Utah Mini Trip Report

[Mcwop]

Picture Page

Video Clip from Gad Valley Section of Snowbird

So, the Utah Mini conditions were not the greatest. We don't always get powder, which is why we crave it.

Alta on Friday was fun, and the conditions were much better than at Snowbasin on Thursday.

Saturday at Snowbird turned out to be a fantastic day - sunny and warm. While on the Little Cloud chair, we noticed what looked like decent conditions in the north facing Gad Valley section of Snowbird.

Creamy Goodnes - an oasis that turned out to be real


The Gad Valley section is a short traverse, and a sidestep hike (keeps the gapers away). Several of us went to explore. It turned out to be soft, few inch deep, windblown snow. It was excellent, and quite welcome considering the poor conditions. We did many laps here.

Bro Sighting

TheAD, Teledave, Crash55, Endless Season


All in all a great trip - meeting maggots, and zipping around the mountain.

[glademaster]

I should write up a longer TR from the whole week I was there once pics get developed and scanned, since it will be a lengthy TR. 8 mountains in 8 days is definitely a super fun way to spend a ski trip, now if only it had snowed.

Thursday at the Basin. Skiied with Flyk, Backpack, McWop, saw Comish. Conditions were less challenging that frustrating. Seeing a mountain with that much potential suck so badly was pretty damn sad. That and the fact that my dad broke his thumb clear in half right above the base skiing Porky Face made the day suck even more. He heads in to get a pin and/or screw put in tomorrow, send some good vibes his way.

Alta Friday. FKNA. What else can I say? Conditions were good. My first time at Alta was something I'll always remember. Chasing Utards on the High-T was certainly memorable and bone-jarring. I split with a friend of mine after lunch and skiied almost exclusively off Supreme chair. Laps in East Castle offered the fastest, smoothest snow of the week for me. We sidestepped to near the first prominent cliff band before the area kicks to the right toward Devils Castle and got to lay some figure elevens down. Super fun. Other than getting cliffed out on a traverse into Devils Castle it was a great day of skiing.

GMD Apres. Great to meet many more maggots and put more faces to the names. Met str8line and got a free pair of KevGloves (thanks again dude), along with more swag from other sources, including a stunning "Powdergirl" t-shirt. We bailed kinda early and didn't head to the party, but a great time was had anyway.

Saturday at the Bird. Left around 12:30 since I had to do the packing for 2 people now that my dad is out of commision. Awed by the size and steepness of the mountain. The snow was good, but far from great. I know I'm a 15 year old east coast gaper, but many parts of the mountain seemed to be too steep to ski unless they were covered in corn or deep snow. Still, great to ski with maggots.

Sunday. Missed Snowsprite in SLC and on the plane, but I ran into her and her family and the baggage claim in Newark Airport. Oh yeah, and after 8 days of being in some of the snowiest mountains in North America and not having a single flake fall, we were delayed in SLC for de-icing the plane because it was snowing at the airport.

All in all a great trip, it was great to meet so many maggots after being the faceless dork from NJ who padded way too much.

Oh yeah, and Buzz is the mang! For organizing this whole thing and being super helpful whenever we needed him to be. Too bad I missed ya at the Bird, I prolly left before you even headed up canyon, ya slacker . I hope you enjoy/enjoyed the brewskis.

Thanks to all the maggots who slowed down to ski with my gaperific self, it was a great time.

[truth]

Mcwop...are you able to post those pics directly fromiphoto or are you dropping them into your idisk and creating the album from .mac ?

[snowsprite]

Agree that Snowbasin was a bit rough on Thursday. However, to the ECer used to bulletproof ice it was quite enjoyable and we did find some softer areas of snow. It was actually kind of funny coming around and seeing what we *though* was powdery stuff and hitting it and hearing "crunch crunch chunk chunk" under the skis. Ah, just like home!

And I had no idea that Snowbasin was such a fancy-pants resort. What's up w/ that?? I didn't even want to set foot in the lodge w/ my ski boots on for fear of wrecking the lovely marble floors and fine carpets. Very nice and all, but no need to impress me w/ the rich furnishings & crap...I'm just impressed w/ the mountains.

Snowbird on Saturday was blue skies and the snow was soft & good most places we went (especially Mineral Basin). I LOVE the Bird!

I'll definitely post some pics tomorrow to show that...powder or not...Utah does not suck AT ALL in any way, shape, or form! We had a lovely time and are so impressed w/ the natural beauty and the challenge of the terrain out there.

It was great meeting you all, and spending some time w/ the Utards & the visiting Mags was just icing on the cake. Now Brighton & Solitude are on our to-do list (hopefully next year), as well as a return to the beautiful Snowbird.

Sprite

[Mcwop]

Mcwop...are you able to post those pics directly fromiphoto or are you dropping them into your idisk and creating the album from .mac ?

I posted those directly from iPhoto. Sometimes, I do it the other way around.

[backpack]

Yup, Snowbasin sucked, as always... maybe it would be best not to come by anymore. I mean, why drive an hour north when you can ski the perfect snow at Alta/Snowbird/Solitude 30 minutes (or less) to the east of SLC? Plus, snowbasin's lodges are nice, so it's clearly a frufru deer valley type mountain. Nothing but short groomers, slow lifts, and icy death crust for anyone foolish enough to detour off the machine-worked highways. What little natural snow they get is promptly covered in a layer of yellow fake "snow" that turns even the lightest powder into crusty ACL tearing crap.

Plus, we've had a wrist and thumb maimed in just the past two weeks. Not only will snowbasin tear apart your legs, but your hands as well. All that ice must have something to do with it.

So please, heed this warning and stay as far away from snowbasin as possible. If you decide to head up and try it out for yourself, I suggest you sharpen your edges. You'll need them.

[Mcwop]

Yup, Snowbasin sucked, as always... maybe it would be best not to come by anymore. I mean, why drive an hour north when you can ski the perfect snow at Alta/Snowbird/Solitude 30 minutes (or less) to the east of SLC? Plus, snowbasin's lodges are nice, so it's clearly a frufru deer valley type mountain. Nothing but short groomers, slow lifts, and icy death crust for anyone foolish enough to detour off the machine-worked highways. What little natural snow they get is promptly covered in a layer of yellow fake "snow" that turns even the lightest powder into crusty ACL tearing crap.

Plus, we've had a wrist and thumb maimed in just the past two weeks. Not only will snowbasin tear apart your legs, but your hands as well. All that ice must have something to do with it.

So please, heed this warning and stay as far away from snowbasin as possible. If you decide to head up and try it out for yourself, I suggest you sharpen your edges. You'll need them.

I liked the terrain there, we just hit it on a bad day. I would go back - looks like a blast on a pow day. Snowbasin does have swanky shitters however.

[The AD]

It was great to meet so many maggots. Thanks especially to Buzz and altachic who did a great job organizing. I won't rip on anyone for no shows Saturday or Sunday Also big thanks to Mcwop who booked our room AND rented a car, so I had a private chauffer the first two days. And, of course, to boarderline for the party Friday night. Heck, I better thank p-tex and his friend John for bringing the keg of Dillon Dam Brown Ale.

Solitude was fun yesterday. I got up there at 8:30 since I had to leave at 1:30 to get to the airport. some nice EMPTY groomer to start the day, with the occasional (unsuccessful) venture into the ungroomed chop. Around noon or so we met up with BobMc who showed us some nice short shots with well preserved snow off the Summit chair. It's worth repeating just how empty that place is.

The only negatives for me were the lack of new snow, obviously, and I was sick the entire time. I actually took the day off work today because I feel so lousy. Despite that it was still fun. Next time will be even better.

P.S. The video is of Crash55 then Ski Monkey I believe.

EDIT: someone who deserves a thanks I forgot first time around: teledave for the stickers!

[altachic]

Good to see many maggots around, despite the conditions.

Thanks to those who hosted and those who let us party at their houses!

Hoping next year will bring some deep pow and fresh snow.

[snowsprite]

Here are some pics of us gaping it up at Snowbasin and Snowbird. We look silly...but we had fun!

UT pics

Actually, the little Sprout did pretty good out there. He definitely out-skiied mom & dad...he was really ripping it up!

We got into a bit of a fix off-piste at Mineral Basin Fri. when the weather wasn't keen (high winds, bad visibility) and ended up on a precarious chute where the kid's ski proceeded to pop off. Mom attempted to get to the kid and proceeded to fall hip-deep in a tree well and dad wasn't having too much luck hiking up an icy chute to help. Luckily guardian angels in the form of 2 nice skier dudes showed up and helped get the ski back on and a less sketchy way out of the situation (whew!).

Here's a shot of the Mags at the mid-gad lodge. We had a nice little lunch break there. It was such an incredibly beautiful blue-sky day out there. One of those ski days you never forget!




Sprite

[cololi]

It was good to see everyone and meet some new maggots on Firday.

[natty dread]

The little guy looks pretty stoked! Nice pics sprite!

[Foggy_Goggles]

Those chicks are hot. Notice the FM in mid deployment. It's aimed at Buzzworthless.

edit: lost in translation, like me.

[The AD]

clockwise from left: skiguide, foggy goggles (I think?), buzzworthy, boarderline and yentna.

[The AD]

Those chicks are not.

They're not what? They are hot, though

[skiguide]

buzz just called with an unfortunate back injury that has laid him up and he can't really bring himself to get all the pics up just yet. so apologies for the delay...


he's such a slacker

[glademaster]

he's such a slacker

I know, the lazy bastard. Between this and not even trying to hang with us on the High-T at Alta, he's prolly the laziest maggot out there.

Seriously, that sucks about your back, heal up quick dude.

[Mcwop]

buzz just called with an unfortunate back injury that has laid him up and he can't really bring himself to get all the pics up just yet. so apologies for the delay...


he's such a slacker

The back injury was certainly caused by the snowboarding. He was fine the day after skiing Alta.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Despite less than ideal snow conditions, the mini was a great success. I enjoyed seeing some new faces and catching up with some old ones. I took runs with more maggots than I can remember so I won’t even try. Special shouts out to:

Altachic and Buzz for organizing
Boarderline and MacDaddy for hosting the social events
Teledave for sticker love and shuttling my ass around – In TN, “The Traveler” is a 1.75
Treskow, BobMC and Boarderline for the guiding
All the sponsors for the swag fest

If I lived in Utah, I’d be a snow snob too. However, chalking goodness was yours for the taking at Alta, da Bird, and Solitude. Altard and I made last Collins Friday and Boarderline and I made last Littlecloud Saturday. If anyone doubts the effectiveness of Gordy’s camp, you’ve never been skiing with the campers. BobMC, Ned and Kristen were killin it with rockstar smooveness at SoliSunday.

I, like SkiGuide, almost have the grid system figured. After trying to drive to 9000 East which must be somewhere in Heber, I pulled my head and realized “90 east means 90 east”. The party rolled well into the night highlighted by the bonfire, the guy with the ridge in his head, and twisted conversation that included me trying to explain that some of the moves you see in pornos, especially that tapping thing that that looks like you are playing track and field, are often not appreciated by the ladies.

MacDaddy’s featured....well MacDaddy....and more Jello shots than most can handle. Buzz -- here is an inside tip. If you never leave the bar, you end up consuming more than your share of the bar.

I hope everyone got home safely and we’ll do it again soon.

[The AD]

highlighted by the bonfire, the guy with the ridge in his head

I'll second the thanks to all the sponsors who contributed swag. I think damn near everyone left with something. I won a copy of Soul Purpose that will keep me occupied until snow actually returns to the PNW whenever that might be.

[p-tex]

Much fun was had even with the less than ideal snow conditions BUT it was still nice to ski something steep that had good coverage!!

Along the much fun line of things....a couple pics from Boarderline's party. As you can guess from the goofy looks, toward the end of the evening.








Below is what happens when the photog is buzzed and can't frame a shot of the great shirt from Powder. At first the Comish didn't really like the shirt but later in the evening (after many bevs), he wouldn't even trade it for a PM Gear Bag saying it was the greatest shirt ever!!!



Nice to finally meet some more mags!

[Buzzworthy]

Huge thanks to all who braved it to come out this year again!!

Props to our sponsors, TGR, Powder, PM Gear USA and Team 13!!

I had a FREAKIN BLAST skiing Alta friday. The groomers were out of this world. I seemed to porgress thoughout the day and ended up smiling like Splat in a SA whorehouse the rest of the day and night.

Will be back with more and pics as I heal or can at least sit. Nothing happened at the MINI, but Monday morning was not so fun.

See Gimp Central or Foggy's Weakness thread.

(yes, boarding without pow is coming to a quick halt, I dig the 2 planks for non pow days)

Hurt, sad and no longer worthy,

Buzz

[Ubersheist]

Hurt, sad and no longer worthy,

Buzz

That blows, dude. The gimp list seems to be growing exponentially right now.

Heal up fast and keep the collectif informed! I may be headed out your way shortly after the JH summit. I'd be seriously remiss if we didn't make some turns, either on 1 plank or 2!

[boarderline]

Man, what a fun weekend! Nice to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones.

Many thanks to everyone who came out for the Mini. The parties at my house and at Macdaddy's were super fun. Special thanks to p-tex and friend for bringing a keg of some über-tasty Colorado microbrew.

Conditions on the hill Friday and Saturday at the Bird were so-so by Utah standards (no daily 36" dump of 6% blower) but still fun for high speed carving and cruising around with maggots.

A few pictures:

Maggots en masse:



Looking at the Pipeline chute:



Looking towards Mt. Timpanogas:

[glademaster]

I love my mad Darth Vader-steeze in the group shot ya posted Boarderline.