Alta, UT 10/21/07

[FirstTracks]

Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Pulling in the Wildcat parking lot at 10 am today looked like a midweek mid-winter day. There had to be 150-200 cars in the parking lot...the place was a madhouse!



Mt. Superior is already looking mighty white:


Tracks were already being laid everywhere. We had 10 people in our crew: Skidog, Bob Dangerous, Dale, Pat, Jon, Graz, Graz's friend Mars, Dale and Pat's son Brad, a friend of Brad's, and yours truly. Skinning up was a long lemming line.











We headed for the top of Wildcat.



Once regrouping there and deskinning the group split into two -- Bobby D, Dale, Pat and I headed down through Wildcat trees while the others opted to lap the upper face.











It was bottomless. Literally. Bob made the wisecrack, "This is more snow than Park City will see all winter!" Our first pitch was tracked up yet fluffy, but once we rounded the corner into Wildcat trees it was untracked the whole way to the parking lot. Amazing!! One heluva preseason day -- this ain't Rocktober. I hit only one minor rock on a traverse - I hit nothing while actually skiing.

1,300 feet of vert. I shot a helmet cam video the whole way, but regrettably the Oregon Scientific cam I'm trying really can't handle exposure on snow. Add that to the fact that I shot 3/4 of it rotated 90 degrees by mistake, and the fact that it was aimed too high, and regrettably I don't have any usable video footage to share. I've got to get a good lipstick cam for the DV camcorder.

Total strangers were exhanging high fives in the parking lot. Amazing.

[CarpeyBiggs]

[FirstTracks]

Graz just emailed me a few of his pics.

Yours truly skinning up from the base of Corkscrew. From here we got out of the guns via the Collins Road. Guns ended atop Corkscrew:



Skidog at the top of Wildcat:



Jon below the Wildcat ridgeline:

[stefan]

ahh the usual alta pawdy

[FirstTracks]

Skidog from our group got lots and lots of face time in a Fox 13 story tonight - click here to view the video on Fox 13's website. Nobody expected a backcountry experience, and the crowd frankly made it rather festive. There was more than enough untracked to go around.

[Brian in SLC]

Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Better in October 2004, IMHO. One of the few times I put my rock skis away before November.

Pretty good skiing yesterday. Solid feeling base up high with around a foot of powder. Seemed to get some lake effect later in the day too, to keep it fresh.

Folks are chomping at the bit, to be sure. Not sure I've ever seen those kinda crowds before. BD swap was nuts, too, on Saturday.

High pressure parked for awhile. Hope it doesn't get too warm up there in the next couple of weeks.

Maybe this year we'll get a good mid to low elevation snow pack...

Ermines were out, and, haven't quite changed color all the way yet...cute little buggers.

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

[stefan]

Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Better in October 2004, IMHO. One of the few times I put my rock skis away before November.

oh yeah! that was epic. 122" from oct. 17-31, a chunk of which was dense snow forming a very nice base. halloween/nov 1 ... simply bliss

still have the avi report from halloween eve ...


[code]AVALANCHE INFORMATION
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004 7:30 PM HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Good evening, this is Drew Hardesty with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather information. Today is Sunday, October 31st, 2004, and it

[Brian in SLC]

[quote=stefan]AVALANCHE INFORMATION
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004 7:30 PM Current Conditions:
This storm is pounding the mountains with a vengeance. As of 5pm the upper Cottonwoods have picked up 25-30

[stefan]

I moved here in '85, so, can't speak for anything prior to that (83/84 musta been huge though, based on folks kayaking down State street)

well, i remember it, but i was a wee lad of 8 years of age. i skied most fridays and saturdays that winter, and have very fond memories. that's the kinda year people remember as "it was always snowing." yeah 83-84 and 94-95 are the two biggest on record. course i wonder if 83-84 is larger due to discrepancies from the updated measurement system.

although the flooding on state street was spring '83 rather than '84. though for years i got that confused.

...but...I seem to dimly recall late sept/early oct of either 85 or 86 was really good too.

here are some alta DOT totals (course different from collins plot)

totals are Nov-April (not full year snow totals)
81-82 - 696"
82-83 - 637"
83-84 - 743"
84-85 - 457"
85-86 - 599"
86-87 - 381"

Bet the cap'n remembers this stuff. I'll have to dig up my old calendars (where I record my ski daze).

yes, i'd enjoy hearing tales of the days of yore.

[stefan]

I moved here in '85, so, can't speak for anything prior to that (83/84 musta been huge though, based on folks kayaking down State street)...but...I seem to dimly recall late sept/early oct of either 85 or 86 was really good too.

you're prolly talking about this storm

SEPTEMBER 22-26, 1986 - Cold moist air collided with warm moist air from the remnants of Tropical Storm Madeline to give Utah a taste of winter-like weather. Some valley locations received up to 3.00" of water from the storm, while up to three feet of snow fell over the higher mountains.

powder mountain opened oct. 1 (for night skiing)

[asdf]

Very nice TR and pics

I am somewhat stoked for the season .. I really need to make up for last years injury and it really sucks that I need new ski boots....

[Sombeech]

Excellent write up and pics. Much appreciated.

Keep 'em coming! We've got the best snow on earth, and not enough Trip Reports!

[FirstTracks]

Excellent write up and pics. Much appreciated.

Keep 'em coming! We've got the best snow on earth, and not enough Trip Reports!

TY. I promise to do my part to change that this winter. I posted 75 trip reports last year to our own FTO forums, and I'm already x-posting them to our new US&S, so what's one more x-post? I like what you folks are doing over here and will do my best to patronize it.

[stefan]

so what's one more x-post? I like what you folks are doing over here and will do my best to patronize it.

great ... keep 'em coming

[accadacca]

Stoked to see these pictures. I was caught in whiteout conditions driving home from Moab on Saturday night.

[COUNTRYBOY]

Man, I live way too far south.
I hope it doesn't disappear as fast as it came.