Alta, UT 12/14/09

Admin

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Day 9: Instant ski season.

It's pretty hard to ignore 39 inches of snowfall in 48 hours. It was falling 2-4" per hour yesterday, and while still snowing lightly today the storm is pretty much done. UDOT closed Little Cottonwood Road this morning to blast, but it was open by 7:45. I was in the canyon by 8:20, in plenty of time to make the 9:15 opening bell.

Bobby Danger, Skidog and I each took the day off and met up at GMD as usual. I was still pretty wooped from yesterday and knew that it would be a short day. Bumped into Salida on a pre-opening pee break before he went back out to wait in line for the opening.

We started the day with the same limited terrain as yesterday. Patrol was bombing like crazy. We still found untracked by thinking carefully, and also thanks to the wind which was on auto-groom late in the day yesterday.

01 alta bobby_danger wildcat 091214.jpg


02 alta bobby_danger wildcat 091214.jpg


03 alta skidog wildcat 091214.jpg


04 alta skidog wildcat 091214.jpg


We started on Collins, but moved on to Wildcat.

05 alta skidog bobby_danger wildcat chair 091214.jpg


06 alta base 091214.jpg


07 alta wildcat snow 091214.jpg


08 alta w rustler 091214.jpg


09 alta collins gulch 091214.jpg


10 alta baldy 091214.jpg


We once again found what we were looking for on Restaurant Hill.

12 alta skidog rest hill 091214.jpg


13 alta bobby_danger rest hill 091214.jpg


We noticed the bombs had slowed so we took a chance and returned to Collins, and were rewarded when they reopened West Rustler.

14 alta w rustler opens 091214.jpg


Scored two runs out there, one completely untracked in the trees between Jitterbug and Christmas Tree, and one in fluffy, lightly tracked snow on High Boy. Ran into mbaydala on the traverse just as we were dropping into Christmas Tree.

My legs, however, died on High Boy, so Bobby and I called it a morning while Skidog went back for one more.

So, the only thing to open all morning that wasn't open yesterday was West Rustler from the Tower 10 traverse. They're really letting this stuff settle and bond, which is understandable as the storm dropped a positively ridiculous 3.5" of water weight upon our fragile snowpack. Snowbird has already announced that they'll open P-Gulch tomorrow.
 
Make that 2 more...i couldnt resist...but after that my legs were certainly TOAST.... \:D/

What a day.

M
 
So any thoughts from you locals on where to look for openings tomorrow (Wednesday)? This may be my one trip out west this winter :-({|= (that's what remodeling a kitchen will do for you), and it's only one day, so I'm looking to milk it for all it's worth...
 
Tough to say as I'm not there today to see what's opening. I'm guessing that next up will be the trees to the west of the Wildcat chair. After that, next up will likely be Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, and I see from http://www.alta.com/pages/openings.php that my suspicion is confirmed -- that'll likely be today. If they can get enough snow on the High T to open it, there's no avi risk associated with Greeley Hill, etc. Backside will likely be last. No chance at all of Devil's Castle or Supreme this week, IMO.
 
Admin":o3m3apds said:
No chance at all of Devil's Castle or Supreme this week, IMO.
I agree about Devil's Castle, however both Supreme terrain and East Castle are showing as work in progress and planned AM routes. Dunno about tomorrow (Wed) but I wouldn't be surprised at Supreme this weekend or even later in the week.
 
Marc_C":12laujmu said:
Admin":12laujmu said:
No chance at all of Devil's Castle or Supreme this week, IMO.
I agree about Devil's Castle, however both Supreme terrain and East Castle are showing as work in progress and planned AM routes. Dunno about tomorrow (Wed) but I wouldn't be surprised at Supreme this weekend or even later in the week.

I heard rumor yesterday of Supreme opening at least by weekend...

M
 
I was referring specifically to the fact that NeedhamSkier will be there tomorrow. Marc_C raises a good point, however, but they may be simply controlling the area for a later opening.
 
Mineral by Saturday.

Also, I'd wager that they get Supreme open by the weekend. Next weekend starts the influx of holiday visitors.

Going to be scary to have these places open up and provide such easy access to places like rocky point, wolverine, etc. Someone is going to get hurt while this snowpack is still fragile.
 
Going to be scary to have these places open up and provide such easy access to places like rocky point, wolverine, etc. Someone is going to get hurt while this snowpack is still fragile.
I'm guessing after what happened a year ago at Snowbird, boundary enforcement is going to be strict for the near term. Some terrain openings will be cautious also.
 
Tony Crocker":2m1jzhv3 said:
Going to be scary to have these places open up and provide such easy access to places like rocky point, wolverine, etc. Someone is going to get hurt while this snowpack is still fragile.
I'm guessing after what happened a year ago at Snowbird, boundary enforcement is going to be strict for the near term. Some terrain openings will be cautious also.
There is no "boundary enforcement" at Alta. The boundary is clearly marked and there are NFS signs informing you that you're leaving the ski area, there's no avi control, and you are on your own.
 
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I guess I'll check the website in the morning and keep my eyes on the High T. Whatever happens, i think it will be a good day.
 
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