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Trip report: Big powder over the holidays
We followed the holiday storms across the country.
We hit Sierra-at-Tahoe on Dec. 23, just as the skies began to cloud up. The previous weekend, you'll remember, it rained to 7000 feet, but at Sierra the groomed runs were creamy-smooth and the parking lot nearly full. The storm arrived that night, with rain at Lake Tahoe and high winds aloft. On Christmas Eve, we arrived at Heavenly Valley to find freezing rain at the parking lot and a full-blown Sierra blizzard above the tram. Sky Chair was on wind-hold, so there was no skiing over to Nevada. Instead we got great Sierra powder in the trees on either side of the new Canyon Express quad, all day long. We had to come back on Christmas Day, hoping to drop into the steep Mott and Killebrew Canyons, but they were on avalanche hold. With passage of the cold front, snow level had dropped well below the lake and the wind had moderated. Sky Chair was open, and we found untouched powder in the North Bowl woods. We surfed the storm eastward on Friday, Dec. 26. It was a good day to drive across Nevada, with a 50 mph tailwind all the way to Salt Lake City. (Equipment note: I drive a 12-year-old Subaru and will take all the help I can get). While we drove, the wind closed lifts at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, and avalanches stopped up the road into Little Cottonwood Canyon, sealing off Alta and Snowbird on what should have been their biggest check-in day of the winter. With a foot of snow on the ground in the city, we expected to see a major day at Alta on Dec. 27. Cecret and Supreme lifts were closed for avalanche work, and we skied knee-deep snow, windpacked into something more resembling California powder than Utah fluff. The next day we tried Snowbird, where most of the steep, open bowls were still closed for snow safety work, including Mineral Basin. Skiers who went in there late in the day reported the patrol's bombs had set off climax slides, and left little to ski except deposition. We didnt ca We cruised the low-elevation runs off Gadzoom, where, protected from the wind, we finally found plenty of fluff. On Dec. 29, we drove up to Solitude. In bitter cold and windy weather, all the gates to Honeycomb Canyon were closed. We dived into Parachute, getting first tracks into a set of woodsy gulleys plunging off the east side of Powderhorn. In this protected pocket we sank to our chests in the lightest, driest snow of the week. It slid around our ears as we skied, and when we cycled back to the top the patrol had closed the gate. We spent the rest of the day skiing more stable windpacked powder off the Summit lift. Snowbasin looked like a good bet for Dec. 30. All week long, Salt Lake fluttered before a 30-knot wind from the south, so we popped the spinnaker for the drive north. The weather was a bit more sane, and with Strawberry closed for avalanche control, a healthy, happy crowd queued for the Needles gondola. After a warm-up run we found good sheltered snow in the steepish gulleys under the John Paul chair, and my 13-year-old kid got in her first good runs in bottomless snow. We even made a blind-mans-buff run off the summit tram. The weather service forecast warmer, partly sunny weather for New Years Eve, so we corralled both teenagers and drove them to Sundance. On the way in, we passed a Utah Power truck working on the transmission lines and immediately after making our first powder run off the summit, the lifts shut down for want of juice. We had a long, cozy lunch at the Foundry Grill, then rode Ray's Lift, grinding upward on diesel power all afternoon. The only challenging terrain here is the steep shot under the lift, so we cut new moguls into the soft stuff there, and had it all to ourselves despite the crowd of teenage snowboarders on the lift. The girls stayed up until midnight, so we let them sleep in on New Year's Day. Little Cottonwood was closed again, so we sneaked off to Solitude to try our luck with Honeycomb. In snow and wind, the control gates were still closed early in the morning, so we hit Parachute again. The warmer weather had stabilized things and the snow had set up so even on 70mm skis we got only three or four face shots on each run (I used the old Axis X Pro 181cm all week; Carole used her Volkl Cross Rangers, also 180 and 70mm). By lunch the Honeycomb gates were open and we explored there until closing time. Three avalanches had closed the road when we headed back to Salt Lake; we sat in the car for 40 minutes while the snowplows worked. Another storm moved in early on Jan. 2. Little Cottonwood Canyon lost half a day, and we drove to Colorado, mostly on snowpacked roads and in white-out wind. We'd planned to stop at Steamboat to ski more powder on Jan. 3, but after eight days of face shots my knees were throbbing, and more to the point, Cleo couldn't face another storm day. He hadn't seen any sun in over two weeks. We learned later that Steamboat got 19 inches while we drove, listening to Harry Potter tapes. Beaver Creek got 39 inches for the weekend. I-70, snowpacked and slippery when we drove through Friday night, closed sporadically for avalanches over the weekend. Bitter cold in Boulder over the past two days: thermometer in the car said 4 degrees Fahrenheit when I drove the kid to school this morning. Headed for Taos on Thursday. Seth |
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#3
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Trip report: Big powder over the holidays
Seth Masia wrote:
We followed the holiday storms across the country. Heh. I just stayed at home and got pounded with day after day of untracked, much of it deep and light, some deep and heavy. 168% of normal in North Tahoe basin. All the ridges were in great shape, with the hikes working overtime. And best of all, most of the newly minted hotshots still don't know the boundaries are open around here, so just a few more feet of hiking produced a whole nother untracked line, time after time. It was getting so deep, I took to wearing full gear even when planning to ski only inbounds. The days just ran into each other, but I think it was last Thursday high winds kept Alpine closed, and the rest of the north local areas curtailed to flat, sheltered lifts. Which meant I spent that day shoveling and repairing the snowblower. Sometimes Mom Nature gives you a rest and repair day. Today is my second straight day off the slopes - I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms. But someone has to defend the free world from the forces of evil, and besides, it stopped snowing for the moment (until tonight, forecasted.) |
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