TR - Alta/Snowbird 3/2018

[guitar73]

Greetings from Little Cottonwood Canyon!

 

Day 1 - travel day.

 

The nor'easter really complicated our flight out to Utah. We flew out of BWI, but the plane was 2 hrs late getting there bc of weather. Then, we sat on the plane for 3 hrs at the gate bc there was a leaky valve preventing the engines from starting. Grounds crew got that resolved and we were on our way. Arrived in SLC just before the storm really ramped up, but the canyon road conditions were deteriorating fast. We made it to Goldminers Daughter just before last call.

 

 

Day 2 - Alta

 

Storm riding, cold, windy, very low visibility. We woke up to sirens and mortar blasting at 6:30 local time....not a lot of sleep from the previous day's travel. It was snowing sideways and we had interlodge until 9-ish. That gave us plenty of time to have a kick-ass breakfast. We got our passes and hit up wildcat lift bc Collins was mobbed. Snow was epic, but you couldn't see much at all. Not many pics or video. We skied in the Collins, sugarloaf, wildcat, and high-t areas yesterday. Best snow was in wildcat, hands down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[JFskiDan]

I saw the canyon road was a shit show yesterday, so good for you guys staying at Alta.  Wildcat lift never disappoints.  I read that Alta parking lot eventually grew full and had to turn people away.  

[guitar73]

Day 3 - Alta

Much improved visibility, leftovers, still crowded.

Our morning started out watching avy blasting over coffee. Alta has a spotter in the saloon (GMD has early coffee in there every morning), so we were talking with him and he was pointing out the areas they were working on.

The powder-starved locals called in sick yesterday bc the mtn was still crowded. It was really nice to be able to see where you were going today, and the temps were a little warmer than yesterday. Found lots of soft stuff off the high-t first thing in the morning. Then we headed over to wildcat and found thigh-deep untouched snow. The bro-skiers were out in force, hitting a kicker under the lift.

The girls went exploring the sugarloaf and supreme lifts while my buddy rob and I did a lap down in the black jack area. After that we decided to take the high t to the end and we came down high rustler...easily run of the day. After a run thru the trees below Collins lift we met the girls for lunch at the saloon. Lunch was a really good supreme pizza and soda: really hit the spot.

After lunch we lapped supreme lift, playing in the trees and steeps off skiers left looking down the mtn. Supreme bowl was closed. One last run of the day was under the collins lift.

Another awesome day in ski paradise.















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[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

One thing that is included in all of Guitars Utah reports is a picture of him sitting in the snow..it's something I don't do...unless I SU lol

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 

Looks good. It must be cold out there. 

[guitar73]

One thing that is included in all of Guitars Utah reports is a picture of him sitting in the snow..it's something I don't do...unless I SU lol

That was tinymoose and my buddy rob taking a break.


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[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Just now, guitar73 said:

 

That was tinymoose and my buddy rob taking a break.


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Gotcha I didn't think it was you...have fun today!!!!

[GSSucks]

Has there been a lot of snowboarders out? The powder snow usually brings them out in packs. 

[mbike-ski]

nice pics and report, makes me thirsty for a johnny's pounder!

[toast21602]

5 minutes ago, mbike-ski said:

nice pics and report, makes me thirsty for a johnny's pounder!

That's disgusting. I'm not into that. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

3 hours ago, GSSucks said:

Has there been a lot of snowboarders out? The powder snow usually brings them out in packs. 

No snowboarders allowed at Alta!!!

[guitar73]

Day 4 - Alta

Less ppl, more sun.

Had coffee first thing and watched all the motivated ppl skin up the other side of LCC. I was glad for the ski lifts bc that kind of skinning looks like too much work for my taste, lol.

Yesterday we spent most of our day over in the supreme area. Mad technical skiing in the chutes in supreme bowl let to some spectacular views of LCC. Another lap or two down sugarloaf, then we headed over to the collins side and hit up ballroom (just opened that morning and was mess by the time we hit it). Rest of the day was spent lapping the high t.

Ski patrol was blasting the crap out of devils castle, cecrete, and baldly backside. All those areas opened up by noon-ish.

Tomorrow is snowbird.












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[Shadows]

Nice pics. Just enjoying the posts

[RidgeRacer]

Awesome stuff dude.

[guitar73]

Day 5 - Snowbird

Sun-baked snow.

Snowbird was the word yesterday. We had a killer b-fast at GMD, then hopped on the shuttle to the bird. First up was Peruvian lift to the tunnel to mineral basin to warm up on the groomers back there. The ungroomed back there was horridly sun-baked and not kind on the legs. Executive decision was to move back to the Peruvian side in search of better snow. We were not disappointed. Good stuff off of lower primrose path and chip's. another run down Peruvian, under the tram and we then headed up to the summit for lunch at the tram lodge.

After lunch we lapped little cloud bowl area for a couple of laps. We called it quits about 2pm to save our legs.

Quite a bit terrain is open, but the snow conditions at snowbird wasn't nearly as good as it was at Alta. Oh well.
















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[guitar73]

Day 6 - Alta

Better snow, still sunny.

Busy day exploring more of the supreme, sugarloaf, and backside areas. Day started out pretty cold, but warmed up quickly...snow was a bit stiff but softened nicely by mid-morning. We met up with another lady from the ski diva site and two random guys from GMD that we met in the hot tub days before. Good time skiing with them all.

Tomorrow is either Alta or Snowbird.














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[guitar73]

Day 7 - Snowbird

Better snow, crowds.

After 5 consecutive days skiing we were seriously debating staying at Alta for our final day and take it easy. But, we decided to finish the trip off at Snowbird. We took our time with breakfast and getting over to the hill.

First up was a couple of warmups in mineral basin, then we made our way over to gad 2 area. We spent most of the morning exploring that terrain...lots of nice trees and bumps.

Lunch was brats and sauerkraut at mid gad. Tasty tasty indeed. After lunch we headed up to the knucklehead traverse area and then over to the organgrinder area. We finished the day with a run down tiger tail and pearly gates. Few ppl were in that area, so we had nice chalky snow conditions.

Overall it was a very good trip. Good snow and good ppl. Staying at GMD was the right call and will most likely stay there again when we return.










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[Barb]

really nice pictures!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Thanks for the trip reports.  Really solid trip you had...are you gonna be at Blue Sunday???

[guitar73]

Thanks for the trip reports.  Really solid trip you had...are you gonna be at Blue Sunday???

Probably not. Got home super late after horrendous flight home. Gonna rest up.


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