for a 9am rendezvous. It was tough to guage depths, for the wind moved snow from some places and deposited it in others, but the day started with an honest-to-goodness face shot on only my second turn of the first run of the day in Liftline Trees.

After 4 weeks of dry weather, it was about time. Alta is reporting a total of 21" from this storm as of 5pm, and I have no doubt as to its accuracy -- perhaps that estimate is even a bit light. Mid-mountain settled base depth is now 156 inches. The sky positively puked snow all day, at times 2 and perhaps even 3 inches per hour, and it never seemed to let up. Tracks kept getting filled back in all day. Anything less than a black diamond wasn't even skiable for first tracks as you couldn't get up enough momentum. While we expected this stuff to be heavy, wet sludge (the snow level was forecast for 7,000 feet, although we had 2" at the First Tracks offices at 5,000 feet), it was surprisingly light. The wind also continued unabated all day.

FTO weather forecaster Scott Braaten is reporting that the Collins weather station shows 30" from the storm total at this point, and 7" in a 2-hour period when the front blew through this morning. Can you believe that it's still snowing up there?! We're still getting snain at 5,000 feet as I type this.

The longest liftline we waited in all day was around 5 minutes, although we spent most of the day on Supreme which was about a 60-second wait max all day. Last run was planned to be down Eagle's Nest, but upon finding the Germania Return closed due to the risk of East Baldy sliding, we skied Chartreuse Nose and found some of the best turns of the day. Top honors, however, had to go to Liftline Trees, Fred's Trees, and way out east in White Squaw Chutes. I can honestly say that we hit hip-deep in places. Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder and Devil's Castle of course remained closed for avi danger, and we avoided like the plague anything without trees for definition in the whiteout conditions. We thus never made it to places off the High T or on the Backside. Catherine's was heavily drifted, and the weather made the hike and traverse a bit on the nasty side.

We had obligations this evening, so we quit at 2:30 after 17,150 vertical feet. To be honest, my legs had nothing left in them at that point, anyway.

It's still snowing up there, so if you can head up canyon tomorrow, that's a wise decision indeed. I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures below do the rest of the talking.
 

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It's done nothing but kept snowing up there. Marc C went back for more today, knowing full well that I have no choice but to work today. He just called to rub it in...the phone call was nothing but hysterical giggling on his end. With friends like these... :evil:

Of note, Alta has now eclipsed the magical 500-inch mark this season to date.
 
My car looked like that after I skied Alta's closing day of May 1, 1988.

Marc, your face shot days are far from over this season.
 
Tony Crocker":1gjlfmt0 said:
Marc, your face shot days are far from over this season.

Man, I hope you're right! [-o<

Keep in mind that I'm strictly a weekend warrior at the moment. However, at this point more face shots are looking like a good possibility already for next weekend. We have two more storms headed this week, Wednesday (already forecast for one to two feet) and again Friday. Avi closures should keep some stuff "reserved" for me for Saturday morning if that forecast holds.

Alta doesn't keep the lifts spinning that late anymore. The third weekend of April will be it for Alta, and pretty much the rest of Utah save for Snowbird which will go until Memorial Day.

Ya know, you've got to love this place. Today, I drove home from the office with the top down on the convertible, yet Marc C was enjoying 3 feet of pow only 15 miles away. Now, I buzzed down the street for some excellent Mexican take-out that I can get 24 hours per day. What more could I need? :lol:
 
Snowbird should keep you entertained in May. Then you can join me (and Patrick?) for a weekend at Mammoth.
 
Tony Crocker":13w3n2yv said:
Snowbird should keep you entertained in May. Then you can join me (and Patrick?) for a weekend at Mammoth.

Yeah, I might actually have a vacation day available by then. :lol:
 
I'm going to stop reading the Western Forum with reports like that. And pictures to rub it in too!
Southern NH got btween 7-12" of slop from a storm that rolled through last night. Most of it has already melted away :cry: .The Whites got nuthin. I may hit Gulf of Slides or Lincolns Throat saturday or Easter Sunday(it's ok, Jesus would have skied after his ressurection if they had some fresh).
((*
*))NHPH
 
NHpowderhound":2p7ghv4b said:
I'm going to stop reading the Western Forum with reports like that.

Well, then, you're really not going to want to see my reports from this week. Alta has picked up ~85" in the past week. If I'm lucky my business luncheon meeting tomorrow will end early enough to let me start my weekend with a couple of hours on the hill for Friday afternoon.
 
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