Marc Guido
New member
Yeah, we're jaded around here. :roll:
Apparently, 2" of new snow overnight isn't enough to bring most locals out of the woodwork. And that includes one Mr. Anon E. Mus, too, who called this morning to advise that it just wasn't worth skipping a few hours of work this morning.
They all failed to account, however, for two things. For one thing, most of yesterday's 9" of new snow fell late in the afternoon. For another, strong winds blew stuff into some places much deeper than a foot. Much, much deeper.
This meant, though, that Snowbird was gloriously uncrowded this morning, as you'll see. That's OK, more for me! \
/
I was aboard the second tram at 9 a.m. (what happened to the 9 a.m. scheduled opening, anyway??!!) and headed straight down the Peruvian Cirque rim to score some fresh. En route I made the mistake to take the high line to peer over the edge into routes in the Upper Cirque, and found sharp-edged rubble barely covered with 2" of 7% fluff. Ouch! Ow! Ow! "Oh, man...that's gonna leave a mark."
It was worth the p-tex carnage, though, as I dropped into a line leading down to tram tower 2 through a completely untracked field of hip-deep bottomless fluff. You've got to love those prevailing westerly winds that blew stuff up the Gad Chutes, over the top, and onto the other side. Chest shots. Face shots. Below tower 2 I set off a slough, and paused on the side until the river of snow stopped moving, but only after depositing a 6 foot-deep pile atop the traverse into Dalton's. :shock: I traversed across Dalton's and skied more untracked in the trees to skier's right of Mach Schnell. I then caught the cat track on Rothman Way and ski-daddled over to the aspen stands adjacent to the Wilbere top bullwheel before heading on over to the Gadzoom chair.
My next run was planned to be in Wilbere, but I was shocked to find scads of untracked still sitting directly under the Little Cloud chair. I thus couldn't resist the urge to lap that once first, and scored knee-deep untracked at Mach 3 right down Little Cloud Bowl. Riding back up I met Eric, a visitor from South Dakota who in an earlier life had been a SLC resident. He opted to tag along into Wilbere.
Actually, we first dropped into Barry Barry Steep, enjoying even more untracked before being sidetracked when Eric hooked a tip on an evergreen, spun around, and landed head-downhill on his back, one ski tangled in the tree. A kind soul helped Eric extricate his ski from the evergreen, and her good karma was returned only 200 feet later when she heel-ejected and we tossed her ski down to her.
Once through the choke point, I wandered further right into Wilbere Bowl proper, my thighs screaming by the time we reached the top of Big Emma.
By the time we got back atop the ridge, Eric headed into Mineral Basin while I went back down the Mid-Cirque traverse, still finding a field of untracked leading down to tram tower 3 and again in the woods between Lower Silver Fox and Dalton's before angling over to my car parked along the Alta Bypass Road. It was now 11 a.m., and after 10,787 vertical feet of untracked powder I was ready to start my work day.
FYI, the Gad 2 chair is undergoing a bullwheel replacement, and is expected to be down until Jan. 28.
Apparently, 2" of new snow overnight isn't enough to bring most locals out of the woodwork. And that includes one Mr. Anon E. Mus, too, who called this morning to advise that it just wasn't worth skipping a few hours of work this morning.
They all failed to account, however, for two things. For one thing, most of yesterday's 9" of new snow fell late in the afternoon. For another, strong winds blew stuff into some places much deeper than a foot. Much, much deeper.
This meant, though, that Snowbird was gloriously uncrowded this morning, as you'll see. That's OK, more for me! \
/ I was aboard the second tram at 9 a.m. (what happened to the 9 a.m. scheduled opening, anyway??!!) and headed straight down the Peruvian Cirque rim to score some fresh. En route I made the mistake to take the high line to peer over the edge into routes in the Upper Cirque, and found sharp-edged rubble barely covered with 2" of 7% fluff. Ouch! Ow! Ow! "Oh, man...that's gonna leave a mark."
It was worth the p-tex carnage, though, as I dropped into a line leading down to tram tower 2 through a completely untracked field of hip-deep bottomless fluff. You've got to love those prevailing westerly winds that blew stuff up the Gad Chutes, over the top, and onto the other side. Chest shots. Face shots. Below tower 2 I set off a slough, and paused on the side until the river of snow stopped moving, but only after depositing a 6 foot-deep pile atop the traverse into Dalton's. :shock: I traversed across Dalton's and skied more untracked in the trees to skier's right of Mach Schnell. I then caught the cat track on Rothman Way and ski-daddled over to the aspen stands adjacent to the Wilbere top bullwheel before heading on over to the Gadzoom chair.
My next run was planned to be in Wilbere, but I was shocked to find scads of untracked still sitting directly under the Little Cloud chair. I thus couldn't resist the urge to lap that once first, and scored knee-deep untracked at Mach 3 right down Little Cloud Bowl. Riding back up I met Eric, a visitor from South Dakota who in an earlier life had been a SLC resident. He opted to tag along into Wilbere.
Actually, we first dropped into Barry Barry Steep, enjoying even more untracked before being sidetracked when Eric hooked a tip on an evergreen, spun around, and landed head-downhill on his back, one ski tangled in the tree. A kind soul helped Eric extricate his ski from the evergreen, and her good karma was returned only 200 feet later when she heel-ejected and we tossed her ski down to her.
Once through the choke point, I wandered further right into Wilbere Bowl proper, my thighs screaming by the time we reached the top of Big Emma.
By the time we got back atop the ridge, Eric headed into Mineral Basin while I went back down the Mid-Cirque traverse, still finding a field of untracked leading down to tram tower 3 and again in the woods between Lower Silver Fox and Dalton's before angling over to my car parked along the Alta Bypass Road. It was now 11 a.m., and after 10,787 vertical feet of untracked powder I was ready to start my work day.
FYI, the Gad 2 chair is undergoing a bullwheel replacement, and is expected to be down until Jan. 28.
