TR: Gunsight, Alta 7/26/05
I had planned on skiing this last Wednesday, but sleepiness/laziness/cloudiness/stormyness/work got in the way until today. I woke up bright and early at 1:30 PM. I had to go to the grocery store because I had absolutely no food. After some breakfast, I packed up and headed out. I arrived at the parking lot at the Catherine's Pass Trailhead (slightly below the top of the Sunnyside chair) around 4:40 PM. Gunsight still looked good - plenty of snow.
It took about 30 minutes to get to the snow, and another 30 to get to the top. I didn't feel like hiking the extra 30 feet over rocks just to get to the notch. No point, really. The snow was fairly dirty, with some rocks, and heavily suncupped. Thankfully, no runnel. But it was skiing. On July 26th. In Utah. I've skied worse - I grew up in Pennsylvania. At least the weather was perfect - no clouds and about 65 degrees. I'm not sure how much vert I skied - I left my Suunto watch at home. I'd estimate it at 500 to 700 vert - probably more like 500.
I'm sorry that I don't have pics - no camera. I would have snapped a shot of the moose that I saw on the hike up. It was grazing about 100 feet from the trail. I'm planning on skiing Main Chute tomorrow, and I'll probably go one more time next week, so that I will have skiied in August. If anything lasts until September, count me in.
