I didn't know there was another Alta, but heres a TR w/pics from the one in UT
Don't get me wrong, this season has treated UT pretty well. While we haven't had any big dumps, we've had alot of consistent snowfall and stable BC conditions. Weather reports called for 6-8" overnight, and my hopes were high. I drank myself silly, and at 1am the Collins plot still showed 0" of accumulation. After firing off a couple angry text messages, I passed out, thinking that it'd be another 3" dust on crust morning at the local hill.
I awoke, noticed it was already bluebird, groaned (the forecast had said snow through the morning hours), and prepared myself for the worst. For the first time in months, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the plot. 7". Not bad. Rolled up the canyon amidst a total clusterfuck (how the fuck does traffic STOP at the Y cooly on a day when the roads are completely clear?). Boris and Bags were nice enough to save me a spot in 2nd row. Thanks guys.
The next few hours are kind of a blur of really deep turns on some slick crusts, and a few really really fast straightlines. Faceshots in West and in Thirds. Over to Bad News where I point it over Punani's and Boris just nails a straightrun down through the gut. Good stuff. Then its off to Glory Hole, where CS fucking blasts down Harpo's over ice and traverse ruts. Burly. We get lucky, and the rope on Castle drops as we unload on Sugarloaf. Ski some pow down to the batcave, adn things get interesting. I drop in, mach it out, do the now-common "give up at the compressions". Gaper drops in from looker's left, and I try to signal to Boris to hold up. I guess they interpreted my stop sign as go. I watch as the tourist makes turn after turn in Boris's path, and ultimately gets clipped as Boris rifles through the compressions in the runout. Both folks were okay, apologized, and I sighed a nice sigh of relief. Pics.
stump in the batcave
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54392.jpg
boris, with his new friend farming it in the runout
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54393.jpg
We break for lunch, gather up packs, collect a Powho, and head out to Patsey Marley. It didn't take us much time after reaching the peak to reassess our plans of skiing the west face of Patsey, as Wolverine Cirque was clean, but-for 2 big lines thrown down earlier in the day. We split the group up a bit, with Powho and CS (team Beast) heading for a due north-facing line, and me, Boris and Bags (team Gotama) heading out to the dead tree chute on the west side of the cirque.
I snapped a couple of pictures of CS and Powho killing it from our vantage point across the way.
powho
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54394.jpg
CS
http://www.biglines.com/photos/norma...ines_54395.jpg
Snow was $$$ back there. First turn over the large cornice to zipper crust was kind of disturbing, but quickly gave way to really deep big turns. Giddyup. Back out Grizzly to GMD for pizza and beers. Not too shabby. CS took some pictures as well. Hopefully he throws em up here tonight.
