indiggio

With all the Camelback talk about skiing in May, just had to get my first day of May skiing in too. With the shitty snow year, only Brighton and Snowbird are left standing, with next week being closing for both. Brighton was luring people up with $40 lift tickets. Since I still had IKON passes to use and the wife with only a new IKON, we decided to head up for some fun. Arrived at the lot at 9 since they’re not opening until 10 with temps in the upper 50’s and only a few clouds. Out in the sun it felt far warmer. The wife is still getting used to the terrain out here, so we just lapped the park which is pretty much the entire Mount as they have features everywhere. By 1pm, the place was packed with park skiers and it was getting spicy trying to avoid so many of them bonking off anything available. Hung out in the parking lot for a while for a couple of beers. Overall a fun day skiing in May, which is probably what I’d been doing back in PA.

They had the engineers in the cab with a PA answering questions from the crowd about the locomotive, pretty interesting to hear all about it.

Since the Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 locomotive is making a tour https://www.up.com/about-us/history/steam/big-boy-4014 and is stopping over up in Ogden, just a short ride from here, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see it up close and in person and also spend a day in the town. Stopped at the Hill Aerospace Museum on the way up which was unexpectedly huge. After checking out all the trains and museums that were free this weekend, stopped for a beer and then dinner at the Prairie Schooner Steak House for an interesting dinner setting and a Chikfila balloon cruising the Wasatch.

Can't beat free!

Solitude's attempting to get more people to come up, so they did away with parking reservations for the rest of the year. Nice having the car to shed clothes, lunch, apres, etc. She wasn't really mentally prepared to get out yet, but since I got her an IKON and it was gonna be a nice, warm day, decided to go out.

We’re back from another fun day at Solitude. Got the wife an IKON to force her to ski, so we rolled up to Solitude to pick up her pass and get her first under the gun. They were even giving out free waffles! Arrived at the lot at 9:15 with temps in the upper 40’s. Hit the ticket office to get her pass printed and booted up. The snow was super soft already and many out in shorts and short sleeves. Had the wife lap the Link to get her ski legs back. The snow was buttery cream cheese hero snow. What few clouds there were upon arrival were now gone and temps climbed into the 50’s. Did a few laps on the Moonbeam and her legs were shot, not having skied much this year and the heavy snow didn’t help. Out in the parking lot the temps rose into the 60’s under bright sun. Lots of tailgating and jocularly going on in the parking lot, there was even a graduation party going on. By the time we got back to the house, it was already 80’ out. Just another day in paradise…

Reminds me of Turtleman…

Yes. The canyons' resorts are good due to their altitude and got more snow over the "winter" to help them along. All the others are lower, so ended up with rain and had to deal with the warmth. Just saw this article about the cause of the warmth. https://cah2oresearch.com/2026/03/17/the-diabatic-engine-behind-march-2026s-record-shattering-western-heat-dome/

Welcome to Utah!

I still have one and use it for the time. The thermo/barometer has gone wacky and thinks it's 90 degrees when it's actually in the 20's, thus making the altimeter way wrong and the run counter off. It's still handy to have the time available at a glance.

Will make for some nice spring slush skiing...

F'n summertime here...

It looks even worse now with not a lot of snow...

I want to get one of those trail signs, but they don't seem to have one in the shop.

I hear ya! I've not ventured into a number of areas since I'm typically solo and can't get a view from below to scope them out, so I have no idea what's lurking out there to get me into trouble. However, eventually curiosity gets the best of me and I go snooping...

Looks like a an absolute spectacular day out! Very jelly, sitting here staring out the window at the mountains. Yeah, have to agree that there aren't very long runs, unless you want to go from Powderhorn all the way back down to the base. There are a lot of lifts, but that can be good for quick laps in a particular area, save the Sunrise donkey. It's a hidden powder gem, but slow... Last time I was back in Honeycomb chute area it was all avalanche debris and very hard to ski. The opposite side of the canyon has more trees, so the snow tends to stay nicer in there. The run out to the lift is usually a nightmare, as they don't groom it often and it becomes a rollercoaster and thin. How was the snow? Did it soften up at all or was everything still firm? It was cold overnight and morning.

Thanks! If only work wasn't currently in the way...

Grate little trip, TFTI!

I’ve been totally slacking on reports as of late. Son, his new wife and friends were out to ski Park City the week before last, then Blue bumper Rick was out with his family right after. Skied Park City twice with son & friends, then Solitude and Snowbasin with Rick and family. With the recent snowstorm this week and all the snow the canyons got, decided to avoid those shit-shows and use up one of the Deer Valley tickets on the IKON and get the wife a little more snow time. Arrived at the mountain about 7:20 and got front row parking as the wallets don’t get up early. Temps were in the upper 20’s and bluebird skies. Roaming up to the snow, there were lots of kids in bump pants and IDOne skis. Looking across the beginner area, they indeed had a comp bump run set up. Even with the recent storm, this side of the Wasatch is still hurting for snow as many of the lower runs were still closed with hardly any snow on them, but it didn’t stop a couple from getting married up there. Left the wife to her devices on the greens and I wanted to make my way out to check out the new expansion, Unfortunately even some of those runs were closed due to lack of snow. I do get to see the new lodge being built. Made my way back up and down the lifts to meet back up with the wife. Headed back to watch some of the teens in the bump comp. Pretty impressive kids coming down a WC level bump run and throwing flips and corks off the jumps. Headed out to the lot for some beers and check out the cowgirls coming out of the St. Regis.

I'm sure the outfit will be something to behold as well...

By definition, the Indy mountains are typically on the mom & pop size, so don't have RFID readers, yet. I'm sure Entabeni Systems is working hard to outfit more and more mountains with their readers to make it easier to access.

And you should just as well wait for one of the cars with the glass bottom so you can get the full perspective...

It was fun to see all the families and kids around, learning to ski/board, following one another though the woods and side hits.

Hit it once a couple of years back on the way home from a NE Indy tour on a Sunday. Super fun little mountain out in the middle of nowhere. Was totally overrun by families and children, but still was a hoot to bop around for a couple of hours. The best thing about the Indy pass is the opportunity to hit little Mom & Pop, out-of-the-way mountains like this one.

Gotta be a cool place when they have their own TV channel...