Sharon
New member
Utah Day 4
Today I was reminded of why I love Snowbird so much. It is steep, big, dramatic and magnificent. It was crisp and cold but the sun was shining and made it feel like it was in the 20s, though the thermometers were reading in the single digits.
Amy skied with Pam and I in the morning. We started around 10am and there was hardly anyone around. We had no wait for the tram and up we went. It was very windy at the top and there was a frostbite warning. The thermometer in the tram building at the top read 3 degrees. We decided to follow the sun and go over to Mineral Basin. Once off the ridge, the wind subsided and the sun did it's trick as we carved turns into the buttery windblown snow. There were some places where the wind had turned the day-old powder into sastrugi. We sought out some of the more creamy smooth windblown areas. We did 3 runs in there, dropping the steep chutes into the sunny bowl from both lifts.
Amy needed to head to work, so we did a run into the Peruvian Cirque to get down to the tram side. That steep long run was just so sweet. The snow was very dry and soft.
After lunch on the tram deck, Pam and I took the tram back up (again, no wait) and dropped down through the Gad Chutes and spent the afternoon skiing the steep trees and chutes of the Gad Valley. The Gad chutes were in the sun, but it was cold enough to keep the snow decent, however when we skied we'd release rollerball sloughs, which can get pretty chaotic while trying to stay on the fall line. We sniffed our way around the Gad valley, following tracks and avoiding cliffs. We found some very nice snow, and even patches of untracked goodness. I don't know the names of any of these shots, but there are so many great ways to drop into that valley, and all of them had great snow.
We skied onto the lifts all day and most of the day had slopes, chutes and bowls to ourselves. Tuesday is a great day to ski at Snowbird.
We ended the day by poaching our favorite resort hot tub.
There's a storm coming in tomorrow, bringing with it a lot of wind. It doesn't look like a great day to ski. Pam is taking the day off. I may join a couple of Greek Peak patrollers, though ski plans are not yet confirmed. Tomorrow may be the day that I don't ski, and y'know...that's ok. I am pretty darn beat. After 3 powder days and a bluebird day with nice cold snow, it may be difficult to muster up a day with 40mph winds, low visibility and lift windholds. If all goes well, 8" or more will fall in the mountains. We'll see where (and how) the snow falls tomorrow.
Today I was reminded of why I love Snowbird so much. It is steep, big, dramatic and magnificent. It was crisp and cold but the sun was shining and made it feel like it was in the 20s, though the thermometers were reading in the single digits.
Amy skied with Pam and I in the morning. We started around 10am and there was hardly anyone around. We had no wait for the tram and up we went. It was very windy at the top and there was a frostbite warning. The thermometer in the tram building at the top read 3 degrees. We decided to follow the sun and go over to Mineral Basin. Once off the ridge, the wind subsided and the sun did it's trick as we carved turns into the buttery windblown snow. There were some places where the wind had turned the day-old powder into sastrugi. We sought out some of the more creamy smooth windblown areas. We did 3 runs in there, dropping the steep chutes into the sunny bowl from both lifts.
Amy needed to head to work, so we did a run into the Peruvian Cirque to get down to the tram side. That steep long run was just so sweet. The snow was very dry and soft.
After lunch on the tram deck, Pam and I took the tram back up (again, no wait) and dropped down through the Gad Chutes and spent the afternoon skiing the steep trees and chutes of the Gad Valley. The Gad chutes were in the sun, but it was cold enough to keep the snow decent, however when we skied we'd release rollerball sloughs, which can get pretty chaotic while trying to stay on the fall line. We sniffed our way around the Gad valley, following tracks and avoiding cliffs. We found some very nice snow, and even patches of untracked goodness. I don't know the names of any of these shots, but there are so many great ways to drop into that valley, and all of them had great snow.
We skied onto the lifts all day and most of the day had slopes, chutes and bowls to ourselves. Tuesday is a great day to ski at Snowbird.
We ended the day by poaching our favorite resort hot tub.
There's a storm coming in tomorrow, bringing with it a lot of wind. It doesn't look like a great day to ski. Pam is taking the day off. I may join a couple of Greek Peak patrollers, though ski plans are not yet confirmed. Tomorrow may be the day that I don't ski, and y'know...that's ok. I am pretty darn beat. After 3 powder days and a bluebird day with nice cold snow, it may be difficult to muster up a day with 40mph winds, low visibility and lift windholds. If all goes well, 8" or more will fall in the mountains. We'll see where (and how) the snow falls tomorrow.
