Snowbird/Alta weekend = WOW

[PWDR8S]

Hey everyone, I'm back from a long ski weekend in Snowbird/Alta with SkiChick and her ski gang and I have to say it was a phenomenally fun weekend! I have to be brief here because of the mountian of work I'm plowing through upon my return. Here are the short sweet points and I'll give more details in the next few days when I make the time for it. Pics will soon follow. We made an Alta sandwich.... 2 Snowbird days bookending 1 Alta day in the middle.

Summary:
Weather/Snow Conditions - after 32" dumped on the region for 3 days with high winds, most of the upper trails were closed or were just plain hard to deal with prior to Friday. Many remained closed due to extremely high avi danger. More and more trails opened into the weekend as the avi charges kept blasting away. I flew in on the tail end of the storm on Thurs night(actually the storm moved north). Temps started climbing and the clouds burned away to make spring like conditions for the rest of the weekend.

DAYS!!!

The typical cold morning crust eventually softened but softer drier snow was found plentiful at the higher elevations and in the trees. (Ooooh how I enjoy the trees!) Top of the moutain ridges had windblown snowpack...nice to carve. As for the sun....Hot hot hot! Mid 40's at midday mid mtn. both at Snowbird and Alta...each day the temps got a little warmer. Pow Pow could still be found in the trees and north facing slopes.

Skiers - SkiChick and her friends kick ass! I have never had so much fun skiing with 4 women in my life! They ski hard and play hard. They say diamonds are womens best friend? Well these 4 proved it... Black diamonds and double diamonds were the preferred trail choices throughout the weekend. I am humbled by my lack of conditioning(can I use my foot injury as an excuse?) and stamina to ski till the lifts closed whereas SkiChick and Holly kept right on going like energizer skibunnies. Beth had tweaked her knee(the good one, the other had issues already) but she kept on going and Hannah took it easy at her own pace and tackled any trail in front of her. All very good skiers in my book! As for myself, I was thrilled to discover that my broken foot healed well and I could ski again almost as well as before. By Sunday, I managed to get my winter legs back but had to leave early to head to the airport. Oh too soon the festivities had ended.
Apres Ski - How long does happy hour really last? In Skichick's well put words.... they were "Happy Hour gone awry." Dinner? What dinner? Heh heh heh...

All in all, I have to say considering this is my 1st and by no means last trip to SB/Alta, I am impressed by the terrain! Plenty of chutes and gullies and STEEP N DEEP! I missed the Epic powpow face shots but I manage to uncover some in the trees. I couldn't have asked for better ski companions anywhere anytime!

Be patient my friends and you'll soon see a fun filled detailed TR complete with pics... I'll have to retrieve some from the other cohorts in this escapade. All there is left to do is smile smile smile!
Stay tuned!

[NHski]

thanks for sharing. Oh how great Little cottonwood is. Can't wait to see the pics.

[Skilasnow]

NICE! I've already heard some bits and pieces from SkiChick. I'll be with her and KMRN and others in CO in four short weeks.

[PWDR8S]

Originally Posted by Skilasnow

NICE! I've already heard some bits and pieces from SkiChick. I'll be with her and KMRN and others in CO in four short weeks.

I'll be skiing Vail from the 21st - 23rd Jan and would love to ski with you if you happen to be in the area at the time or just meet at a nearby bar/restaurant so you can tell me about Silverton....

[Skilasnow]

Originally Posted by PWDR8S

I'll be skiing Vail from the 21st - 23rd Jan and would love to ski with you if you happen to be in the area at the time or just meet at a nearby bar/restaurant so you can tell me about Silverton....

Both SkiChick and I fly out of Denver on the 21st, will you arrive on the 20th?

[PWDR8S]

Originally Posted by Skilasnow

Both SkiChick and I fly out of Denver on the 21st, will you arrive on the 20th?

Yup.... arrive at DIA around 4PM on the 20th... I'm hanging out and skiing with my brother and his friends. Bummer about the timing.... I might be able to get out there a couple days earlier but I cannot gaurantee it at this point. Maybe I can pull a few strings. Lemme check on that and I'll let you know. I'ld like to show you Vail like SkiChick showed me Snowbird.... I owe her the favor. I might not know for a couple weeks... if I play it right I might even get some comp ski tix for you and SkiChick but I need to see if I can get there first...schedule permitting. I've got a Peru trip in the works for that time frame just prior to my Vail trip.