Day 43:
Temps plummeted overnight from the 50s yesterday to 15 degrees at 5 am this morning. The offending cold front brought with it the promise of new snow, as well as the unwelcome elements of thunder, lightning, and high wind.
The morning report claimed 7" new with heavy snow still falling. The NWS had a heavy snow warning in effect until 11 am. The Kid and I had managed to convince friend Rich, visiting Utah from NY with his nephew John, to venture over to Alta for the day to ski with jkamien and yours truly.
Things could not be any more different from Saturday. A frigid wind howled from the northwest. The first run through Fred's Trees, admittedly, was horridly uneven, mixing pockets of heavy, wet snow with areas blown right down to the crust formed from the drop in temperatures. Marc "Sally" C, in fact, declared the conditions unworthy of his efforts and headed home after only one run.
There were only two sure ways to salvage the day: ski on east-facing aspects unaffected by the prevailing wind, and to have it keep pounding snowfall throughout the day. Much of the mountain remained closed throughout the day due to avalanche probability, including Ballroom, Devil's Castle, Cecret Saddle, and even the Backside gates. On top of that, Supreme was down due to "electrical problems," which unconfirmed rumor pegged as an overnight lightning strike. Our hopes, therefore, were pinned on a deeper-than-expected snowfall.
And we got it.
It snowed hard right up to the final bell, when the skies finally parted to bathe the mountain's lower slopes in peculiar sunlight. We watched groomers restoring the cruisers from a perch high in the Goldminer's Daughter lounge, pouring pitchers to celebrate victory and nurse muscles sore from 19,980 vertical feet of skiing. We found deep untracked and lightly tracked in Westward Ho, we experienced a complete whiteout in Gunsight, we lost each other on the High Traverse, we found beautiful untracked snow in low angle trees below North Rustler, and we found great snow in Eagle's Nest. We dined on the lunch buffet at the Rustler Lodge, we froze together on the chair, we crashed and burned (including one particularly painful body slam for yours truly), and we traded barbs and insults all day.
In sum, a great day all around.
Temps plummeted overnight from the 50s yesterday to 15 degrees at 5 am this morning. The offending cold front brought with it the promise of new snow, as well as the unwelcome elements of thunder, lightning, and high wind.
The morning report claimed 7" new with heavy snow still falling. The NWS had a heavy snow warning in effect until 11 am. The Kid and I had managed to convince friend Rich, visiting Utah from NY with his nephew John, to venture over to Alta for the day to ski with jkamien and yours truly.
Things could not be any more different from Saturday. A frigid wind howled from the northwest. The first run through Fred's Trees, admittedly, was horridly uneven, mixing pockets of heavy, wet snow with areas blown right down to the crust formed from the drop in temperatures. Marc "Sally" C, in fact, declared the conditions unworthy of his efforts and headed home after only one run.
There were only two sure ways to salvage the day: ski on east-facing aspects unaffected by the prevailing wind, and to have it keep pounding snowfall throughout the day. Much of the mountain remained closed throughout the day due to avalanche probability, including Ballroom, Devil's Castle, Cecret Saddle, and even the Backside gates. On top of that, Supreme was down due to "electrical problems," which unconfirmed rumor pegged as an overnight lightning strike. Our hopes, therefore, were pinned on a deeper-than-expected snowfall.
And we got it.
It snowed hard right up to the final bell, when the skies finally parted to bathe the mountain's lower slopes in peculiar sunlight. We watched groomers restoring the cruisers from a perch high in the Goldminer's Daughter lounge, pouring pitchers to celebrate victory and nurse muscles sore from 19,980 vertical feet of skiing. We found deep untracked and lightly tracked in Westward Ho, we experienced a complete whiteout in Gunsight, we lost each other on the High Traverse, we found beautiful untracked snow in low angle trees below North Rustler, and we found great snow in Eagle's Nest. We dined on the lunch buffet at the Rustler Lodge, we froze together on the chair, we crashed and burned (including one particularly painful body slam for yours truly), and we traded barbs and insults all day.
In sum, a great day all around.
