building a base

Down in the Salt Lake valley, we got just a dusting of snow overnight.  Up at Alta, however, the snow really kicked into gear once the lifts stopped turning Saturday afternoon, dropping ten more inches to bring the storm total to 21".  In a regular year, it wouldn't be a big deal - this year, it was great news.  It kept snowing off and on all day too and temperatures stayed cold (ranging from 5F to a maximum of 20F), which kept the snow dry. It was busy on the bus and in the parking lot at Goldminer's Daughter, and the lodges were definitely full throughout the day with people warming up over hot chocolates, but once the initial Collins lift line cleared out, we hardly ever had to wait in line.  We thought that was weird - where are all the people? - but we certainly weren't complaining about it.

The new snow was light and fluffy and H was becoming very pleased with his new gear.  The Blizzard Cochises with the new NTN bindings handled the deeper snow so much better than his K2s/traditional bindings, plus they allowed him to ski faster too.  With the bulk of the snow coming overnight, ski patrol wasn't able to clear all that much terrain (and Devil's Castle is STILL closed, almost into February).  We stuck to the usual routes, doing four laps on Collins, then moving to Sugarloaf.  At that point, I had to go in for fifteen minutes to warm my toes.  We stayed at Supreme and Sugarloaf for the rest of the day, seeking out soft, deep spots wherever we could.

Well, there's some snow

Despite the nearly non-existent lift lines, things did get tracked out fast: there were hundreds of people going into Catherine's Area.  When we did a Cabin Run, we did manage to have that area all to ourselves and H looked great on his new set-up, turning very quickly in the narrow trees.  Other items of note on the day:  there were two Lucy-the-ski-patrol-dog sightings, one as she loaded the Sugarloaf lift with her handler, and another one later on, when she "helped" her handler reposition some rope lines.

At 2 p.m., we poled our way around a very wind-blown EBT and skied out down Collins face.  H saw that Main Street had been recently opened and went that way, enjoying the soft, swooping bumps.  The bus down canyon was as packed as it ever has been but since the road was clear, we were back at home at 3:30 p.m. - which was a LOT better than 7:30 p.m.  Also a lot better?  Getting an additional 20+ inches of snow.  If we could just start getting storms like this on a regular basis, it would do northern Utah a world of good.