jimk
Active member
As discussed in my April 2022 Mammoth trip report, I had a great four-day visit there. But there was a dark cloud hanging over that trip. My wife and I had been exposed to Covid by a close family member. I had prepaid for my condo at Mammoth. The family member didn't need our help and neither my wife nor I had symptoms at the start of the trip to Mammoth, so the two of us soldiered on and made the drive from SLC to Mammoth. About halfway through the five-night visit to Mammoth my wife started exhibiting symptoms (sore/horse throat, fever, cough) and tested positive. I still had no symptoms and perhaps somewhat selfishly kept skiing - not without some guilt. I minimized my trips inside the Mammoth summit gondola to four in four days (and only once after finding out wife was positive). I was alone for one of the gondi rides. I also often pulled up my buff when riding the gondi or chairs with others.
If the above sounds like a bunch of excuses for continuing to ski and interacting with the public after exposure to Covid, I apologize. I got Covid too and tested positive two days after we returned to SLC from Mammoth. It was the first time my wife and I had caught it and you don't realize the dilemma that can be caused by the idea of stopping your life and going into full isolation mode, so I probably didn't strictly follow CDC guidelines. Hopefully we didn't give it to anyone else. I had symptoms like a bad chest cold with fatigue, seriously for about 5 days, mildly for about 5 more days. I didn't ski for 9 or 10 days, but was able to do light household and yard chores after the first 3 or 4 days. I was out of action for a good powder dump in the Wasatch around Apr 23, but overall thankful that our variant wasn't too debilitating.
I returned to skiing on Apr 29, this is riding through a storm and temps in the 20s on the Peruvian chair at Snowbird, UT.
Apr 30, Snowbird, not a great photo of me and Mineral Basin, but shows something remarkable. My last ski day at Snowbird before going to Mammoth and getting covid was on Apr 13. By the end of the month the entire mtn had gotten snowier and whiter since then!! A TV weather reporter said that the Wasatch Mtns got more snow in the first 3 weeks of April 2022 than in the months of Jan and Feb combined.
My son and I met some friends on May 1 at Solitude for that mtn's latest closing day ever, hard to believe, but true. Often the resorts in UT close while still having quite of bit of snow cover. Snowbird is usually the only one that stays open into May. This is a friend near the summit of Solitude.
It was only about 40 degs that day with occasional snow showers. A friend cooked chili dogs around a tailgate and it really hit the spot. The guys said I was noticeably dragging while still regaining lung power after Covid.
I find the Salt Lake Valley to be remarkably mild not only in spring, but even sometimes in mid-winter. The 5000' or so elevation climb to Alta-Bird makes all the difference. By early May flowers are blooming and high temps can reach 70s or even 80s on occasion in the valley. One nice day in early May my wife and I hiked up Ensign Peak for a great view overlooking SLC. The 4 ski resorts of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons are in the white peaks in the background.
May 6, 2022. This is a view of the Mineral Basin lift line leading up to the Summit Restaurant at Snowbird. Doesn't look like much, but... For about two incredible hours this morning I had some of the best spring snow conditions of my life! I thought it was some form of magical corn snow, but a person I rode the chair with (a former Snowbird groomer driver) said, "no." It was too fresh, hadn't gone through enough freeze/thaw cycles to be corn. This part of the mtn had not been open/skied for five days and in the intervening time a couple of little 2" snows had taken place. What I skied this morning was basically soft supportable snow, about 2" of super carve-able velvet over a smooth supportable surface underneath. The entire wide expanse of Mineral Basin from edge to edge had this velvety smooth surface. It was like the whole place had been groomed and covered with a couple inches of spring snow. It was about the easiest all the offpiste in the basin will ever ski! I made 7 or 8 runs underneath and around the liftline in this photo and since it was a non-powder Friday in May there weren't many people on the mtn. Mindless, carefree swoops through gullies, flying over shoulders, I felt like a human sports car. It was sooo good I was hyperventilating on some of the runs. After about 1045 AM it turned mostly to mush, but those two hours are a heck of a memory to carry me through until next ski season!
Back in Mineral Basin again on May 8, I caught this view of a friend who joined us this day.
He took this photo of me trying to keep up with him on Big Emma.
May 8 again, with my son. I had been based in UT for nearly four months. A few days later I departed for the East Coast. I missed Snowbird's final day of ski ops, which occurred a week later on May 15.
Despite a few twists and turns it was a good ski season. Got in 61 days which was a PR for me. I'm thankful for vaccines and booster shots, pretty sure they contributed to the fairly light case of Covid we experienced and I hope next winter the dang thing will not rear its ugly head again.
In mid-May, taking 6 days, my wife and I drove back from SLC to our home in the mid-Atlantic. Along the way we stopped at Arches National Park, UT:
We also had a memorable night and day at Mesa Verde NP in southwest CO. Very cool place I'd like to return to when more of the cliff dwellings are open and I have the time to explore it a bit more. This photo in no way does justice to how large and how many of these dwellings are preserved in the park.
While at Mesa Verde NP we stayed one night in the Far View lodge (elev 8200'). I took this photo at 430 AM of some planets and pre-sunrise off the porch of our room on May 12. Anyone guess what the two planets are, believe the view is towards the southeast?
Random drive-by of amazing mom&pop Hesperus ski area near Durango, CO.
My wife is a saint for the stuff I put her through. This is on the steps of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, NM
Coolest vehicle we saw on the drive east, '55 Chevy Nomad station wagon near Nashville, TN.
One last powder day photo, Apr 13, 2022, a friend at Snowbird:
If the above sounds like a bunch of excuses for continuing to ski and interacting with the public after exposure to Covid, I apologize. I got Covid too and tested positive two days after we returned to SLC from Mammoth. It was the first time my wife and I had caught it and you don't realize the dilemma that can be caused by the idea of stopping your life and going into full isolation mode, so I probably didn't strictly follow CDC guidelines. Hopefully we didn't give it to anyone else. I had symptoms like a bad chest cold with fatigue, seriously for about 5 days, mildly for about 5 more days. I didn't ski for 9 or 10 days, but was able to do light household and yard chores after the first 3 or 4 days. I was out of action for a good powder dump in the Wasatch around Apr 23, but overall thankful that our variant wasn't too debilitating.
I returned to skiing on Apr 29, this is riding through a storm and temps in the 20s on the Peruvian chair at Snowbird, UT.
Apr 30, Snowbird, not a great photo of me and Mineral Basin, but shows something remarkable. My last ski day at Snowbird before going to Mammoth and getting covid was on Apr 13. By the end of the month the entire mtn had gotten snowier and whiter since then!! A TV weather reporter said that the Wasatch Mtns got more snow in the first 3 weeks of April 2022 than in the months of Jan and Feb combined.
My son and I met some friends on May 1 at Solitude for that mtn's latest closing day ever, hard to believe, but true. Often the resorts in UT close while still having quite of bit of snow cover. Snowbird is usually the only one that stays open into May. This is a friend near the summit of Solitude.
It was only about 40 degs that day with occasional snow showers. A friend cooked chili dogs around a tailgate and it really hit the spot. The guys said I was noticeably dragging while still regaining lung power after Covid.
I find the Salt Lake Valley to be remarkably mild not only in spring, but even sometimes in mid-winter. The 5000' or so elevation climb to Alta-Bird makes all the difference. By early May flowers are blooming and high temps can reach 70s or even 80s on occasion in the valley. One nice day in early May my wife and I hiked up Ensign Peak for a great view overlooking SLC. The 4 ski resorts of Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons are in the white peaks in the background.
May 6, 2022. This is a view of the Mineral Basin lift line leading up to the Summit Restaurant at Snowbird. Doesn't look like much, but... For about two incredible hours this morning I had some of the best spring snow conditions of my life! I thought it was some form of magical corn snow, but a person I rode the chair with (a former Snowbird groomer driver) said, "no." It was too fresh, hadn't gone through enough freeze/thaw cycles to be corn. This part of the mtn had not been open/skied for five days and in the intervening time a couple of little 2" snows had taken place. What I skied this morning was basically soft supportable snow, about 2" of super carve-able velvet over a smooth supportable surface underneath. The entire wide expanse of Mineral Basin from edge to edge had this velvety smooth surface. It was like the whole place had been groomed and covered with a couple inches of spring snow. It was about the easiest all the offpiste in the basin will ever ski! I made 7 or 8 runs underneath and around the liftline in this photo and since it was a non-powder Friday in May there weren't many people on the mtn. Mindless, carefree swoops through gullies, flying over shoulders, I felt like a human sports car. It was sooo good I was hyperventilating on some of the runs. After about 1045 AM it turned mostly to mush, but those two hours are a heck of a memory to carry me through until next ski season!
Back in Mineral Basin again on May 8, I caught this view of a friend who joined us this day.
He took this photo of me trying to keep up with him on Big Emma.
May 8 again, with my son. I had been based in UT for nearly four months. A few days later I departed for the East Coast. I missed Snowbird's final day of ski ops, which occurred a week later on May 15.
Despite a few twists and turns it was a good ski season. Got in 61 days which was a PR for me. I'm thankful for vaccines and booster shots, pretty sure they contributed to the fairly light case of Covid we experienced and I hope next winter the dang thing will not rear its ugly head again.
In mid-May, taking 6 days, my wife and I drove back from SLC to our home in the mid-Atlantic. Along the way we stopped at Arches National Park, UT:
We also had a memorable night and day at Mesa Verde NP in southwest CO. Very cool place I'd like to return to when more of the cliff dwellings are open and I have the time to explore it a bit more. This photo in no way does justice to how large and how many of these dwellings are preserved in the park.
While at Mesa Verde NP we stayed one night in the Far View lodge (elev 8200'). I took this photo at 430 AM of some planets and pre-sunrise off the porch of our room on May 12. Anyone guess what the two planets are, believe the view is towards the southeast?
Random drive-by of amazing mom&pop Hesperus ski area near Durango, CO.
My wife is a saint for the stuff I put her through. This is on the steps of St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, NM
Coolest vehicle we saw on the drive east, '55 Chevy Nomad station wagon near Nashville, TN.
One last powder day photo, Apr 13, 2022, a friend at Snowbird:
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