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