christmas 2016

Christmas 2016 was one for the books!  The storm continued overnight and into the early afternoon on Sunday, finally petering out after leaving Alta with a storm total of 20".  This was considerably less than forecasters had thought but still - twenty inches of new snow for Christmas!  No complaints here.  Nor were there any complaints about the crowds: while it was noticeably busier than Christmas mornings past, it was still pretty empty and we never stood in line after the initial wait for the lifts to open.  Part of this, I'm sure, is because it was cold, ranging from 3F to 13F while we were there.

Still, you just have to ski off-piste to warm up and with all the new fresh, that's just what we did.  Not everything was open, of course, but we had some great runs through Fred's Trees and West Rustler, where the snow was DEEP and light.  H and I split up for the late morning and he did laps on Chartreuse Nose while I headed for Supreme.  I had the sense to wear my fatter Rossignols which was the right thing to do with all the new snow.  I did a gully run first, then tied on my powder cords and did two runs into Catherine's Area.  It was empty in there - I had to break trail for the traverse past the first meadow - and I had first tracks both times.

Obligatory Christmas selfie (in flat light)

After lunch we did a Cabin Run, where we were first people in there and where H landed himself in a hole when he didn't quite avoid a creek.  Then we went back to Supreme, playing around in Catherine's, the gullies, No. Nine Express and the low gates into Vicky's and White Squaw.  There was just a ton of snow in there.  It was fantastic.  What a great way to spend Christmas Day.