penultimate - 2012

Wow - what a difference a week makes, especially when (1) it's been super-warm and sunny Monday through Wednesday and then (2) eight inches of snow fall on Thursday and Friday.  That snowfall was lovely, like a little gift for the "ultimate final weekend" up at Alta.  It sure brought a change in the weather, though: when we woke up Saturday morning, it was 16F up at the base (and in the low 40s at our house - I turned the heat back on!).  We took our time and finally got up there around 10:30 a.m., at which time it had warmed up to 29F at the base.  The sun was out in a cloudless sky which kept things warming, but never so much that the snow got slushy.

It's bright out

It was heavy, though.  The Ballroom was full of natural slides where the heavy new snow fractured off and came roaring down.  Patrol kept West Rustler closed for the morning while they checked for avalanche danger; when they finally dropped the rope, there was a line of skiers waiting to get in there to the untracked snow.  Incredible: getting freshies on the day before the resort closes.

That's me, struggling in the soft stuff

We went in there after the initial crowd had thinned out.  The snow was soft but dense and really heavy and I struggled quite a bit with it, my skis just barely breaking through and then trying to wander off in different directions.  H, of course, had no such trouble, charging down through the bowl.  He ended up doing that run many times while I played around on the groomers and skied-out trails.  Main Street, a blue groomer that runs along the bottom of the Ballroom before heading back down to the angle station, was really very good - super-soft and carveable, not at all skied-off or scratchy.

Below the debris field of one

of the Ballroom avalanches

Alta was running the Wildcat chair again after having closed it down last weekend.  We did our last run of the day off it - H reporting that the ungroomed stuff was really heavy - before heading back down canyon so he could go for a 55-mile road ride and B and I could take our walk.  The parking lot was less than a quarter full when we left and had scarcely been more than a third full at the most all day.  Sunday, the last day of the Alta 2011-2012 ski season, will be busier, I imagine.  Hopefully temperatures will warm up enough to make the tail-gating fun.