powderpalooza

We sure picked a good one for my first day out of the 2010/2011 ski season.  With the latest storm having rolled in, Alta had a new 12 inches at 8:00 a.m. this morning; it was still snowing when we got there at 9 a.m. and it continued to snow ALL DAY.  The crowds were nonexistent since it's before Thanksgiving and all, and everyone's tracks were getting filled in nearly as fast as they were made.  Temperatures were pretty warm (around 21-24 F) but the wind was quite gusty, at times painfully driving the snow into our faces.  This made for difficult clothing decisions: I was way too warm while I was skiing, but got chilled on the lifts.  I guess it all averaged out, though, and my hands and feet stayed warm enough.

Snow so good you don't even mind not seeing the sky!

We didn't cover a ton of territory since much of the terrain was still closed, either due to avalanche control or lack of cover ... although, coming from back east and all, I've never seen so much snow called "lack of cover."  We were consistently in heavy-ish powder well over my knees for most of the day.  After a quick snack break at noon, we ventured into some trees and found some incredibly deep pockets.  It was outstanding.  I'd been a little leery of skiing in so much snow my first day out but since the visibility was so bad, between the flat light and the blowing snow, I couldn't really see much of what we skied - I just went for it.  Whereas if I'd been able to see, I probably would have psyched myself out.

I managed to last until 1:30 p.m. when my legs finally turned to jelly.  Getting home was a whole other adventure: the road down the canyon was so bad that it took us 67 minutes to drive 8 miles, inching the whole way in a long line of brake-lights.  People played it pretty safe/smart, however, and we made our slow descent with no problems.

One guy we rode a chair with told us it's been about ten years since there's been this much snow this early.  It was awesome - absolutely, positively the best first day out I've ever had and pretty much ranking up as one of the best days ever for H and me.  Best part?  Now I'm totally psyched for the season.  Let it snow!