Started very cold, with 6-9 inches of fresh light powder snow. As the sun came out, the temperature rose from 12 - 50 degrees. Suddenly at around 2pm, it started to snow quite heavily and got very much colder very quickly.
An excellent day, skiing with Walt Keyser from Unisys. The snow conditions were absolutely superb. Alta is not as polished a resort as Snowbird. The runs are not groomed every day and althrough the map shows trails, it is really a wide open area with conditions and difficulty changing very quickly.
Not many of the runs are actually marked on the trail map. There are general lines through the areas, but the mapping of names and colours to reality leaves quite a lot to be desired!
Coloured Mile - Run to base from top of Albion lift.
Sunnyside - Run to base from top of the Albion Chair via the bottom of Sugerloaf Chair. (Near the base, this is the only green run I have skied which has moguls!)
Rabbit - Run from top to bottom of Cecret lift.
Devil's Elbow - Run down from top of Sugerloaf chair. Wide variety of paths and conditions. Some quite challenging moguls and other groomed areas.
Roller Coaster - Steeper run deviating from Devil's Elbow. Fairly deep powder at start of day, but skiied into bumps by the end.
Challeger - Marked blue on the map, but black on the ground. Steep with bumps.
Big Dipper - Steep sections and then a cruise to the bottom of the lift. Several alternative sections not marked on the map which were much more difficult, including steep bumps and a powder area.
Rock and Roll - Easiest way down from Supreme Chair
Extrovert - 12" deep powder. Got into this by accident.
Last updated: 14-10-96