We knew there'd be a bit of a line to get up the canyon, so we got up and got going - no lazy 10 a.m. start this day! W, being already up there, bought a two-resort Alta/Snowbird pass, planning on skiing on his own at Snowbird for a while before meeting up with us. Because of the snow, however, Snowbird was interlodged (everyone is locked into their lodges and hotels and not allowed outside for anything) and he wasn't able to get a head start. When C, A, H and I got up to Alta, there were lots of people standing around: the Collins lift wasn't working - must have had something to do with the two Rocky Mountain Power trucks that the sheriff escorted up the canyon road while we waited. Supreme wasn't open yet, Sugarloaf wasn't open yet and Collins wasn't open at all - and wouldn't be, for the whole day - so the line for the little Wildcat double was huge, plus they were running the lift on its diesel back-up and only loading every other chair.
We stood in that long line and did a couple of runs off Wildcat. The snow was amazing, so deep and so soft. My powder skis surfed right on top of the snow, handling it easily; C, as a tele guy, was struggling to find his mojo somewhat; and A just threw herself into it with abandon. After a couple of runs (averaging 45 minutes per lift line/ride/run - yeesh), the liftie said that Sugarloaf was open. We took the rope tow over to Sunnyside, which with Collins down was the only way to get to Sugarloaf, and were horrified at the crush of humanity standing there. The lines were horrible and it took us about 45 minutes just to get on the lift. We were a little cranky but tried to remember that everyone was in the same boat.
We did several really good (but tracked out) runs on Sugarloaf while H texted back and forth with W, trying to communicate where we were. When he finally found us, his Alta-Bird pass stopped working on him and the liftie kicked him out of line, sending him back down to one of the bases for a new pass. We did another run or two until he got back, then we all did a run together and went in for a quick lunch, since word was out that Supreme was open.
Ski guest A enjoying the new pow on Wildcat
After bolting down our lunches, we got to the Supreme lift ... which was absolutely packed since now the Sugarloaf lift was down, ostensibly so they could do some avalanche control over there (but who knows, really). We rode the singles line, which was moving marginally faster than the maze, and holy powder day, Batman, Supreme was incredible - 180 degrees from the day before. We did some incredible runs down through the chutes at Supreme Bowl (although the lower traverse was still awful), with the snow well over our knees. The tele guys got their groove on, H was cranking through the powder and it was all just fantastic.
Supreme stayed open until 4 p.m., giving us skiers a little longer in response to all the lift issues. Then we rode Sugarloaf to the top and took the EBT around to the top of Collins. Mind you, hardly anyone had been over at Collins since the lift wasn't running. We had the single-most amazing run down through the trees on Fred's Slot: all five of us at once, in thigh-deep untracked powder, giggling like crazy people, not another skier in sight. It was just awesome.
Unfortunately we couldn't get back up the mountain to do it again, so we went back to the Wildcat chair and did a couple more runs until that lift closed at 4:30 p.m. What a day, and doubly appreciated because the ski guests were there to enjoy it - lift problems notwithstanding. We piled into the truck, grabbed W's suitcase from Snowbird on the way by and joined the red snake of traffic inching its way out of the canyon. That evening, back at the house, as we drank beer and ate homemade mac & cheese (thanks for the great recipe, Cindy!), all we could talk about was how frigging great the skiing had been. Greatest snow on earth, baby!
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