Alta, UT 1/21/11

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Day 30: Welcome to Mt. Baker.

At least that's what it felt like. Positively puking, absolutely nuking...but it was wet, wet, wet. Yeah, that's what we need to build base depths, but it's still rather unpleasant to ski in.

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Things are skiing sooooo much better. Lots and lots of the mountain, however, is closed. Even the Saddle was closed, which is something I've never seen before. Why? This is why:

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That meant no High T, no Backside, no Catherine's, no Supreme Bowl, no Summer Road, no Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, and of course no Castle. As a result, with the first major snow in three months I thought today would be a total junk show as the entire Salt Lake Valley would show up and everyone would be crammed into limited space. But it wasn't; there was no one there:

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No more pictures, for it was nearly impossible to keep the camera lens clean for more than a couple of seconds.

By lunchtime we were wet and cold. I really hadn't dressed properly as I could've used a mid-layer and it was the first time I've worn that particular jacket on a storm day and was none too pleased with the collar design. By 1:30 Bobby Danger and I called it quits. Skidog had already left and only AmyZ and rdwore soldiered on.

Storm total is now over 30". The front has since arrived this afternoon and dropped temperatures, and it's now puking in the Valley, too. That should bring us another foot or so overnight, but this time it should be around 5% fluff.

Tomorrow: Snowbasin.
 
Evren":3foqecht said:
Great shot of the snow today. Reminder to self: turn on flash for full effect.

That really is the secret. The same shot without the flash was dull and drab.

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Great to finally see some storm skiing! Its incredible that there wasn't more of a crowd considering the recent weather. I guess that tomorrow might be different if people can make it up the canyon road. Is that the reason for the trip to Snowbasin?
 
Quickturns":3urazzns said:
I guess that tomorrow might be different if people can make it up the canyon road. Is that the reason for the trip to Snowbasin?

I expect you'll be correct (not about getting up the canyon road but in more people showing up in general), but that's not my reason. I just want to get up to Snowbasin and I finally have a reason to do so this season.

I did, however, just receive a canyon alert that I've never, ever seen before: they're closing all backcountry access tomorrow in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

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Quickturns":fl034fj9 said:
Great to finally see some storm skiing! Its incredible that there wasn't more of a crowd considering the recent weather.
1. A lot of us locals actually rather dislike storm skiing.
2. Did not not see the "wet wet wet" comment?
3. Despite the recent weather - or actually, lack thereof - most locals dislike skiing on elephant snot in near zero visibility.
 
Admin":15w5juji said:
I did, however, just receive a canyon alert that I've never, ever seen before: they're closing all backcountry access tomorrow in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
I went to the UDOT site to investigate further. They specifically state the closure is the north side of the canyon from gate C thru Grizzly Gulch, starting at 10p tonight. They'll be shelling the piss out of it with their 105 starting tomorrow at 6:30a.
 
dumped the whole time i was there , hard to tell how many inches per hour it was there was 10 inches on the subaru when i returned . love the pic of the flashed flakes shows nicely how hard it was snowing !!!! to bad the ave danger was so off the chart , i'd have loved to ski longer , but with terrain so limited it gets skied out real quick. snowbasin tom.is gonna be sweeeeeeeet
 
Marc, I just thought more folks would be excited to get out in some fresh snow, regardless of the quality. I did see the "wet, wet, wet" comment - I figured that beggars can't be choosers, but hey, I guess they can. Hopefully the next batch of snow is a bit dryer to keep the locals happy...
 
Ah, nice Bobby D. Glad to hear that someone was enjoying themself out there. I love storm days when you have the mtn to yourself (especially on a weekend), but the time always seems fly by. What area did you end up skiing considering so much was closed?
 
Glad to see the snow machine has turned on in the promised land! Dust on crust here in the east...and expecting 40F and rain on Monday. Our luck has yet to change....but can't wait to return to SLC!
 
Quickturns":2yyjzdja said:
Marc, I just thought more folks would be excited to get out in some fresh snow, regardless of the quality. I did see the "wet, wet, wet" comment - I figured that beggars can't be choosers, but hey, I guess they can.
You'd be surprised if not shocked at the number of locals who will not ski in storms and cherry pick quality over quantity. I'm surprised at the number of fairly serious skiers where I work who haven't been out a single day this season yet. I'm only at 11 myself - normally by now it would be around 25.
 
mrgskier":vh8khgt4 said:
Glad to see the snow machine has turned on in the promised land! Dust on crust here in the east...and expecting 40F and rain on Monday.
So MRG has had what, 5 or 6 opening days this season so far?
 
LCC is now closed until tomorrow after an avalanche crossed the road.

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Not wanting to get into a long slow line of cars on a rainy(in the valley) and snowy Saturday morning I delayed going up LCC until around 10:45. The lower part of the canyon road was just wet and things moved nicely. Then, about two miles up from the Park and Ride things got interesting. A long slow line of cars was coming down, and uphill became a creep. At five miles up the road I watched several vehicles go sideways as they came downhill. Then, the woman driving a large Toyota SUV ahead of me did a 270 right in front of me. That clinched it for me. While she blocked down-hill traffic and tried to fiqure out how to get herself straightened out I put my Outback into a U-turn and headed back down. I decided that I would shoot for day 39 some other time and headed home. Thanks for the nice report Admin. I hope this storm does some good things for the base. It has been some major hardpack for too long.
 
Holy crap..I lucked out again..thank god airfare was through the roof or I would have come out. Instead I had a damn good day here. Looking forward to seeing you all next week..I might try to get to Alta by noon Friday if my flight is on time..well might make it by 1.
 
Kingslug, with over a foot of snow falling overnight, today started with LCC closed, and BCC restricted to 4WD. By 10AM UDOT reported that both Brighton and Solitude parking lots were full and suggested taking the bus. LCC opened to Snowbird by 10:30 AM and then up to Alta by around Noon. When I got there at around 12:45 there were an unbelieveable number of people waiting for Collins and Wildcat to start running. Finally, at around 1:15 both lifts started and the rush was on to grab fresh powder. Once the initial rush up the mountain was cleared up, the Collins lift was pretty much "ski on." The Wildcat lift was crowded until around 3 PM when most of the "Day Trippers" packed it in due to fatigue. The sun had come out and the afternoon was glorious. Of course, the HighT was not open since there were major slides to contend with, and Ballroom also never opened due to the risk of slides. Otherwise, the skiing was great, and the rather heavy snow should contribute significantly to improving the base for the rest of the season.
 
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