adventures in holiday week skiing

When we got back to Moab, I had to go back to work (boo).  But H tries to take the week off between Christmas and New Year's so he got to go skiing (yay).  Per usual, he got a varied range of experiences.

Wednesday was sort of business as usual.  Alta had gotten a little more snow since Christmas (the day before) and the skies were mostly sunny.  The ski bus was full but he managed to get a seat; once up at Alta's Wildcat base at 8:20 a.m., the corral was already filling up, with 55 minutes to go before they opened the chairlifts.  Alf's was very crowded and he had to deal with all sorts of nonsense in the lift lines.  He was on his alpine skis and poked around all over the resort, jumping on the 2:30 p.m. bus for home.

Wednesday at Alta

On Thursday, while I was dealing with some valley snow on my morning commute, the ski bus was totally full.  Alta had had more new snow and people were there for it.  It was overcast and cloudy all day, with flat light, but since he was on his telemark set-up, the visibility wasn't too much of an issue.

Thursday's scenery

What was an issue was some of the worst down-canyon traffic congestion in Little Cottonwood Canyon's history.  For some reason, the police were not in place at the base of the canyon in the morning, turning back people in 2WD cars without snow tires, so at the end of the day, when there had been some snow build-up on the road, there were multiple slide-offs and traffic was at a standstill.  The buses were late (as they usually are on snow days) but H managed to get on one at about 3:10 p.m.  The bus then proceeded to be stopped in traffic for more than 2.5 hours on the bypass road.  From his texts to me (I had rushed home to let Milton out), there was an accident at Entry B in Snowbird, a badly-parked truck blocking traffic between Creekside and Snowbird Center, a Kia Soul halfway off the road and a major slide off around Tanners Flats.  At about 6 p.m., his bus driver got the okay to skip the Snowbird stops and just continue down the canyon; once past Snowbird, traffic was moving, albeit slowly.  He got home around 7:45 p.m., making that the new record for long-ass down-canyon bus rides.

Friday: Backside

It was with a little trepidation that H got back on the ski bus Friday morning.  It all went smoothly, however, and wasn't quite so crowded due to the very cold temperatures.  It was 3F at the base, around 0 at the summit and with wind chills between -20 and -30 F.  For once I wasn't all that mad that I was at work.

Friday: Catherine's Area

On his alpine gear, he got off the groomers a bit, but still found rocks on Extrovert, Chartreuse and in Catherine's Area.  Still, with the cold he didn't have to wait in lift lines - but the lodges were all full all day, with people trying to get warm.  He caught the 3 p.m. bus (a little late but not overly full) and was back at home at 4:15 p.m., even with stopping to wash the truck.  

I guess the moral of the story is that you never really know what you're going to get with vacation week skiing, so be prepared for everything.

south for the holiday

Breaking with tradition, we decided to go to the desert for the long Christmas weekend.  We kept an nervous eye on the weather and drove down Saturday morning.  Many native Utahns I know won't go to Moab in the winter because of the sixty mile stretch between Spanish Fork and Price: a steep, winding road through a pass that is the only way over the mountain range.  Luckily, we only encountered one sketchy/icy section and by the time we were heading downhill from Soldier Summit (the high point on the drive), the road was clear and dry.  Milton didn't love the car ride - he gets very nervous and drooly, and got carsick before Soldier Summit; we made a note to not feed him so close to drive time next time.

Detail from mosaic bench at the Youth Garden Project

When we rolled in to Moab late morning, the difference from high season - which is now considered to be from March through November - was immediately noticeable.  There were hardly any cars on Main Street.  Like, people were crossing against the light and we could turn left immediately without waiting and waiting and waiting.  It wasn't completely deserted but it was great, with whole blocks of open sidewalk free and clear. 

Ranching relics along Mill Creek

The skies were blue and so we took a long walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon.  Milton was a little nervous at being in a new place so we did some exploring, finding Rotary Park alongside Mill Creek, near the approach road to the Sand Flats Recreation Area, crossing under Main Street via Moab's network of bike paths and checking out the Youth Garden Project near the high school.  There's a whole lot to Moab that we just haven't known about and we really enjoyed exploring.

The Colorado River

On Sunday, it was a little cloudy and cool to start.  It had gotten down to the 20s overnight - so much for being in the south!  We decided to head to the Colorado River to take a walk with Milt.  There is a bike path between the river and Route 128, which is the road to Castle Valley from Moab.  It runs for about 2.5 miles and there was quite literally no one on it when we were.  Quite a change from high season, I should think.  The river was calm, with ice building up along its banks.  We saw lots of tracks - fat bike, deer prints, dog prints, boot prints - but that was it.

H and M, river walking

After getting cleaned up, we walked Milton over to the Kokopelli Lodge to see Katy, the motel's proprietor and the head of Under Dog Rescue, which is where we got Milt.  We had texted her to let her know we were in town.  We paused for a quick photo op at Milton's namesake, Milt's Stop N Eat, and then spent a little time with Katy, her sweet dog Pearl, Des (dog adoption coordinator) and Des's sweet dog Paisley.  Milt was his own sweet self, a little nervous at first and then sitting up so everyone could rub his tummy.  By the time we left, he and Paisley were pawing at each other, ready to play.

It's Milt at Milt's!

We took Milton home - where he quickly made himself comfortable on the bed, of course - and then walked to Woody's for a couple of beers.  We knew they weren't going to be open on Christmas Eve and we wanted to make sure that we stopped in for a drink.  It's not really a trip to Moab without a beer at one of the last remaining Old Moab spots.

My boys heading out on the Pipe Dream trail

Christmas Eve was clear and sunny and, after a chilly (20s) start, warmed up to the high 40s.  In the sun, at least: the moment you stepped into the shade, the temperatures plummeted.  We did a couple of errands and then collected Milt for a short hike.

The LaSals

H discovered the Pipe Dream trail (mixed use MTB/hiking, please clean up after your dogs) on one of our maps, running up against the red cliffs on the south end of town.  The southern terminus has trailhead parking for the Hidden Valley hiking trail and the Pipe Dream trail, as well as the old gas Pipe Line double-track. 

Funky ice crystals

The Pipe Dream trail is about five miles long and technical - too technical for me to ride.  But I was happy to walk a good portion of it.  Milt was happy too: lots of critter tracks to sniff out and he even spotted a desert cottontail rabbit.  Very exciting!  Although there were several other cars in the trailhead parking lot, we didn't see anyone out on the trail itself.  Gotta love the off season.

Sun goes down early this time of year

We took Milt home and headed back out ourselves for Christmas Eve beers at Zax, one of the only places in town still open.  When we sat at the bar, we felt a little awkward since we were the only ones there.  But the server assured us that the place would fill up shortly and it did; our new friend Tom (originally from New Hampshire, whom we've talked with at Zax the last two times we were in town) even showed up and we bought him a Christmas beer.

Merry Christmas Eve

As with all our trips to Moab, this one had an expiration date and we had to drive back north on Christmas Day.  But not before H got out on his MTB for one last quick ride, the final one of 2018.  He rode up - and up and up - the road to the Slickrock Trail, then out a little ways on the slickrock.

Out on the Slickrock

We got on the road before 1 p.m. and the drive was quick and uneventful, except for poor little Milt getting carsick again.  [New note to selves for the next time: no food at all before car rides.]  Back at home before dark, we opened a bottle of champagne to go with our chili, and watched A Christmas Story.  Merry everything to all, and to all a good night!

upcoming: christmas in the desert

H and I aren't very Christmasy - we don't give each other gifts - and recent years have found us skiing Christmas morning while everyone else is opening presents.  This year we broke from our tradition and went south/east to Moab for the long holiday weekend.  We'd never really been to the desert in the wintertime and wanted to see what it was all about.  SPOILER:  we liked it.

More to come but in the meantime, here's Milton on the Pipe Dream trail in south Moab.

playing favorites

Last Saturday, on one of our chairlift rides at Alta, H challenged me to name my three favorite hikes from the Year of Hiking we just had.  The Big Hike (a/k/a the Under the Rim trail at Bryce Canyon National Park) didn't count - plus I don't think either of us would have chosen that one: it's gotten better the further we get from it but it was a suffer-fest at the time.

H's favorites were, in no particular order:

1. Emma Ridge
2. Ben Lomond
3. Naturalist Basin

My favorites, with the qualification that I might have to change my mind because I wasn't sure I was remembering them all, were:

1. Emma Ridge
2. Brighton Ridge Run
3. Ben Lomond or Silver Fork/Honeycomb

But when I got the chance to review the list of all the hikes we did, I think I have to replace Brighton with Murphy Hogback.  I just love that one.  I love Canyonlands; I love the views from that hike; I love that so few people are on it, despite it being in a national park.

We found it interesting that we both had Emma Ridge and Ben Lomond on our respective lists, and we liked those hikes for the same reasons.  Emma Ridge was because it was new, with not many people on it, and with a different perspective in an area we know well by now.  Ben Lomond was because it's long but not difficult, because of the views down into Eden and Liberty and because there were not many people on it (hordes of dirtbikers at the end notwithstanding).

It was kind of fun to spend that chairlift ride remembering all the great hiking we just did.  Yes, the mileage we put in was in training for the Under the Rim trail but as it turns out, we got more than just training out of each individual hike.  (Maybe not Alta Dry Fork/Snowbird - I can give that one a rest for a while.)  I do love skiing but I think hiking may be my favorite.

sunny sunday

According to the weather report, Sunday was to be a little warmer, a little windier, with high thin clouds.  The meteorologists got it right this time: it was already 30F at the summit when we got on the first chair at Collins.  My feet scarcely got cold all day - so it was clearly warmer than it has been!  Again, it wasn't all that busy but it sure seemed like there were a LOT of kids and beginner skiers out there.  (Since when did Alta turn into a beginners' mountain?) 

Ski patrol opened Devil's Castle for the first time this season - H had thought they would wait until Christmas so we were surprised to see the line of folks traversing in there.  Well, there were a lot of people lined up to get in there initially but then, throughout the day, we really didn't see all that many people heading in there for repeat runs.  We didn't go in ourselves as we thought it still looked bony.  There were a fair number of folks hiking up the Apron; that's probably where the best snow was since it never gets sun this time of year and relatively few people are willing to do the work to ski it.

PBR time downstairs at the Goldminer's Daughter

Again, we split our time evenly between Collins, Supreme and Sugarloaf.  The conditions were not quite as frozen as on Saturday but the high traffic areas still skied off quickly.  I thought 3 Bears was in some of the best conditions it ever is; Razorback was skiing pretty well too but by the afternoon some rocks were starting to surface (a/k/a "sharks").  When we quit at 2 p.pm, it was nearly 40F at Wildcat base - it almost felt like spring skiing!  Snowpack-wise, northern Utah is still just barely above average but that will change quickly since no decent storms are in the near forecast.  It's a waiting game now.

a few days after the storm

A nice mid-week storm (not so nice for driving into work in the valley) brought 12" of snow to the mountains of northern Utah.  The systems didn't stick around, however, so it was sunny with light winds on Saturday.  That much snow doesn't last long out here any more; it was all already tracked  out, although Alta's ski patrol was shooting off bombs in Devil's Castle, hoping to get that open.
The snow was pretty firm first thing in the morning but it got softer as the day wore on and the sun shone down. 

Top of Supreme chair, Heber Valley behind me

It really wasn't too busy and we managed to get chairs to ourselves at least every other time up the lifts as we split our time evenly between Collins, Sugarloaf and Supreme.  We did notice that any high traffic and/or steep pitch areas did get skied off quickly (i.e. Corkscrew, Devil's Elbow, bottom of Rock N' Roll).  There wasn't anything super-exciting going on: we just did laps on groomers with a couple side ventures onto small bumps a la Razorback.  Off-piste still seems thin to us this early in the season because 12" just doesn't go very far over terrain as rocky as Alta's.

blue skies abound

I must have jinxed myself with the correct layers on Saturday.  Sunday was clear and sunny and was supposed to be warmer.  It really didn't seem that much warmer and, since I went down a layer, I had a total outfit fail and was cold pretty much all day.  Note to self:  it's better to be too warm than too cold.

Sunny day

The parking lot filled up at Alta's Wildcat base but the trails never seemed crowded.  This turned out to be a good thing since Sunday's conditions were much firmer and got skied off quickly.  Collins was okay for the first couple of runs but then any groomer with a decent pitch got scraped off shortly thereafter.  Sugarloaf was really not that good: we were skiing "dust on crust" pretty much top to bottom.  The best conditions were on Supreme but it really was pretty firm - Eastern-style skiing, I guess you'd call it.  After lunch, the little bumps on Razorback softened up just a tiny bit, making that short little run decent.  Plus no one was on it which was a treat.

Mt. Superior looks nice in white

Since we figured we'd mostly be cruising groomers, H got back on his telemark gear for the first time of the season.  It didn't take him long to get back into the groove:  I could keep up with him for the first two runs but after that, he left me in the dust each run.

Twenty years - wow!

After we finished up for the day, we went up to the second floor saloon at the Goldminer's Daughter lodge.  We had an anniversary to recognize:  twenty years ago, on December 9th, we had our first date.  We went to $3 Dewey's in Portland Maine for beers that day - it only seemed right to celebrate with beers on this day too.

cloudy, with a chance of skiing

After the storm rolled out at the end of last weekend, we entered into a period of calm weather-wise.  When we headed up to Alta on Saturday (our passes worked on the bus - yay ski bus!), the forecast was for high 20s/low 30s and mostly cloudy.  For once, I got my layers right - partial down jacket - and was comfortable for the whole day.  Woohoo!

 Low clouds creeping up the canyon

It was not nearly as crowded as it had been the weekend before, and we suspected that the flat light and dearth of new snow kept people down in the valley with their Christmas shopping.  Those of us who were up there, however, very much appreciated the lack of lift lines and I thought the conditions were quite good, all things considered.  Although off-piste was a little thin (a fact that H confirmed on a run down Extrovert later in the day), the groomers were creamy.

View from Razorback

We did five runs on Collins, then moved over to Supreme, which was now open. There were people flooding into Catherine's Area but we opted not to go quite yet, hoping to protect what's left of our ski bases.  It was quite different from last year at this time, when Supreme wasn't open and they were loading the Sugarloaf lift every other chair, trying to keep the few trails from becoming too crowded.
On this day, Sugarloaf was in decent shape.  We found some nice small and soft-ish bumps on Razorback, which definitely let my early season legs know that there's still work to be done before I can be considered to be in any sort of shape.

We skied until after 2 p.m., then had a beer downstairs at the Goldminer's Daughter lodge before catching the 3:04 bus that was both late and SUPER busy for some reason.  But our passes worked and we got seats, and Milton did fine home alone all day, so you'll hear no real complaints from us on that front.

one hundred inches

It started snowing again Saturday night for the final push of this very nice storm that ultimately brought 30+ inches to area mountains and bringing Alta to over 100" of snowfall already.  By Sunday morning, we were even getting accumulation at our house in the valley.  Since I have early season legs (and since I'm so slow skiing deep conditions even when my legs are in shape), I sent H up to Alta by himself while Milton and I kept things shoveled out at home. 


H's pass still wasn't working on the ski bus (what up with that, UTA?) but he got up there just fine - better than fine, really, because there was all sorts of new snow and only half the number of people from the day before.  He never once waited in a lift line, each time skiing right onto the chair.

Baldy looming grey and cold

Patrol got a little more terrain open too so he had a great day, skiing Racecourse and Sunspot and generally playing around in West Rustler.  He also did a couple of runs down the steep little pitch under Cecret Lake, then out via a Cabin Run - where he did have to be careful not to get stuck in the creek.

Not Monty, Fitz or Lucy - maybe Tula? 

Enjoying the day regardless

Racecourse

H skied himself tired, with only a quick break for lunchtime fries at Alf's.  He caught the 3 p.m. bus (pass didn't work - driver confirmed that a lot of Alta passes weren't working) and got home just fine, extremely happy to have had such a good early season day on the hill.

off to a good start

I don't want to jinx it but so far the 2018/2019 ski season is looking to be MUCH better than the 2017/2018 season.  Northern Utah had a system move in for the weekend and by Saturday morning, Alta said they'd gotten 90+ inches (of snowfall, not base) which is a good five feet more than we had at this time last year.  There was a little break in the snowstorm action during the day on Saturday and up we went, telling Milton to be a good boy and watch the house.  By "watch the house," we meant "sleep on the bed all day and shed on H's pillow."

The UTA was originally scheduled to start ski bus service on Sunday (12/2) but got their ducks in a row in time to run buses up the canyons on Saturday instead.  They didn't have everything in order - neither H's nor my season Alta passes registered on the scanner and the driver told us to check in at Skier Services when we got to the resort - but it was so nice to climb aboard and let someone else do the driving.  Much less stressful.  We did check in at Skier Services (very busy with people picking up their ski passes) and the girl told us that it was a UTA issue, not an Alta issue.  Sigh.  Whatever - let's go skiing!

Ski patrol was setting bombs off like crazy all over the mountain to shake loose the new snow so Collins had a ten minute delay in opening.  Both Sugarloaf and Sunnyside were open as well, which helped spread people out a little bit, but it was definitely busy and for the first five runs we did on Collins, we went through the singles line each time because of the crowds.  The snow was really quite good, creamy almost, and my skis floated through it even though I still don't have any new wax on them.

It was definitely chilly, though, and high, thin clouds started to diminish the sun's effectiveness.  We switched over to Sugarloaf where it was much less crowded.  Part of this may have had to do with the fact that we had to ski under several snow guns but the new technology makes this much less unpleasant than the old days.  The snow was a little more bumped up on this side - if I had to guess, they groomed here early and then got additional snowfall on top - which meant we had to work harder than just cruising groomers, but conditions were soft so I wasn't bouncing off the little bumps.

I went in for a 20-minute warm-up around noon, while H continued to do laps, then we did a few more runs together on the Sugarloaf side before my early season legs cried uncle.  I went down to Wildcat base and snagged a table at Goldminer's Daughter; H did two or three more runs, enough to get himself thoroughly chilled by the time he met me at the lodge.  Not too chilled for our first apres-ski PBRs tho as we had just enough time for quick beers before catching the bus back down the canyon.