ripping it on teles

We'd sort of been in a lull for the last week or so snowfall-wise, very warm in the valleys and not much snow in the mountains, a stark difference from the bounty of January.  California and the far north had been doing okay - little Beaver Mountain had a 23" inch day last week - but of the storms that hit greater Salt Lake, the Cottonwoods were getting skunked.  Until Friday night, when Alta got a nice 13" overnight.  Saturday morning the mountains were still all socked in with clouds, the canyon road was closed to traffic until 8 a.m. ... and I just wasn't having any of it again.  I'm not sure whether I just didn't want to deal with the crowds or I thought the snow might be too heavy with the recent warm temperatures, but I sent H off by himself.  So while I did laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, worked on decluttering, made soup and scratch brownies and, yes, binge-watched the second half-season of Santa Clarita Diet, he headed up to Alta to rip it up on his tele skis.

H took an earlier bus, leaving the park and ride at 7:25 a.m., and it was still standing room only.  It took them almost an hour and half to get up there because of traffic from the road closure and when he got off the bus at Wildcat base, the Collins corral was already full.  The crowds held up all day but the snow was deep and soft, although a little bit heavy.  Even though he was on his telemark skis, H has really turned a corner in his tele skis and was actively seeking out untracked snow and bumps runs.

Baldy looking snowy

And it got bumped up quickly.  The snow tapered off - the clouds stuck around for most of the day, with the sun just barely peeking through a couple of times - and ski patrol was able to open most of the terrain, spreading people out across the mountain.  By the time H dragged his tired legs aboard the 3 p.m. bus, everything except Devil's Castle, East Castle and the Baldy Chutes had been opened for skiing, which means that everything will be tracked out for Sunday.  That's okay.  I'll be out there.  One day off is enough (plus I don't have any more bathrooms to clean).