Alta/Snowbird, UT 2/3/08 incl. video

[FirstTracks]

Day 29: I'm running out of superlatives this season.

Today was powder day 19. Good number, for we had 19 inches of additional snow today. It just won't stop snowing. Bob Dangerous has had 13 of his last 15 days as powder days. Today, thigh deep. Hip deep. Even waist deep in places.

With Supreme and Cecret closed all day due to avalanche risk, and Sugarloaf generally being a rather nasty place to be, the hordes congregated at Collins and Wildcat. We stuck to Wildcat, and while the line late morning got up to 10 minutes or so it dissipated at lunch time as the road would again close at 1 pm for afternoon control work mid-canyon. Most of us opted to stay, although by that point Bob Dangerous had split for Snowbird and Pat beat the closure to head home.

That left Sharon, her friend Pam, Amy, Tele Jon and yours truly. Lap after lap out Wildcat yielded the goods, but it was busy -- at one point I looked up at the first drop off Wildcat Ridge and there were more bodies there than I've ever before seen. It was a zoo! We therefore did silly things like ski down to the Bypass Road and catch a UTA bus back, or head down upper-upper-Who Dunit to the heli-pad, where we caught a ride in the back of a gracious pickup driver's truck. That run, at 2:30 pm, believe it or not didn't have a single track in it. Not one. Nada. What amazed me was that Hidden Peak called over to open the Keyhole gate when everything else was closed.

Snowbanks along side the LCC road are immense -- they even drove the giant snowthrower as far down the road as the A Gate. Driving down canyon is starting to feel like driving down a tunnel. We're having one hell of a year!

Here's the video:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1398267125

and here are the pics:

Realize that the ground off the patio is actually *lower* than the patio!:



Jon in Wildcat -- look at the snow on those trees!:



The view down LCC from atop Whodunit:



Another day that Wasatch Powderbirds can't fly:

[Sombeech]

Very cool. Keep em coming!