ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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2007 Skiing Archive
December 29, 2007
December 29, 2007
December 15, 2007
December 15, 2007
ALTA, UT — It was cold, it was overcast, I was skiing by myself, the ungroomed terrain's snow was stale, and I had to get some Christmas stuff done. I skied a groomer run down from Sugarloaf through a storm of artificial snow that would make any east coast ski area jealous. I then skied a run in the Ballroom, and, finally, a groomer run back to my car, which was parked at the Albion lot. For some reason I just wasn't into it today. It happens.
December 11, 2007
Yawn
THE CANYONS, UT — The Canyons is nice, but it simply cannot compete with its big brothers in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Their website advertised that they got 35 inches of snow from the storm last weekend. I'm not sure how 35 inches of new snow turns into hardpacked snow so quickly, but it did at The Canyons this day. I suspect they got significantly less than 35 inches based on the snow conditions I observed. There was rocks everywhere, branches poking through the snow surface, and even patches of dirt throughout the handful of boring groomed runs open.
December 8, 2007
Good Early Season Powder Day
SNOWBIRD, UT — Very little was open again today, but they got so much snow that it completely buried Snowbird's SnowCam measuring board.
- 2 GadZoom runs
- 3 Wilbere runs
- 1 GadZoom run
- 1 Wilbere run
(more coming)
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December 1, 2007
Skiing, Finally
ALTA, UT — After one of the dryest Novembers on record, skiing in Little Cottonwood Canyon finally commenced this week. I headed up to Alta, which received 7 inches of new snow overnight.
May 13, 2007
Probably the Last Day of this Season
SNOWBIRD, UT — I don't mind hiking up when I'm skiing, but I definitely don't enjoy hiking down. Snowbird's got it all wrong this season when it comes to spring skiing. The conditions in Little Cloud Bowl are great spring conditions, but you have to either hike back up to Hidden Peak from the top of the Little Cloud lift, or ski back down Gad Valley, walk down part of the Bass Highway, and then ski the rest of the way back down to the base. I'm not sure how the conditions were on the Peruvian side of the mountain because I couldn't get back over there easy enough.
May 6, 2007
May Powder Day!
SNOWBIRD, UT — Today I was able to reap the rewards of having to suffer through absolutely miserable weather for the past three days (cold, cloudy and constantly raining) because all that rain fell as almost two feet of snow in the mountains.
April 22, 2007
Last Day at Alta
ALTA, UT — The last ski day at Alta for the season. It was cold and snowy with crappy snow conditions. Not cool, but fun nonetheless.
(more soon)
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April 21, 2007
Some of the Best Powder Skiing of the Season
ALTA, UT — Alta was nearly empty as I rode the Sunnyside lift up to the Sugarloaf lift. Alta had received a large storm in the middle of the week (when the lifts were closed), so only Friday's skiers had skied the new snow. The weather was variable, but it seemed there were still plenty of fresh tracks to be had. The condition of those fresh tracks, however, appeared to be questionable.
April 14, 2007
Skied Mount Baldy's Main Chute, Again!
ALTA, UT — Given that I have a trip to Durango planned for next weekend, I anticipate that this ski day will be my last of the season at Alta (they close next weekend) and my last ski day with Brendan as fellow locals (he's moving back east this summer). I brought my camera along to document this event.
I figured that just he and I would be skiing today, but we ran into Sam and Brian in the parking lot. I hadn't skied with Sam since January. Sam's fun to ski with because he's really good, but he's very humble about that fact, and he's just an all-around good guy. I hadn't yet skied with Brian.
While we were riding up the Sugarloaf lift, ski patrol had bombed the east face of Mount Baldy near where I had climbed Mount Baldy the week before. The bomb triggered a slide about 10 yards wide that ran down almost to the cat track that takes skiers from the top of the Sugarloaf lift to the top of the Collins lift.
After a typical, quick, boring run down the groomers back down to the base of Sugarloaf, we jumped back on the lift and contemplated our options. The options we discussed were actually quite typical (Collins side, Devil's Castle, Sugarloaf again, etc.) until Mount Baldy came into view.
There was some activity going on near the site of the little avalanche. Ski patrol and a few other people were hiking Baldy. Sam was curious, and a discussion about my hike up Baldy to ski its main chute ensued.
When we unloaded from the lift, Sam shot over to the Mount Baldy gate to inquire with ski patrol if, in fact, it was open. Ski patrol informed us that it would be just a minute before the trail up Mount Baldy would open.
While we waited for them to drop the rope, we all decided to hike Mount Baldy, although it seemed that Sam wasn't sure what I had in mind. Instead, I think he just though we would hike to the traverse, and ski down the east face back down to the cat track.
We started our expedition by walking over rocks and compacted snow along the ridge until we reached the traverse. Unlike last weekend when I had walked the traverse, this time skis were required.
After about 15 minutes of annoying traversing, we reached the bootpacked trail that led up the east face to the ridge. I climbed quicker than my lungs would allow because I wanted to get some good pictures of everyone climbing up the steep face. The extra effort was well worth it because I think I got some really good photos.
The walk up the ridge was a breeze. When I got to the summit, I was extremely excited. I never thought I would ski Baldy's main chute even once. The fact that I would ski it a second time just struck me as extremely unlikely. I was also very excited to ski the chute better than I had last week.
After a quick breather on the summit (and the coolest spot any of us had ever taken a leak, I'm sure), we skied down from the summit to the top of the main chute, which is about 200 yards northeast of the summit.
The chute looked quite different from last week when it was nearly 60 at the base of Alta. Today it was sunny, but not nearly as warm. The chute was also full of 20+ inches of settled new snow from storms throughout the week.
After snapping some photos of the chute, I handed off the camera to Brendan and tried to mentally prepare myself to attack the chute...
(more coming soon)
April 7, 2007
Skied Mount Baldy's Main Chute!
ALTA, UT — I went skiing at Alta with friends of my old boss at Snowbird. They are all way better skiers than me, which is why it's so fun skiing with them. They never take the easy way down. Before our first run, they already started talking about skiing Baldy chute, which made me both excited and nervous all at once. After a few "warm-up" runs, we fueled up at the mid-mountain restaurant and hiked up Mount Baldy to ski its main chute, which is a 750 vertical foot, 40-degree steep, 30-foot wide chute dropping off the summit of Mount Baldy. I linked a few pictures below to illustrate the experience. The photos were taken by Steve (my old boss) with his cell phone during the trip.
April 1, 2007
April 1, 2007
ALTA, UT — Weird, sort-of blah overcast groomer day with a run down Gunsight to end the day.
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March 24, 2007
Spring Skiing at Alta
ALTA, UT — Today was another warm, sunny, spring-like ski day. It's a little early for spring conditions, but they seem to be here to stay regardless. I got to Alta at about 12:30. Alta, unlike The Canyons, still has an excellent base. There are no bare spots on the trails (off-trail there are some bare spots, but not even as many as earlier in the season).
March 23, 2007
Spring Skiing at The Canyons
THE CANYONS, UT — B-A-R-E. Not a lot of snow left at The Canyons.
March 17, 2007
Spring Skiing Already
SNOWBIRD, UT — It was 70+ degrees in the valley and 50+ degrees in the mountains today. Spring skiing is here a month early. Although I love spring skiing, this ski season is really turning out to be a dud, especially compared to last season. At this point last season, I was just getting going. The snowpack was still building up, not receding. And I had yet to have some of the best ski days of the season. With this weather, which has been in place for the past week, it looks like this season is already starting to wind down.
March 10, 2007
The Day I Got My Ass Kicked
SNOWBIRD, UT — I didn't wake up today expecting to ski all of the terrain at Snowbird that last season I considered too difficult to ski except in the best snow conditions. But that's exactly what I skied today, and much more. Last season I had highlighted the all the trails and areas on the trail map that I skied. Well, after this ski day, I can color everything in between the defined trails, too. Today, Snowbird's terrain kicked my ass even more than usual, and I learned that I have a ton of room for improvement in my skiing.
March 3, 2007
Bluebird Powder Day
ALTA, UT; SNOWBIRD, UT — Over the past seven days, the Little Cottonwood Canyon resorts received more than 80 inches of new snow. Yesterday (Friday), Alta received 9.5 inches of powder with 5.68% water content. Much of Alta and Snowbird's terrain never opened on Friday due to the storm, so there would be plenty of untouched powder to ski on Saturday morning. Basically, all signs pointed to a ridiculous weekend of skiing in the Wasatch.
February 17, 2007
Bluebird Sugary Powder Day
SNOWBIRD, UT — Three feet of snow had fallen during the week. Some of it was light, fluffy snow, but some of it was also thicker snow (~9% water content). We can credit the winds on Friday for the snow conditions. The mountain was covered with a layer of crusty snow that was soft enough and fresh enough to make the skiing today absolutely superb.
February 11, 2007
A Powder Day (Finally)
SNOWBIRD, UT — 7 inches of fresh snow overnight with a storm raging that added another 5 inches throughout the day. Awesome runs in the Cirque at Snowbird.
(more to come, eventually)
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February 3, 2007
February 3, 2007
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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January 28, 2007
We Badly Need Snow
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
January 21, 2007
OK Powder Day
ALTA, UT — If Alta were located in Vermont, today's powder day would rank as one of the best of the season. Big, hard bumps lurking beneath a light, soft 7-inch layer of new powder...
(coming soon)
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January 20, 2007
Awesome Groomer Day
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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January 13, 2007
Guided Tour of Alta
ALTA, UT — (coming soon)
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January 6, 2007
Saturday Skiing
SNOWBIRD, UT — Today was one of the more annoying ski days, ever. I just couldn't get going. I won't even discuss the annoyance of lugging my ski equipment onto the ski bus and all the other annoyances of the ski bus because I don't even want to think about it anymore.