Day 70: Summer skiing.
Or at the very least summer-like, even if the calendar technically says otherwise. It hit 56 dF at 9600' yesterday and 84 dF at SLC International Airport. It was shirtsleeve skiing, but the snow never got unduly gloppy and sticky. I don't know what the cause was -- maybe it was the rain showers that soaked the snowpack earlier in the week -- but the fields of white Velcro never developed.
Bobby insisted upon meeting up for breakfast in Cottonwood Heights at the un-Godly hour of 7:15 a.m. There aren't enough coffee beans grown worldwide to make up for that.
Due to the warm temps Snowbird is now on the 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. schedule. After this weekend they'll close Monday through Thursday, but will continue operations through Memorial Day. It's the Tram, Mineral Basin Express and Little Cloud only, and terrain is subject to closure at any time. For example, Mineral has been closing as early as 11:30 a.m. on some days and just after we skied the line in the Upper Cirque pictured below, Snowbird Patrol closed the whole Upper Cirque for our own line slid mere moments after we had skied it.
The day started out cloudless:
It largely remained that way, although cumulus clouds gained vertical height by noon and showers developed about five miles to the southeast, toward Heber.
We decided to visit Alta for our second run. By heading through the Chamonix 1 backcountry gate and with a bit of grunt work along a traverse that gained elevation only slightly we were able to arrive beneath the closed Baldy Express lift mere feet from the top of Sugarloaf Pass, which places all of Alta below your ski tips.
We descended via Ballroom near what in season would be the Harold's ropeline, then cut over to Aggie's Alley and finished up on Schuss Gully back to the Wildcat base area. The snow was pool-table smooth and softened to perfection, with an inch or two of ideal corn atop a supportable base on every single turn from top to bottom.
I called it quits around 12:30 p.m. I'll admit it, even though snow cover remains wall-to-wall and top-to-bottom I'm losing my interest, but I'll ski another day or two before closing. There are clearly others who disagree with that sentiment, however, for the Entry 2 parking lot was filled all the way out to the Little Cottonwood Canyon road and nearly down to the Creekside lot when I left. It was surely a profitable spring weekend for Snowbird.
Or at the very least summer-like, even if the calendar technically says otherwise. It hit 56 dF at 9600' yesterday and 84 dF at SLC International Airport. It was shirtsleeve skiing, but the snow never got unduly gloppy and sticky. I don't know what the cause was -- maybe it was the rain showers that soaked the snowpack earlier in the week -- but the fields of white Velcro never developed.
Bobby insisted upon meeting up for breakfast in Cottonwood Heights at the un-Godly hour of 7:15 a.m. There aren't enough coffee beans grown worldwide to make up for that.
Due to the warm temps Snowbird is now on the 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. schedule. After this weekend they'll close Monday through Thursday, but will continue operations through Memorial Day. It's the Tram, Mineral Basin Express and Little Cloud only, and terrain is subject to closure at any time. For example, Mineral has been closing as early as 11:30 a.m. on some days and just after we skied the line in the Upper Cirque pictured below, Snowbird Patrol closed the whole Upper Cirque for our own line slid mere moments after we had skied it.
The day started out cloudless:
It largely remained that way, although cumulus clouds gained vertical height by noon and showers developed about five miles to the southeast, toward Heber.
We decided to visit Alta for our second run. By heading through the Chamonix 1 backcountry gate and with a bit of grunt work along a traverse that gained elevation only slightly we were able to arrive beneath the closed Baldy Express lift mere feet from the top of Sugarloaf Pass, which places all of Alta below your ski tips.
We descended via Ballroom near what in season would be the Harold's ropeline, then cut over to Aggie's Alley and finished up on Schuss Gully back to the Wildcat base area. The snow was pool-table smooth and softened to perfection, with an inch or two of ideal corn atop a supportable base on every single turn from top to bottom.
I called it quits around 12:30 p.m. I'll admit it, even though snow cover remains wall-to-wall and top-to-bottom I'm losing my interest, but I'll ski another day or two before closing. There are clearly others who disagree with that sentiment, however, for the Entry 2 parking lot was filled all the way out to the Little Cottonwood Canyon road and nearly down to the Creekside lot when I left. It was surely a profitable spring weekend for Snowbird.
