in which we see the sun

It's been nearly a month since we've seen the sun, which is fantastic for northern Utah's snowpack (over 130 inches in January) but tough for getting vitamin D.  For this past Saturday, there were conflicting weather reports: Alta's forecast was cloudy, low 20s and light snow all day, but everyone else (Snowbird, Solitude, the National Weather Service) was going with partly sunny.  Ever hopeful, I picked my layers based on the "partly sunny" forecast.  When Alta's weather turned out to be in teh high 20s/mid 30s, with no wind and truly partly sunny, I felt vindicated.  Plus we didn't have flat light and could actually see what we were skiing on. There wasn't any new snow overnight - although the recently departed system had dropped so much that Devil's Castle still closed - but the coverage was great and the conditions were pretty soft, especially off piste.

We lingered a little bit in the morning and took the 8 a.m. bus.  This was perhaps a mistake on our part as we were subjected to standing room only and congestion heading up canyon.  When we finally arrived at Wildcat base, the corral was full.  Because it was so busy, lift operations were running all the lifts a little slow, keeping people standing in the lift lines longer so that the trails were never that crowded. 

Blue! sky!

Collins was in the sun so we spent the morning doing laps there, while Sugarloaf and Supreme were still in the clouds.  My legs felt really out of shape from not skiing for several weeks, plus I hadn't gone to gym as both H and I were recovering from a nasty head cold.  H played around in the trees,  Chartreuse, Fred's Trees, etc.  I ventured into the Ballroom and Razorback, the latter of which was very soft and very bumpy ... and my legs yelled at me.  The conditions were really nice though and the good visibility gave me confidence to ski a little faster. 

After lunch, we went to Supreme.  We did Challenger and played in the low gate off Rock N Roll, then my tiring legs required that I stick to the groomers while H did trees and chutes. At 2:30 I skied out to catch the bus; H went until last chair because when the skiing is good, that's how he does.

once around the practice loop

Monday was the coldest day, with no real sun to speak of, so we weren't inspired to do much more than a quick hike around the Slickrock practice loop, enough for Milton to get his fidgets out before the drive back to Salt Lake City.  H came too, wanting to get his fidgets out as well.  Surprisingly, there were a handful of vehicles at the Slickrock lot, with a small group of MTBers just having finished up.  We saw a couple of people with a couple of dogs right at the start - Milton went up and introduced himself to everyone - but once out on the trail, we didn't see anyone.  It was chilly, especially when we walked with the wind in our faces.  There is enough up and down to keep one's core temperature up, however, and at around three miles, it's a great little trail for some quick exercise.  It may be a "practice loop" but it's still more challenging than I will attempt on two wheels.

Bit of a bleak winterscape

After cleaning up, we loaded the truck and headed north, making sure to stop for a late lunch at Ray's Tavern for [veggie] burgers and fries.  This has been our traditional trip-ending stop for years; now that Milton is better in the car, we feel like we can pick it back up.  Ray's was a little quieter than we see it in high season but a number of tables came in after us, so I think they do okay.  Ray's is great: if you're ever near Green River, it's worth the stop.

return to fins n things

Sunday was the closest thing we had to nice weather for the whole long weekend; while we didn't actually see blue skies, we saw bluish patches.  At that point, we were glad to get that.  H wasn't feeling the hiking thing (battling a yucky head cold (that I came down with a few days later)) so Milton and I were on our own.  We didn't want to do anything new and exciting without H so we decided to go back to the reverse Fins N Things hike we'd done just about a month earlier.

This is the sunniest it got

As before, there wasn't much going on as we drove in - not even any cars in the Slickrock trailhead lot.  We did the same route, finding it a little muddier from the slowly-melting snow, but not any busier.  We stepped to the side to let three trucks go by in the first half and later, as we were coming back from the overlook, four dirtbikes sped by us.

The most exciting part of the hike was when Milton, ranging through a sagebrush area, flushed out a desert cottontail.  This was an adult rabbit, savvy and fast enough to get away safely.  But Milton was VERY keyed up about it: I had to call him many, many times to get him to come back to me and then, as we continued our hike, he ranged further afield, seemingly convinced that if he'd found one rabbit, surely he would find another.  (He didn't.)

I don't see any rabbits, do you?

When we were out at the Grandstaff Canyon overlook, we thought about exploring the foot-traffic only trail that led into the wilderness study area.  The trail was on the shady side of the canyon, however, and pretty well covered in snow and ice.  I thought that it would be better not to explore in those conditions, just me and the dog, so we left it for another day.

grandstaff canyon, main fork

When the three-day weekend presented us with the chance to go to Moab, we hopped right on it, despite the fact that the forecast was less than ideal: cloudy and cold, high 20s to mid 30s F.  There wasn't much precipitation being called for, however, so we headed down Friday mid-afternoon.

In the shade, the trail was pretty icy

As expected, Saturday dawned cloudy and cold (low 20s) so we waited quite a bit past dawn before venturing out for a hike with Milton.  Since exploring Fins N Things and the Porcupine Rim, and studying the map more closely, we determined that Grandstaff Canyon is actually huge, much longer than the popular hike to Morning Glory Natural Bridge.  It looked like it was accessible from both ends; since things are relatively quiet in Moab this time of year, we started at the main trailhead on the Colorado River.  There were several cars in the lot when we got there but we saw fewer than fifteen people and, once we turned off the main trail, we didn't see anyone.

There is actually a fainter trail going up the main branch of the canyon, following the path of the year-round creek.  Once we got past the choke of shrubbery at the canyon's fork, the vistas opened up and we were cruising up and down the sandy benches.  Milton was in his element, snuffling for small critters to chase, dashing up and down the sandstone ridges and happily charging into the frigid creek.

Next time we'll go further afield

We didn't go too far in as the clouds began to thicken and neither of us had brought waterproof anything; it was too cold to risk getting wet and chilled.  Still, the little taste of Grandstaff's main fork whetted our appetite for more: easy hiking, new (to us) terrain and no people.

Hike stats:  5.18 miles; 1:59 hours and 2.6 m.p.h. moving / 2:26 and 2.1 overall; 666 feet of elevation

shredding

Alta got another fourteen inches overnight and Sunday morning it was still snowing.  The canyon road had been closed overnight so the UDOT plows and the avalanche guys could make it safe; with the road due to open at 8 a.m., we knew there would be a crazy line of traffic just waiting for the gates to go up.  H took an hour-earlier bus and it was still standing room only.  The difference here was that a police escort took the bus up to the front of the line so that they were only fifteen cars ahead of them at Gate B.  (Meanwhile, the line of waiting cars on 9400 South was backed up west of Highland Drive - several miles.)

They opened the canyon and the bus started rolling around 8:25; half an hour later, H got off at Wildcat Base to a full corral but a half empty parking lot.  It was colder and windier than it had been on Saturday and although it was still snowing, it was not coming down nearly as hard as it had been the day before.

Look at all that nice snow!

After the first four or five runs - mostly in Fred's Trees, as so much terrain was closed for avalanche danger (and would remain so for the whole day) - the line at Collins dispersed and H pretty much skied right onto the lift for the rest of the day.  The crowd had vanished - there were even empty tables at Alf's at lunch! - and this was particularly strange because at 10:30 the canyon road was closed again: a natural avalanche had slid across the road around White Pine and swept a car along with it.  The SUV's occupants weren't hurt but the road stayed closed until after 2:30 p.m., no doubt frustrating people in the valley who had hoped to come up.  That slide was two hundred feet across and covered the road to a depth of 2-3 feet.  I can't imagine how frightening that must have been for the people in that car.

Once again, H skied until closing, getting in some good runs on Chartreuse in the middle of the day.  He had worn his slightly wider Gunsmokes which had been great for the morning when he could find untracked snow, but which were a little more awkward once the conditions got choppy.  Still, he had no complaints, got down and back home over three hours earlier than he had Saturday ... and was asleep before 7 p.m.  That's a pretty good day right there.

ridin' the storm out

We like to stay pretty active here on the weekends, whether it's skiing or hiking or MTBing or cycling or camping.  Sometime it catches up to me, however, and I need a little break from getting up early on a Saturday morning, rushing around pulling breakfast and snacks and gear together and dashing out the door.  It caught up to me this past weekend: an over-performing storm cycle had brought wonderful snow to the Wasatch mountains during the week and was to continue throughout the weekend.  I couldn't get amped up for weather and traffic and lift lines and being cold so I tapped out.  While Milton and I slept in a little, did laundry, made soups and curries and brownies, met neighborhood dogs, cleaned the bathrooms, walked in Dimple Dell and read books, H went skiing.

 His goggles and his jacket froze to his beard

He got on the bus at 8:11 a.m. to standing room only.  There was tons of traffic - everyone psyched for some freshies - and it took the bus around forty minutes just to get into the mouth of the canyon.  Once on the canyon road, things went pretty quickly and he was at Alta's Wildcat base at 9:20.  It was warmer than the forecast had predicted: 15 F at the peak and low 20s F at the base, with very little wind.

It started snowing up there at 11:15 and just got heavier and heavier until it was nuking.  Alta ski patrol did rolling closures (EBT, Rock N Roll, Main Street, the Ballroom) as the day went on and in the afternoon, H's tracks were filling back up each run.  Off-piste was very soft from all the recent snow.  In a word, conditions were "GREAT."

Coming down like crazy

At 3 p.m., the powers that be closed the canyon road for avalanche abatement, planning to re-open at 4:30.  To accommodate the captive skiers, Alta kept the Collins lift running until 4:45 but the road didn't re-open until 5:10 p.m., for downhill traffic only, with the announcement that at 8:30 p.m., the town of Alta would be interlodged and anyone still up there would be up there for the night.  It took a while but several buses finally showed up and H was on one, heading down canyon at 7:40 p.m.  With the very snowy road conditions, it was slow going and he finally got home after 9 p.m., hungry and very tired, but also stoked about the skiing he'd done.

can you spot the difference?

Sunday we left the house at 8 for the bus.  Although the parking lot didn't seem that full and there were fewer skis on the racks outside, the Goldminer's Daughter lodge was busy and we had to circulate a bit before finding a couple of chairs.  It was noticeably cooler than Saturday, cloudy and with strengthening winds.  The light was very flat and in the afternoon, a cold front moved in, dropping the temperatures further and bringing wind a snow.  The snow was stiffer than the day before, having set up a little overnight.  Going off-piste was firm and even on the groomers, some of the transitions were bumpy and surprising since you couldn't see them in the flat light.

The Heber Valley behind me (really)

It was definitely less busy with the bulk of the Christmas vacationers having departed and H and I scarcely had to ride the singles line.  We skied mostly Collins in the morning, then moved to Sugarloaf for a few.  My feet got very cold and I went in for a warm-up and to find a table for early lunch; Alf's was surprisingly busy what with how un-busy it was out on the lifts but it cleared out by the time H came in.  We lingered a bit over lunch, not all that eager to get back out in the cold and flat light.  When we did head out, we went to Supreme.  We could see down into the Heber Valley on the first couple of runs but when that cold front moved in, the snow quickly obscured the view. 

H had to take a phone call for work at 3.  I was getting chilled so I skied out at 1:30, catching the 1:59 bus back down to the canyon.  Meanwhile, H got stuck on the Sugarloaf chair for about twenty minutes, but managed to get a few runs in.  After the call, he kept skiing all the way to last chair; I got a "Running for the 4:45" text, letting me know he was on his way.

wherein "partly sunny" means "mostly cloudy"

We skied both days last weekend and, to be honest, I'm having a little trouble differentiating between the two, even though Alta is really in pretty good shape snowfall-wise (although the latest storm under-produced).  Let's see if we can tell them apart.

Saturday we left the house at 7:30 for the bus.  Although the parking lot didn't seem that full, the Goldminer's Daughter lodge was busy and we had to circulate a bit before finding a couple of chairs.  It was fairly warm (21 - 37 F), mostly cloudy and with a light breeze.  The light was very flat, although we did manage to get a break in the clouds for about 1.5 runs in the afternoon.  Because of the fairly warm temperatures, the snow was reasonably soft although it was wind-swept and beaten down since there hadn't been a refresher in a couple of days.  Going off-piste wasn't too bad, especially if we went in the trees where we could see a little better - we did one Ballroom run that was difficult (for me) because of the flat light.

Is that blue sky?

It was busy with the tail end of the Christmas vacationers and H and I rode the singles line quite a bit at both Collins and Sugarloaf.  We skied mostly Collins in the morning: I cruised the groomers while H played on the edges and in the trees; then moved to Supreme.  Finding a table for lunch at Alf's was surprisingly easy.  We ate quickly and went back to Supreme, where I got into Catherine's Area for the first time this season.  (I had to speak sternly to a group of tourists who were stopped in the traverse.)  When Supreme got crowded, we moved to Sugarloaf where Razorback was skiing pretty well.

In Catherine's Area

H had to take a phone call for work at 3 so I skied out, catching the 3:04 bus back down to the canyon.  After the call, he kept skiing all the way to last chair; I got a "Shooting for the 4:45" text, letting me know he was on his way.

into each life some snow must fall

As previously mentioned, we managed to get down to Moab for a long weekend after Christmas.  We knew we'd be missing some skiing but we also knew it would be very, very crowded for the holiday week.  Mostly deserted Moab sounded like just the thing.  It was clear for our drive down.  Then early Friday morning a storm settled in, snowing steadily for over 24 hours and leaving at least six inches of the white stuff in the valley.  We hunkered down, glad we had books to read.

After the storm

Saturday the snow tapered off although it was still overcast and cold; it would not get above freezing for the next week, long after we'd left.  We debated trying to go for a hike but realized that any trailheads we might try could be impassable - there's not much snowplowing in the southern Utah desert.  Instead, Milton and I went to the Bark Park and then on a walk along the Millcreek bike path and through some neighborhoods, just because we were going a little bit stir-crazy. 

Snow-covered desert

The clouds finally cleared for a bright and chilly Sunday and we three drove north of town for a short hike at the MOAB Brand trails.  There were five other cars in the parking lot when we got there but we only saw one MTBer and his two nice dogs out on the trails.  It was a gorgeous day for a hike (even though our feet got wet and cold): the sun felt great and there was barely a breeze.  We soon stripped off hats and layers so as not to get too sweaty.  As soon as we stepped into any shade, however, it got cold quickly.

Same scenery but now with A and M

We just did the whole Lazy EZ loop ("not too lazy and not too easy"), realizing as we walked that we've never ridden the whole thing and vowing to give that a try when spring rolls around again.  The front half of the loop is along the rocks of the low ridgeline; the back half winds in big turns through a desert meadow. 

Hike stats:  forthcoming