Our friend Will from back east - the really good tele skier - was out in Utah last week, skiing with the same group of guys from prior trips. They were at Solitude and Brighton for the first couple of days and then segued to Little Cottonwood Canyon for the 'Bird and Alta. H had hoped to ski with them (or least catch up for a beer) but his work didn't allow it. Will said that they skied their legs off, hitting all the chutes and cliffs and trees they could get to. It sounds like they had a good trip but it's really too bad that it hasn't snowed for over a month.
No, really: it's been a month since we've had appreciable snow. The ski areas are doing their best to preserve the snowpack but it is dwindling. If the weather pattern doesn't change soon, the water situation is going to be bad come summertime - and we thought it was bad last year. This of course has me all kinds of conflicted because while I know we need snow, and a lot of it, I can't help but enjoy the warm, sunny weather we've been having. It's just so dang pleasant out!
We took the bus up to Alta on Sunday and even though the parking lots would end up filling by midday, our bus had plenty of room on it, despite being free all February. We cruised through the singles line at Sunnyside and went straight to the Supreme lift for four or five runs. People are describing the snow conditions as "chalky" - it's just packed powder and, amazingly, doesn't get skied off too badly. We did stick to the groomers, however, because even though it was very warm and very sunny (I should have worn some sunscreen on my face), the sun is not quite high enough to really soften the snow yet. This is good for snowpack preservation, less good for people who want to ski off-piste.
We did our usual tour of Alta, riding all the lifts that were running: from Supreme to Sugarloaf, then to Collins when the lift lines got super-long, with one trip up Wildcat, then back to Sugarloaf around lunch when the crowds thinned out. H did try a non-groomer run up and over Razorback but he reported that the moguls were massive and that rocks were starting to peek out on the undersides, not good if you're trying to keep your ski bases and edges intact.
We didn't stop for lunch but caught the 1:30 p.m. bus back down, not wanting the dog to languish inside too long. Once we had gotten home and sprung him, we put the tailgate down on the truck and had our own little tailgate right there in the driveway. That shouldn't be happening in northern Utah in February, but it sure was enjoyable. See: conflicted.
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