Day 85: Saying goodbye to the ol' girl.
It's been an amazing winter at Alta this year from start to finish. It came in right before Thanksgiving and it never stopped coming. We really never had the usual January dry spell, at least to any significant degree. One thing we never got, though, was a spring corn season as it stayed full-on winter until the very end. Alta closed yesterday with 207 inches of base, a season-long high, thanks to 723.5 inches of snowfall during the season. On Saturday we skied a bottomless powder day with the top layer a delightful 5.2% water content. The sun shone brightly on a cold Sunday morning with temperatures in the teens, promising a fitting way to close out a stellar season.
Thanks to Colin, one of Alta's jovial parking lot attendants, for reserving the southwest corner of the Wildcat lot for our annual closing day tailgate BBQ. We spotted Tony Crocker's car down on the Bypass Road in anticipation of a later run and parked my car at the BBQ site next to Marc_C. I unloaded the dinner accoutrements and booted up, heading for Collins.
We caught the opening of Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, which while untracked I thought stiffened up a bit in the cold overnight air, although I was the only one complaining. Crocker, Dale and Pat had no such criticism to levy. They took a second lap while I simply cruised down Main Street. While the day started out quiet the Collins liftline quickly grew to a significant delay, enough to prompt the mountain to open Wildcat for a few hours. While in line we spotted Bobby Danger and rdwore. Bobby wanted to take more adventurous lines instead of spending time waiting in line, so we struck out for Cecret Saddle, finding wonderfully pleasant untracked snow.
While we were there, however, we spotted the first set of tracks being laid in Devil's Castle:
That just looked too delicious to ignore. Again, Sugarloaf closed for the season last week and everything south of Germania Pass was designated backcountry. On Saturday, the signage was explicit: no Cecret Saddle, no Devil's Castle. On Sunday, however, such limitations were dropped. I drove Tony down to his car at Snowbird to retrieve his beacon, shovel and probe, and I grabbed a small daypack to loan Tony as well as my skins. By the time we got to the top of Collins Bobby had already skied down into the bowl between Collins and Sugarloaf and started to hike. I put on my skins and set off on the EBT, with Tony hiking behind me. Also skinning up I was surprised to bump into Alec Hornstein, proprietor of Tushar Mountain Tours with whom I toured earlier this winter east of Beaver in southern Utah.
I skinned up past the top of Sugarloaf, arriving at the center of Devil's Castle where the tracks began (now five sets) in about 30 minutes, with Bobby pulling in about 5 minutes later and Tony about 10 minutes after him.
While I waited for the others I deskinned and popped open a celebratory beer to enjoy in a very special place.
While we waited, though, the weather changed dramatically as clouds began to envelop the area. I waited for the sun to break through momentarily to drop in. It was amazing...smooth bottomless powder for about 1300 verts on May 1.
While I waited for the others the two ladies who had skinned up from Cecret Lake descended, donned skins and headed back up for a second helping.
Bobby dropped, choosing an interesting line through what remains of the cliff band at Castle center, followed by Crocker.
High fives were exchanged just above the shores of Cecret Lake before setting off to skier's right to catch the protected lines of the lower Castle. By now, however, the clouds that had moved in started dumping snow in earnest.
I strongly dislike touring with a helmet and had left my helmet and goggles in the car in favor of a hat and sunglasses. With the snow falling, though, I was really starting to regret that decision. We returned to the Wildcat lot to retrieve my helmet and goggles and found Tony's friend Liz as well as rdwore. Bobby and rdwore headed for Watson Shelter for a bite and something to drink while I led Liz and Tony along the long traverse out Ballroom and across Baldy Shoulder, beneath the Bad News cliffs to the top of Wildcat, now closed again. We had to retrieve Tony's car on the Bypass Road anyway so we opted to introduce Liz to Comma Chute.
The line literally blew her mind, but my legs were absolute toast.
We chatted with a couple of tele guys parked next to us in the Bypass Road lot before heading back to the BBQ at around 3:30 p.m.
I had a turkey fryer and 20 lbs of buffalo wings to prepare, so I fired up the burner to heat the oil while Tony and Liz headed to the High Boy party with a bottle of champagne, accompanied by Bobby D and rdwore as well as a bunch of Tony's friends. Marc_C and his better half Karen were already dining in what turned out to be a cold, sometimes cloudy, sometimes snowy parking lot.
Tcope picked up Mrs. Admin in the Valley and brought her up to the parking lot party, which was somewhat more subdued than in previous years. Tony, Liz, rdwore and Bobby Danger eventually arrived, as did Tony's other friends. Colin occasionally passed through on parking lot duty to grab a couple of wings. Alec swung through to do the same. Wings were shared with neighboring partiers as the sun dropped through the sky toward Mt. Superior.
Once the sun did eventually dip behind Superior, though, the temperature immediately plummeted. We quickly packed up and headed down canyon to warmer environs, basking in the glow of both the setting sun and another phenomenal Alta ski season. The lift served season may be done, but we've still got a couple of months to enjoy the old girl's slopes.
It's been an amazing winter at Alta this year from start to finish. It came in right before Thanksgiving and it never stopped coming. We really never had the usual January dry spell, at least to any significant degree. One thing we never got, though, was a spring corn season as it stayed full-on winter until the very end. Alta closed yesterday with 207 inches of base, a season-long high, thanks to 723.5 inches of snowfall during the season. On Saturday we skied a bottomless powder day with the top layer a delightful 5.2% water content. The sun shone brightly on a cold Sunday morning with temperatures in the teens, promising a fitting way to close out a stellar season.
Thanks to Colin, one of Alta's jovial parking lot attendants, for reserving the southwest corner of the Wildcat lot for our annual closing day tailgate BBQ. We spotted Tony Crocker's car down on the Bypass Road in anticipation of a later run and parked my car at the BBQ site next to Marc_C. I unloaded the dinner accoutrements and booted up, heading for Collins.
We caught the opening of Ballroom/Baldy Shoulder, which while untracked I thought stiffened up a bit in the cold overnight air, although I was the only one complaining. Crocker, Dale and Pat had no such criticism to levy. They took a second lap while I simply cruised down Main Street. While the day started out quiet the Collins liftline quickly grew to a significant delay, enough to prompt the mountain to open Wildcat for a few hours. While in line we spotted Bobby Danger and rdwore. Bobby wanted to take more adventurous lines instead of spending time waiting in line, so we struck out for Cecret Saddle, finding wonderfully pleasant untracked snow.
While we were there, however, we spotted the first set of tracks being laid in Devil's Castle:
That just looked too delicious to ignore. Again, Sugarloaf closed for the season last week and everything south of Germania Pass was designated backcountry. On Saturday, the signage was explicit: no Cecret Saddle, no Devil's Castle. On Sunday, however, such limitations were dropped. I drove Tony down to his car at Snowbird to retrieve his beacon, shovel and probe, and I grabbed a small daypack to loan Tony as well as my skins. By the time we got to the top of Collins Bobby had already skied down into the bowl between Collins and Sugarloaf and started to hike. I put on my skins and set off on the EBT, with Tony hiking behind me. Also skinning up I was surprised to bump into Alec Hornstein, proprietor of Tushar Mountain Tours with whom I toured earlier this winter east of Beaver in southern Utah.
I skinned up past the top of Sugarloaf, arriving at the center of Devil's Castle where the tracks began (now five sets) in about 30 minutes, with Bobby pulling in about 5 minutes later and Tony about 10 minutes after him.
While I waited for the others I deskinned and popped open a celebratory beer to enjoy in a very special place.
While we waited, though, the weather changed dramatically as clouds began to envelop the area. I waited for the sun to break through momentarily to drop in. It was amazing...smooth bottomless powder for about 1300 verts on May 1.
While I waited for the others the two ladies who had skinned up from Cecret Lake descended, donned skins and headed back up for a second helping.
Bobby dropped, choosing an interesting line through what remains of the cliff band at Castle center, followed by Crocker.
High fives were exchanged just above the shores of Cecret Lake before setting off to skier's right to catch the protected lines of the lower Castle. By now, however, the clouds that had moved in started dumping snow in earnest.
I strongly dislike touring with a helmet and had left my helmet and goggles in the car in favor of a hat and sunglasses. With the snow falling, though, I was really starting to regret that decision. We returned to the Wildcat lot to retrieve my helmet and goggles and found Tony's friend Liz as well as rdwore. Bobby and rdwore headed for Watson Shelter for a bite and something to drink while I led Liz and Tony along the long traverse out Ballroom and across Baldy Shoulder, beneath the Bad News cliffs to the top of Wildcat, now closed again. We had to retrieve Tony's car on the Bypass Road anyway so we opted to introduce Liz to Comma Chute.
The line literally blew her mind, but my legs were absolute toast.
We chatted with a couple of tele guys parked next to us in the Bypass Road lot before heading back to the BBQ at around 3:30 p.m.
I had a turkey fryer and 20 lbs of buffalo wings to prepare, so I fired up the burner to heat the oil while Tony and Liz headed to the High Boy party with a bottle of champagne, accompanied by Bobby D and rdwore as well as a bunch of Tony's friends. Marc_C and his better half Karen were already dining in what turned out to be a cold, sometimes cloudy, sometimes snowy parking lot.
Tcope picked up Mrs. Admin in the Valley and brought her up to the parking lot party, which was somewhat more subdued than in previous years. Tony, Liz, rdwore and Bobby Danger eventually arrived, as did Tony's other friends. Colin occasionally passed through on parking lot duty to grab a couple of wings. Alec swung through to do the same. Wings were shared with neighboring partiers as the sun dropped through the sky toward Mt. Superior.
Once the sun did eventually dip behind Superior, though, the temperature immediately plummeted. We quickly packed up and headed down canyon to warmer environs, basking in the glow of both the setting sun and another phenomenal Alta ski season. The lift served season may be done, but we've still got a couple of months to enjoy the old girl's slopes.
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