Little Cottonwood Canyon did not get enough new snow overnight to merit a canyon closure for Sunday - it was points north that got pounded, with Snowbasin receiving nearly a foot of fluff while people slept - so the early bus ride went smoothly and relatively quickly.
It was mostly cloudy as the latest storm system lingered a bit, and dang cold: 18F, with a wicked bite to the windchill. The light was very flat, except for a couple of brief breaks in the clouds in the afternoon when the sun popped out, but the snow was terrific. It had stiffened up a bit since Saturday - I overheard one woman described off-piste as "thick" - and when H did a run in Catherine's Area, he reported back that I wouldn't have liked it, as it was very deep and very heavy. On the last pitch before the cat track out, he just straight-lined it and the depth and weight of the snow kept his speed way down.
Surprisingly, for it being a weekend and how terrific the snow was, it wasn't very crowded. H and I got to ride the lifts together more often than not, and we scarcely had to wait in line. It's probably because everyone was drinking hot chocolate in the lodges. We even went in for a while so H's feet could warm up (my battery-heated socks were heroic). There was a point midday, however, when ski patrol dropped the rope into Supreme Bowl. We were on the chairlift at that time and it looked like ants swarming, there were so many people poaching fresh pow in there. H scored a couple of runs in there himself and reported that it was very, very good.
A year ago, it hit 78F on this date in SLC. That's clearly too warm but what a difference a year makes. This one is for the record books for sure. The Diving Board (a natural cliff jump below the Supreme chair) has less than a two foot drop now. There is so much snow. There has been so much snow, all winter, but this week has been impressive in particular (see 7-day snow totals below).
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