. Due to the whiteout
conditions up top Sunday and the quality of the Rasta Malou tree run, I suspected that powder in
Snowbird's alpine would include some of the previous week's 22 inches as well what we got
Sunday.I got off the tram about 9:30AM and immediately racked up 3 powder runs near the Mineral Basin chair. Snow was still light and dry as it was around 15F. Next 2 runs I headed out toward Powder Paradise but dropped off the cat track early as so many fresh lines were still open that it wasn't necessary to do the usual long traverse.
As I neared the top of my 5th Mineral Basin chair ride just before 11AM I observed the rope drop on Road to Provo. So naturally I followed the 60 or so people out there and put a fresh line down the middle of the bowl to a considerable crowd at the base of Little Cloud. So I then alternated runs between Powder Paradise and Little Cloud Bowl. The first run in the latter I took the highest traverse and enjoyed the lightest pow of the day, comparable to the best of my week at Wiegele. After 10 runs total and 16,900 vertical I staggered into mid-Gad at 12:30 for an extended break.
At 2PM I had recovered sufficiently to join my Iron Blosam group at the tram. Weather had clouded over and the light was a bit flat as we entered Silver Fox. Our stronger eastern skiers Ed and Dominic found a fairly intimidating line that would yield more pow below its narrow entrance. We then crossed Chip's and took one of the lower traverses on Baldy to get some more fresh snow.
Next run up the tram the plan was to head out the Cirque Traverse but drop left into one of the chutes above mid-Gad, then down to Gad 2 for a finale on Tigertail. With my goggles but no prescription glasses I zipped out the traverse following a yellow outfitted skier that I presumed was one of our group. When he dropped into Middle Cirque I realized he was not, so I contented myself with a long and deep run on Nirvana, skied over to Gad 2 and called my friends. They had done Nirvana after me but decided to quit then. I persisted with upper Tigertail, ducked a tree branch that ripped the hood off my ski suit (it will be repaired while I'm in Egypt) and just made it to the last Gad 2 chair at 4PM. The final run replicated the nearly untracked line admin showed me late Sunday out the gate toward the base of Little Cloud chair.
Total for Monday March 13: 25,600 vertical, 15K of powder. It joins January 29 at Jackson among the select group of only 13 days lifetime where total vert + powder vert > 40K. Apres ski with our group of 26 at the Iron Blosam featured Al Solish's famous chicken recipe and 5 selections from my wine cellar to cap a memorable day.
Needless to say on March 14 I was content to roll out the door barely in time to make it to the tram plaza at 10AM. From our Iron Blosam room we could see plumes of snow off Baldy and the trees near the top of Wilbere Chutes, Mach Schnell etc., so we knew the wind was howling. So from the tram we headed out Road to Provo to Little Cloud Bowl, on the way to the more sheltered Gad 2. The wind had packed the previous day's fluff to a semi-crust, but it was skiable with rounded turns and lots of familiarity with those conditions at Mammoth.
Gad 2 tree runs were still good, and we even did a couple on Baby Thunder to stay low and out of the wind. FYI Baby Thunder had outstanding pow on Sunday morning, and its terrain is probably Snowbird's best for learning powder in less competitive and intimidating terrain than many of the more famous areas. After lunch at mid-Gad several of the group retired for the day but 6 of us poked around Gad 2.
About 3:15 Al quit also (remember they have 4 more days with more powder predicted), but since it was my last day I headed for the tram as I had not yet skied the Cirque on this trip. I got lucky with a break in the clouds and lull in the wind and got a nice nonstop run in the forgiving snow of Great Scott (also a much easier than normal entrance this season). When I stopped on the knoll below the Cirque, I noted that it was only 3:35 so I bombed Chip's and made last tram at 3:45. This time the wind was up again but I managed to navigate skier's left of Silver Fox into the same North Chute that I had fist skied last May.
These were the best snow conditions of my 10 trips with the Iron Blosam group. Apres ski I was mentioning how they had only skied Alta one day of the 30 that I had been with them. Ed Meisner responded that when conditions are variable or springlike they are always best at Snowbird (definitely true March or later due to the Bird's altitude/exposure) and "when conditions are good why would you want to be anywhere else?"
I'm convinced. Snowbird is still #1 in my book out of 101 lift serviced areas skied. Note to admin: I now believe that Snowbird's larger scale allows some powder to last longer than at Alta. You demonstrated that yourself with several of the stashes you hit Sunday afternoon.
I
hope to make up for part of that tomorrow.