Alta 12/16

[NeedhamSkier]

So they opened no new terrain today, but the day was still pretty good. There was good snow, no wind, temps just about at freezing, and the sun even made a few appearances. All in all, the mountains looked pretty good. Obviously, most of the snow was cut-up powder and it felt a little heavy on some of the faces. This was also my first day out this season, so put all that together and I didn't show much style on a lot of the harder stuff. But I took a few groomers as well and managed to ski bell to bell, but I was beat by the end of the day.

Got my legs going with a few runs off Collins, and then went over to Ballroom for a couple. Then took the High T (which they opened at 2pm yesterday) to Greeley Bowl/Hill for some pretty good leftovers. Everything was skied, but you could pick your line and link a few untracked turns, which was more than I expected. High T had plenty of rocks showing, as you would expect (I was glad I was on rentals, but I tried not to trash them too bad). Ended up doing 5 or 6 laps through there during the day. One time I followed the trees left (High Nowhere area, maybe?), on the advice of an instructor I chatted to on the lift, and suddenly started seeing a lot more Cliff Area signs than I was expecting (she said it was fine if you stayed lower - last time I listen to an instructor…). I was just getting concerned about how to get out of there when a friendly local came through and showed me a short steep traverse through the trees which led to a nice gully and a way out – this was a relief. Spent the rest of the day playing on some of the other runs off Collins and then heading over to cruise off Sugarloaf in the afternoon.

The consensus seemed to be that Supreme will open on Friday. No word on Backside and no sign of any patrol activity there either.

 

[Marc_C]

No word on Backside and no sign of any patrol activity there either.

Our snowpack is so wildly unstable at the moment that I'm sure snow safety is trying to let it bond and settle as much as possible before even attempting any control work. Last year about 75% of Backside tore out to rock, rendering it unskiable for many weeks.

 

[Bobby Danger]

nice to see a.s.p. open high-t !! snowbird opened p-gulch this week! could be some real room to roam if the bird opens both mineral chairs this weekend. when you can ski from gadzoom chair to point supreme out to lake cathrine you have skied some acreage. not quite sure how many miles that is ?

 

[jtran10]

Interestingly enough I think the friendly local you met was me. We were in North Rustler, so you must have taken a wrong turn when trying to get to Eddie's :lol:

Glad you had a good day, if you see me out there the rest of your trip say hi.

 

[Marc_C]

Interestingly enough I think the friendly local you met was me. We were in North Rustler, so you must have taken a wrong turn when trying to get to Eddie's

Mind you, he said "High Nowhere", which is not to be confused with "Eddie's High Nowhere" - they're both accessed by the T, but in radically different locations (with radically different effort).

 

[NeedhamSkier]

JTran, in that case, it’s great to be able to thank you again. Your help was very well-timed as I was reluctant to get more in trouble by keeping going further down with no obvious way out. And the shot below that area was fun, with some of the best snow of the day. I did it a lot slower than you did, though - that was my last run of a long morning and I was beat.

I wasn’t really aiming for any trail, just following the rough advice from the crazy ski instructor. I guessed I was on High Nowhere from looking at the Trail Map, but it looks like I was further round than I thought.

I agree that it's confusing that High Nowhere is a little ways from Eddie’s High Nowhere, although maybe they make an obvious line if you come from the top. And High Nowhere is actually quite not that high on the mountain, but I guess Low Nowhere doesn't make such a good trail name. I'm sure there's some good Alta reason for all this, though...

 

[kingslug]

It's funny, out here in the land of NOD (NY) all we have to do to cover the mountain...is turn on the guns...presto...all covered. You guys...well thats a different story. Think I'll wait until late Feb, early March before heading out.....unless of course you get pounded on a timely basis. This manmade stuff...just aint the same.

 

[Admin]

It's funny, out here in the land of NOD (NY) all we have to do to cover the mountain...is turn on the guns...presto...all covered. You guys...well thats a different story. Think I'll wait until late Feb, early March before heading out.....unless of course you get pounded on a timely basis. This manmade stuff...just aint the same.

Pffffffffft! Didn't ski any manmade today! Post and photos to follow.

Then again, more room for me. :lol:

Is this the manmade snow you speak of?

 

[Tony Crocker]

Think I'll wait until late Feb, early March before heading out

There are lots of places, mostly in Colorado, where that is very sound advice. But it's hard to generalize. Some mountains need more snow to get covered, some get so much snow that coverage is usually close to 100% by Christmas, and with other factors equal the higher water content on the West Coast will build a better base. For example, Whistler had a 6 foot base by Thanksgiving this year.

Alta is not so strong on the last factor but it's one of the best on the first two. Given the nature of the terrain it's surprising how much is skiable there on a 4-foot base. Other than a few choke point entries (which keep the riffraff out and result in very nice snow once you get past them) and a fair chunk of Supreme everything else should be good to go at Alta once the snow is stable. FYI Supreme and Backside are reported open today.

 

[Marc_C]

FYI Supreme and Backside are reported open today.

Yep. Backside opened around 2-ish, and not a whole lot of folks seemed to know about it. We scored a relatively untracked run over near Susie's - just had to put up with a lot of schwack at the bottom to get out. One of us had a much worse time doing that than the others. :roll: (There are cleaner exit lines, but we were too far over.)

 

[kingslug]

Well, I'm hoping to get pow. While I know it's hard to time it I usualy do well...except for last season. Might have to come out for a quick 3 day slog soon...cause this manmade stuff...don't cut it.

 

[Tony Crocker]

While I know it's hard to time it

Unlike many places the incidence of snowfall (average rate ~3 inches/day) has little monthly variation in LCC from late November to well into April. On the front end you need to wait until there's an adequate base and most terrain stabilized and open (just happened this weekend, 1-2 weeks later than average). On the back end you still get the powder days but the sun can get at it within a day depending on exposure. Nonetheless we've seen some inducing reports here from late April/early May in some seasons.

To recap an earlier exercise, here are the odds for a 7-day advance-booked trip to Alta between Dec. 1 and Mar. 31

About 1/4 of weeks (0-23rd percentile) will have no days of 6+ inches.
Another 1/4 of weeks (24-51st percentile) will have one day of 6-11 inches.
The third quartile (52-74th percentile) will have 2 days of 6+ inches. From the 60th-74th percentile one of those days will be 12+.
Now for the lucky people:
The top quarter will have at least 3 days of 6+
The top eighth will have at least 2 days of 12+
The top 10% will have at least 4 days of 6+
The top 5% will have at least 5 days of 6+ including 3 days of 12+.

I usually do well

Compare your trip to the above and you'll know how lucky or unlucky you are. It will not surprise regulars on FTO to hear that in over 100 days of skiing in LCC I've seen about 55% of expected new snow. I mention this not to complain (there are other destinations where my experience has gone the other way), but to illustrate that a typical destination visitor can visit a resort many times in several different seasons and his/her experience may still deviate substantially from average/expected weather patterns.

 

[Bobby Danger]

timing is key! admin & i scored a high baldy traverse openingv from the bird side around eleven !! tombstone from the rope line was sweet . although the traverse coutln't have been open long the boot pack wasn't consolidated. every ounce and awhile you'd place a foot down & go to the hip... second trip of the day was much better just before three in the afternoon just ahead of closing the traverse. maybe three or four more people had skied it since the morning trip . covered in surface hoare a bit swishy coming off the tails.. the bird side of baldy got hammered. s.s.p. blasted the -hit out of their side of the hill. with all due logic after what happened last year!! only restaurant row & the upper cirque from the ridge are closed & baby thunder for those who venture that low in the canyon..

 

[kingslug]

Its funny but the first time I ever went to Utah we hit the 48" in 48 hr storm. All the rest of the trips while not as huge where pretty good, a foot here, 2 there. Too bad I had no idea how to ski it well. I can pretty much pack up and split on short notice as not too many of the guys I work with take vacation this time of year. What I don't want is to fly into a monster only to have the place shut down for a day or two. The season before last I tried for a 3 day blast only to end up skiing for 1 full day and about 3 hours total the other two, the last having to leave as a storm rolled in. Now its 7 days min. Although I feel a 3 day blast urge coming on.....

 

[lipstick]

Interestingly enough I think the friendly local you met was me. We were in North Rustler, so you must have taken a wrong turn when trying to get to Eddie's :lol:

Glad you had a good day, if you see me out there the rest of your trip say hi.

I know those Cliff Warning signs too and was happy to follow Jtran out of there last March. The people at Alta are part of the charm.