indiggio

At the summit, down the canyon to Salt Lake... Bottom of Adager with heli in upper left... Down Upper Silver Fox... Through the tunnel...

3/24/16 Snowbird. On the advice of the guide we had, he suggested doing Snowbird on a sunny, well lighted day. Since they were calling for snow Friday and only partly cloudy today, this would be the day to go. Stopped at Collins ticket window and got our add-on for $33 each and waited for opening. Funny how Alta has its regulars who are first in line and save spots for their cohorts who just jump in when they arrive. Crowds were nowhere near as big as yesterday's pow day so we got 4th chair. We made our way up and dropped into Mineral Basin which was mostly chowder and a little firm which didn't make for a whole lot of fun. We rode up the Mineral Basin lift to the summit where the winds were howling. We made a quick descent to get out of the wind and get out bearings. On Tarponhead's suggestion, we looked to head down Road to Provo, but it was closed. As we looked, two patrollers with large backpacks were headed under the rope to most likely charge the area. Not really knowing where to go, we headed down Regulator and such down to the base, deciding to do the obligatory tram ride. Having missed the proper catwalk while high-speed cruising, we were forced to take the Wilbere lift back up a bit to catch it. We packed into the tram like sardines and rode up. Luckily we were near last to get in so we were right at the door to depart. We agreed one ride in the tram was enough. I had read about the runs off Gad 2 chair so we made our way there. We ended up lapping this chair a few times, as we found Gadzooks, STH, Bananas and the trees around there to be quite fun. There was still some decent snow to be found in the trees. We made our way to Mid-Gad for a bite to eat and decided to head over to the Peruvian lift area for the remainder of the day, as that would be our way out eventually anyway. Since it was semi-blue bird, the Powderbird helicopters were flying nonstop out of the base. A few times it seemed like we were in an Apocolypse Now scene as they would cruise down the valleys and pull up at the last moment to bleed off speed and attract attention. We lapped various runs off the Peruvian lift, none of which really standing out, but all of them fun. At this point it was around 3pm and the Baldy lift in Mineral Basin stops at 3:30pm, so we did the other obligatory thing to do at Snowbird: Ride the tunnel. With snow in the forecast, clouds were moving in and the light was bad flat, so we headed down and called it. Last stop, hot tub and beer! I know there's a ton of terrain we missed at Sniwbird, so we'll just have to save that for another trip. Regardless, we had a fun little excursion and would definitely head over again.

Heading to Gunsight with guide... Clouds rolling in... Checking out the cliffs... End of probably the best ski trip day so far...

3/23/16 First day of skiing we were met with 11" or so that fell overnight and still snowing during the day. This is going to be awesome! Since my son is graduating high school and his birthday is coming up, this trip is his and in addition I got us a guide for the first 3 hours of our day. Having someone who know the mountain like the back of his hand, especially on a powder day, is priceless. Not to mention we get to skip right to the front of the lift lines, avoiding the massive crowd that has shown up for the storm. While standing in line, avi guns are going off continuously throughout the canyon. Pretty much all of the best places are closed due to the danger and even delayed the lift opening 10 or so minutes. Ridng up Collins, the winds were pretty strong and the face is all wind-blown crud. Guide said we weren't going to bother with that. Took a warm up run to get some powder legs on down Spring Valley and got some pointers on how to ski powder, but I told the guide we get chest deep blower back at Blue all the time and I didn't need no stinkin' instructions! Since the winds were blowing hard from the West, the best snow would be on the other side of the ridge, so off to High Traverse we headed. We lapped Greely Bowl and up over Greely Hill to North Rustler and High Nowhere. Yes, all the powder was over here, from knee to hip deep. Decided to change it up a bit by pulling a U-turn and lapping Gunsight a few runs for some steeper terrain. We then headed over to Sugarloaf lift and lapped Razor Back, Amen, Extrovert and Chartreuse. It was time to say goodbye to the guide, so we headed back to the Peruvian for the lunch spread them headed back out for the afternoon session. We rode up the Collins and were met with very low clouds rolling in with falling snow. Taking the traverse was a mistake as it was white out and had a difficult time following it at all. We made our way down Sunspot and decided to try Wildcat instead. Top of wildcat was also socked in, but we were able to head down int the trees for some contrast. Checked out a tempting cliff to huck, but with no run-out, decided not to chance it. On one run down, we met up with another family out from Blue, so we skied a few laps off Collins and Wildcat with them. While skiing with them, we ran into another group of race people also out from Blue and did a run with them. Crazy! Last run of the day, we headed down and into Goldminer's Daughter for beers. They kicked us out of the lower bar and we called it a day. 11" overnight and another 7" during the day made for some very weary legs.

Blowing the parking lot and it's still pumping snow, gonna be deep but nowhere near Widowmaker-deep. Second espresso kicking in...

On the drive up the canyon... Passing Snowbird... Out the bedroom window... High-Rustler...

3/22/16 Couldn't sleep much because I didn't want to pull a GSS and miss our flight, so multiple alarms were set to make sure that didn't happen. Leapt out of bed at 4:30am, showered and made a quick ride over to Lehigh Valley airport. No problems checking in skis and proceeded down to security to see a line a mile long. Haven't flew out of ABE in a while and see they've now installed one of those full-body scanners which had the line backed up outside the cattle chutes. Reminded me of old days at Blue before the VIP lines! Got to our 6:20am flight over to Chicago without trouble and proceeded to grab some breakfast bagels at the Berghoff Cafe, which were pretty good and fairly reasonable! It was fun watching the line cooks shuffle the pans of eggs down the line of cookers. As we sat in the terminal for ou flight to Salt Lake, we noticed the monitors show in rain/snow over the entire area. Flights were on-time, but UtahDOT was claiming 4x4/chains up the canyon. Hopefully we would be able to make it up to the Peruvian where we're staying! Flight out was without trouble, but landing was a bit interesting as it was snowing and there was a pretty good cross-wind which had the plane crabbing the entire approach. I flipped on the phone and received a text that the skis were already here, as they came in on an earlier flight. Now we just had to wait on boot bags that we gate-checked in Chicago. Bags arrived and we headed to the Canyons Transportation desk who informed me that the canyon road was open and that the van has 4WD, so we're good to go! Our driver regaled us with some stories on the way up about some driving in snow experiences he's had and pointed out some things like "Stick Rock", this massive boulder by the side of the road that people prop up with sticks to prevent it from rolling onto the road. As we climbed the canyon, it's pumping snow and eventually it covered the road so the driver engaged 4WD. Numerous cars littered the ditch on the downhill side. We saw a Blazer going down the road sideways! Luckily we're headed uphill and managed to avoid him. Got to the Peruvian, unpacked and made ready for tomorrow. The board said that they got 11" yesterday, which is probably the most I've ever seen on any ski trip before. That should prove interesting as we're so used to skiing titty-deep powder at Blue!! Dinner was excellent as usual, with bean soup which made me quite farty, a house salad, honey glazed salmon over rice with broccoli rhab and a white chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert. Needless to say, I can't sleep and am sitting here in the lobby at 3am with a coffee and espresso shot by the fireplace typing this recap. The night guy said they're reporting another 4", but from the way it was snowing last night, he thinks it's way under reported. Gonna try to take more pictures than usual, but we all know how hard that is when there's skiing to be done. Also I've not got the insane memory of GSS, so runs will definitely be forgotten!

Nope, they were blowing closing day morning when we pulled into lot.

Right, once the kid is gone, it's downsizeville as well. Can't stand the upkeep on the current house so as it is.

Y'All bugged out waay too early. Mother nature wasn't done with Blue yet, as she opened up the skies and dropped a ton of blower flurries on the mountain. Damn, if it wasn't titty-deep on Nightweaver by like 11:30. Shortly after the BBQ fired up at lunch, the sun started blazing and the bumps came out to play. The slightest bit of warmth was all they needed and it was spring bumps all over again! Skied the bumps till our legs fell off around 2:30-3:00pm, when beer was calling our names. Tarpon stayed out, but my legs were shot after the early tour-de-mountain with the PASRs. Afternoon parking lot party continued with many hugs and see-ya's until security started making the rounds about 6:30pm. All in all, even with the crappy weather we had, Blue really came through this year and made a crappy season worthwhile.

If MBike Mike doesn't know any, nobody does!

Top of that was seeing JLaw *almost* bite it. A most excellent recovery! Tarpon and I only made the Main Street run.

Likes to rest his legs, I hear he's a bump-head.

Cool!

No faith in east coast weather...

The shot over the R/C helicopter cracked me up.

1,068,154 just at Blue. I didn't keep track on Vermont or Alta trips.

Crappy year this, I'm only at 641,205 all at Blue.

Glass totally empty!

I don't think they're calling for a lot of rain, the fog on the other hand... Fingers & toes crossed! First!

I went up for a few hours this morning, as family matters cut my day very short. Snow was still springtime sweet, with a slight bit of set up overnight. Bumps were nowhere near as good as yesterday, but obviously weren't going to be either. Made a bunch of runs down them anyway, as there were still quite a few people skiing them, so the roughness was breaking free a bit. ON3P was there to demo skis, so took some Filthy Rich's for a ride. These are a park ski, but were the thinnest underfoot they had, so gave them a whirl in the bumps. The rocker made quite a bit of difference as they wanted to toss me in the air over the saddle. Also the center binding mount didn't help much either as the tails tended to catch one another. Even though they're not a bump ski, they were a lot of fun in the bumps though. Took a few more runs after and then had to bolt. I can't believe I'm sitting here at 3:15 on the computer and not out on the hill... So depressing.

Runs of the day were definitely the wonderful Razor bumps! Blue really came through by seeding them, would have been a pretty boring day without them. Hit up the season pass luncheon, which wasn't too bad. Biggest turnout ever they said. Of course, I won a big fat nothing in the door-prize giveaways. Barb was mingling and asking how we thought Blue did this season.

To take the thread to another topic... I'm surprised a JLaw log logging thread doesn't already exist...

I didn't have trouble remembering to breathe, but when I came to a stop, breathing combined with the warm weather made for quite the cotton-mouth.

Yeah hard base and very deep, lots of bouncing going on. Good workout. There was some guy there lapping Challenge bumps all night long, top to bottom. Bottom of Challenge were the best, could get into a good rhythm. Snow overall was very fast instead of the usual suction slowing you down. Maybe JLaw can explain it???