MikeSandy.net

Ski Day Report

September Ski Day

ALTA, UT — With this ski day, I have now skied in every calendar month! Unfortunately, the skiing was not very good. Regardless, Dan and I had a great time.

Dan and I met at the 6200 South park and ride and then drove up to Alta's Albion Basin. The hike to the base of Gunsight wasn't too difficult.

There wasn't too much snow in Gunsight. It went up about half of the chute, but it was barely wide enough to make a turn. There was some additional snow on the right side, but it was mostly ice (at this point in the morning), very rocky, and mostly too thin to risk skiing on.

We took a minute to decide our best course of action. It was fairly early in the morning, so the snow was quite hard. We decided it would be best to hike up in our hiking boots along the edge where the snow and the dirt meet. That way we could choose between the dirt or the snow to find the best traction as we made our way up the chute.

The snow was absolutely terrible. I decided that a rock about halfway up the snow was a good spot to put on our ski boots and ski down. I figured there wouldn't be much use in going up any higher. The rock was perfect. It gave us a flat perch upon which to put on our ski boots. There were no such spots above us.

After putting on my skis, it became obvious that this patch of snow was nearly unskiable. Near the rock, the sun hadn't yet been able to warm the snow at all, so it was as hard as ice and not smooth. While Dan put on his skis, I stepped down with my skis until I got to a spot where the snow would allow me to sideslip. Even then, the snow was more like sandpaper. Eventually, the snow got a little softer and smoother.

I basically just sideslipped down the snow and skied some right turns. There wasn't enough room to make a full turn; however, Dan did end up skiing a few mini-jump turns that counted as full turns.

Before long, we were at the end of the snow. I regretted that we didn't go all the way to the top of the snow. We should have just sidestepped up from where we put on our skis. The snow higher up the chute would've been better because it was already in the sun (although it was even narrower than what we had skied).

That regret became mostly a moot point when Dan and I were atop Hidden Peak at Snowbird later in the day. There was a ton of snow left in Pipeline Bowl at Snowbird! I wish we would've known about all that snow because we could've skied some real turns on much more vertical. Maybe next weekend...

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆