break in the pattern

 The storms rolled out of northern Utah (for a moment) and cold air moved in.  Saturday ski day at Alta was clear, low double digits to start and warming to low 20s in the sun, with no wind at Collins base and not in your face on the Sugarloaf chair (amazing).  At Albion base, the new Sunnyside 6-pack (six-seater chairlift) had its grand opening.  The singles line looks to move pretty quickly, if the lifties stay on top of it and call out enough singles to fill each chair.  We have our doubts about people's ability to count to six, however.

Storms are nice and all but Alta does a great bluebird

The snow (143" base at this point) is fantastic, of course, perhaps a little heavy off-piste unless you are wearing wide powder boards.  The rocks are long since buried and H reported that the Chartreuse gully (off the Sugarloaf lift, skier's left of Extrovert) is nearly filled up.

Can you see that line of skiers waiting to get into Devil's Castle?

Alta's ski patrol has been working hard and they opened Devil's Castle for the first time since December.  H didn't go in himself as the line of other skiers hiking in to get a taste of the Castle was epic.

On the edge of Catherine's Area, peeking into the Brighton side

Me, I'm buying heated socks.  I've had enough of being cold.

how green is my canyon

 Saturday was pretty cloudy but still in the high 30s.  Knowing that rain was on the way for Sunday and Monday, we figured we should get out and do a hike while we had the chance.  We opted for the Hymasa/Amasa Back loop, figuring we'd get a good hike and great scenery for very little driving.  Temperature-wise, it was quite nice for hiking: cool, not cold and not windy.  Other than the water in Kane Creek (looking fairly healthy for this time of year), there wasn't any water in any of the potholes and only a couple of damp, sandy patches.

Moody views

There were actually quite a few vehicles in the lot when we got there, although people were pretty well dispersed.  We passed father and son MTBers just after the creek crossing as they were working on one of the bikes, and then a couple of BASE jumpers flung themselves off the cliffs behind us as we got onto the single track.  About halfway up, we caught up with a group of four women MTBers and their two dogs.  Everyone was friendly and we chatted with them a while before finally getting ahead of them: despite being on MTBs, they were taking lots of breaks to accommodate the weaker riders, plus they were clearly having a lot of fun.

We got up to the top (intersection of Hymasa, Captain Ahab and Cliffhanger) and kept on going around and down via the jeep road.  The snow-covered La Sals were just visible against the gray sky out past Behind the Rocks.  As we came around the corner above Kane Creek, we started to see a fair number more MTBers on their way up.  Nothing like the busy season numbers, of course, but it was still good to see folks out there.  Below us, Kane Creek Canyon looked really green.

That's pretty green

Three more BASE jumpers launched themselves off the cliffs just as we got back to the car.  We watched them land (safely) with a friendly trail runner, and then Milton worked his way around the parking lot, introducing himself to some climbers who were gearing up.  It was an impressive array of activities on display for a January day: hikers, MTBers, runners, climbers and BASE jumpers - but it was also quiet because there weren't any side-by-sides careening up and down Kane Creek road.  Delightful!

Hike stats: 6.00 miles; moving time 1:57/3.1 m.p.h; overall 2:05/2.9; 890' elevation

range riding

Pretty much any long holiday weekend we try to escape to Moab, and the recent MLK Jr. holiday was no exception.  As is often the case in January, the weather was mixed: a couple of good days and a couple of wet ones, including the drive home on Monday (it was fine, just not my favorite).  But let's focus on the good weather when we were able to get out and on the trails! 

Trail dog

Friday was actually warm enough (partly sunny, high 30s/low 40s) that H wanted to go for a ride at the Moab Brand trails.  That's still too cold for me to bike - I need it to be in the 50s or my hands and feet get too cold - so Milton and I hiked our Bar M/Circle O loop while H did his usual fourteen mile route (ride stats: 14.36 miles; 1:28; avg 9.8 m.p.h.; top 21.3 m.p.h.).  When we drove into the parking lot there was only one other car there - we couldn't remember when it had been that sparsely attended.  By the time we finished up, there were a handful of other vehicles there, although probably no more than ten.  And neither of us really saw anyone out on the trails, so I'm not sure where those folks were.

Circle O

The potholes out on Circle O's slickrock were all full of water, enough for Milton to drink and even to go swimming!  Like, literally swimming: he walked into one end of a big pothole and when it got deep, he kept going and swam across.  The trails were still in good condition, though, even with the moisture: H found only one muddy spot on his route, in a low corner of Rusty Spur.  There had been some damage done to the trails but it was from range cows, not errant riders.  Milton and I didn't see any cows ourselves but H had to ride through a whole herd of them at the northern end of Bar M.

And then we found ourselves at the

southern end of the bar at Woody's

the most

 This is a filler post but the snow just doesn't stop up in northern Utah.  Alta has gotten 433" to date this season - the most of any resort in the entire world (which they REALLY need to stop advertising because it is already SO CROWDED) - with it settling down into a 151" base.  That is amazing for it not even being the end of January.  

The snowpack is in fantastic shape for this time, at 176% of normal statewide.  If it stopped snowing right now, we'd still have more snow than we had in all of 2014/2015 and 2017/2018; it's on track to easily beat 2013/2014, 2015/2016, 2021/2021 and last year (all Alta totals).  

The snow is terrific, the moisture is so important and everyone's ski bases are very happy.  

snowfall

 As mentioned earlier, the storms really do keep coming.  On Sunday, the winds picked up, making it kind of miserable for skiing but ushering in the next system.  Alta picked up another couple of feet between Sunday and Tuesday, and on Tuesday Little Cottonwood Canyon didn't open until 2:30 p.m. because they had to clear so many avalanches from across the road.  Provo Canyon got hammered too, with a massive natural slide that came out over the road.

Take a look at this SkiUtah chart of the new snowfall from January 5-11, 2023:

That being said, #skicolorado

fantastic conditions

 The snowpack is just doing really well so far.  In the first week of January 2023 alone,  Alta got nearly three feet of snow, bringing the YTD season total to 332.5 inches!As the storm system moved out Saturday morning, we - including me, finally - knew we had to get out there.  Due to the ski bus service reductions, we were in line for the 7:12 a.m. bus, with quite a few others.  When the bus rolled up, it was already pretty full and the driver warned the waiting crowd that there was no way we were all getting on.  Both H and I were able to board, thankfully, and squished in among the crowd.  Then the bus drove about three-quarters of a mile to the end of the line of traffic, and we sat there until the police escort moved us to the front of the line.  Then we sat there for a while (and a dude next to me passed out momentarily until other passengers got him seated and fed him water and Skittles).  We finally got to Alta 2.5 hours after leaving the house, with the shuttle dropping us at Albion Lodge around 9 a.m.

Supreme selfie

There was almost no one else there.  I had to pick up my pass and there was only one guy ahead of me in line.  In the lodge, putting on my boots, the cafeteria workers milled about aimlessly with no customers.  When I got out to the Albion chair (Sunnyside is still under construction; H had gone up ahead of me while I got my pass), I didn't have to wait in line and got a chair to myself.  When I found H at Sugarloaf, we skied right onto the lift and that chair to ourselves as well.  And so it went, all morning, because everyone else was still stuck in a line of traffic trying to get up the canyon.  Around noon we skied over to the front side for a run there: there was a fairly substantial line at the Collins lift so we rode up and went back to Sugarloaf and Supreme where it was still relatively empty.  It wasn't until we were on our way out after 1 p.m. that there was any sort of line at those lifts - it was excellent.

The snow was excellent too.  The groomers (all I could really manage on my first-day legs) were super-soft with no scratchy bits; they were even so soft as to bump up a little as the day went on.  On the side of the trails and off-piste it was crazy deep - well over H's knees - and very soft.  I tried an off-pisted run and immediately got stuck when I wasn't going fast enough.  We haven't had conditions like this for years, it seems.  Just fantastic.  And the storms keep coming too.

ski week (part two)

Late Thursday night, my youngest cousin showed up all the way from Brooklyn, in town for a ski trip with friends.  She and I hung out on Friday, taking Milton for a walk and catching up, while H went back up to Alta.  He managed to get on the bus at 7:12 (standing room only) and made much better time, arriving at Albion base before 8.  The snow had already started up there, with 43-64" expected (by Monday morning) with this storm.  Atmospheric river indeed!  Down in the valley, we didn't get any precipitation until the evening, which prompted my cousin to connect with her friends early: they were staying in Park City and we all thought it would be better to get through Parley's Canyon before it started snowing in earnest.

Friday storm skiing

On Saturday, it rained all day in the valley.  It was pretty warm too (around 44 F), and that even translated to warmer temperatures up at Alta.  H got on a bus at 7, which was then staged at the front of the line of traffic while they waited for avalanche control in the canyon.  There had been rumors that the canyon might not open at all but they must not have gotten quite as much snow as they'd thought, as they got going at 8:15 and he got up to the lodge at 8:40.  Because of the warmer temperatures, the snow was very wet and sticky and H predicted that it would get bumped up quickly.

They closed the canyon again at 12 noon for more avalanche mitigation, with the plan to reopen at 3 p.m.  When H texted me that update, he said: "Might take a while to get home" anticipating the line of taillights snaking downhill.  At 3 p.m., when the canyon reopened, he texted me again, saying that since there was practically no one skiing - he was skiing right onto the lift at Sugarloaf - he was going to stay until the lift closed at 4 and hoped to catch the 4:39 bus down.  He did, and although the traffic was still heavy, he managed to get home around 6 p.m., bearing a gift of two new, unopened packs of hand warmers that someone had dropped.

Big snow banks and limbs down everywhere

They closed the canyon road Saturday night, intending to reopen it at 8 a.m.  Instead, the storm moved in, Alta and Snowbird went into interlodge lockdown, and the canyon didn't reopen until 10 a.m. Monday morning.  Brighton got 37 inches in 48 hours; Alta got 29 inches; little Sundance got 31 inches; and we got around 20 inches ourselves, right at the house!  We haven't had even close to that much snow at home since 2019, when my brother and niece came to visit. 

So the ski week ended strong for snowpack but sort of fizzled out for actually getting up to the mountain to ski.  I had intended to go with H on Monday, but I really struggle when it's that deep.  We also knew that the traffic would be insane with such a late opening: it could conceivably be a three hour bus ride, followed by maybe three hours of skiing, followed by another three hour bus ride home instead.  We opted to stay home and shovel (and shovel and shovel) instead.

ski week (part one)

 We drove back to Salt Lake City Monday late morning, quickly made a batch of bloody mary mix and met our good friends at Grid City for early dinner.  After that, it was back home to start doing laundry.  For the week ahead, I had work and some car trouble; H, who tries to take the week between Christmas and New Year's off, went skiing.  And Mother Nature was in the mood to give us the goods, with a series of storms landing in the Wasatch mountains all week.

Hawaiian shirt Christmas

On Tuesday, the ski bus wasn't too crowded since it was dark and stormy.  H got up to the Albion base lodge before 8 a.m. and it had already started to snow and blow.  He encountered no lift lines, other than the initial one, and got pretty soaked.  He ended up with some impressive facial hair icing too, enough that people commented on it in the lift line, and left one little kid speechless.

That looks ... uncomfortable

Wednesday was a different story, with a break in the storm action.  He got on the 7:15 bus but it was standing room only, plus the canyon road was closed until nearly 8:30 a.m. for avalanche control.  The bus did get a police escort to the front of the line of traffic, however, so he got up to the lodge just before 9 a.m.  It was much busier because it wasn't snowing but the skiing was quite good.  With another storm - and a big one - on the way, the snowpack is looking pretty healthy.

Moody Wednesday

He had to do a work call Thursday morning, so he didn't get to the bus stop until 9 a.m., where a big crowd was already gathered.  He managed to get on but around twenty hopefuls did not manage to squeeze in.  Then, to add insult to injury, they were stuck in the red snake of traffic heading up the canyon: it was after 11 a.m. by the time he got to Albion.  Traffic was even worse for the trip down canyon in the afternoon: he couldn't get on the 3:39 bus but managed the 4:09; there was a red snake heading down as well, and to make matters worse, there was one single person on his bus that wanted to get off at Snowbird, which added 40 minutes to the ride.  Then someone passed out (briefly) on the bus, likely from dehydration.  They came to quickly and the bus luckily wasn't forced to stop.  H finally got home at 5:49 p.m. where a very happy Milton was glad to get outside.

all is bright

Saturday was the best day of the holiday weekend: bright blue skies, good sunshine and temperatures reaching (just barely) into the low 40s (F).  H, Milton and I walked to Dave's Market for coffee, where Milton received a gratuitous dog biscuit from the nice cashier, and then we went up to the Sand Flats Recreation Area once temperatures had left the 20s behind.

At the start of the Slickrock trail

What a difference the off season makes!  The entry station was unoccupied, so we waved our season pass at the camera and drove on in.  There was no one at the Hell's Revenge trailer lot, no one camping at the first two campgrounds and only a couple other cars at the Slickrock trailhead.

Ice ice baby

We just did the practice loop ("Just as hard [as the Slickrock trail]!), peeking out into the Abyss and Echo Canyon at the overlooks.  There was water in many of the potholes but this time it was frozen - and thick too, at least 1.5 inches in the bigger pools.  When we cracked the ice, it had these interesting vertical striations although it was very clear.  Milton enjoyed licking at it.

Tailgating

When we got back to the parking lot, there were a couple additional vehicles, with a few MTBers and hikers heading out.  We tailgated for a bit, just because it was so pleasant in the sunshine.  There was one campsite occupied on the way out, with some dirtbikers gearing up for a run at Hell's Revenge.  Other than that, it was so quiet, delightful really, and just a nice break from the noise and activity of busy season.

Josie Wyatt's

That afternoon we had another stop to make, to Josie Wyatt's at the Hoodoo, to see our favorite bartender. Although the hotel was apparently at 90% occupancy (!!), the bar wasn't too busy at that time and we were able to catch up with her and meet her boyfriend when he stopped by.  She gave us big hugs when we left, with Merry Christmas wishes all around.

So handsome

Christmas itself was pleasant too, slightly cloudier but still fairly reasonable temperature-wise.  We three grabbed our neighbor and her dog and drove out to do the Jeep Arch loop.  She had been in the wash before but had never done the hike to the arch.  The dogs enjoyed themselves immensely, playing tag and parkour-ing off the rocks.  We saw seven people and five dogs, divided among three separate groups, but managed to time it to have the arch to ourselves.  That's a great way to spend Christmas morning - much more satisfying (I think) than presents around the tree.