Snowbird
Monday 8 February 1993

Weather

Extremely variable. Started mild, with flat lighting and mist at higher elevations. Some sunny periods, but by mid afternoon, snow had set in for the day. Very cold at higher elevations.

Conditions

Lower down, the snow got quite heavy as temperatures rose.

Overall

This was an excellent days skiing. I started skiing at Snowbird and had been to the Summit in the summer. Ever since the breakthrough at Alpine Meadows I had a wish to ski from the Summit at Snowbird. This was the day I fulfilled my ambition.

I skied with Carol Painting, which was an experience in itself. One of our technical editors, Carol had a reputation for careful, precise work. This carried through into her preparation and skiing.

We started with the complimentary tour of the mountain. This covered a great deal of terrain very quickly, certainly skiing faster than I would on my own, and used almost every lift on the mountain, including the tram. Carol decided not to go to the Summit and we met up again later.

Visibility got worse as the snow set in, but the skiing, particularly from mid mountain in Gad valley was really good.

Vertical (feet)

17150

Easy Runs

Ski School Lane - Road from resort centre to Gad Valley lifts
Big Emma - Large broad green run. The top part is very steep for a green runn
Bass Highway - Road back to the resort centre from Mid Gad.

Intermediate Runs

Wilbere Ridge - Run along the top of the ridge from the Wilbere Chair down towards Mid Gad lift. Upper part groomed, lower part closed (used as NASTAR race track).
Election - Interesting, quite steep run from top of Gad 2 lift. Visibility poor and some surprises in terrain.
Bananas - Looping run from top of Gad 2 lift. Steep in places, narrow in places. Superbly groomed.
Lunch Run - Run from top of Gad 1 lift to the mid Gad restaurant. Great condition early on, got a bit chewed up later.
Bassackwards - Steepest blue run down to base of Gad 2. Well groomed, but got more difficult as the day progressed.
Lower Bassackwards - Challenging run. Very steep, not very long.
Lowest Bassackwards - The last section of Bassackwards down to the bottom of the Gad 1 lift. Not much steeper than the greens and groomed.
Chip's Run - Run from summit down to the resort centre. Started in very poor visibility. Good conditions, but more powder than runs lower down. Finished with a fairly gentle mogul field.
Who Dunnit - Long circuit. Easiest way down from the middle of the Peruvian valley.Mostly a road, but with interesting side opportunities for short deviations.

Advanced Runs

Harper's Ferry - Steep run from top of Wilbere lift.Groomed.
Harper's Ferry East - Bottom half groomed.
Chip's Face - Steep but groomed cut off on Chip's run.

Last updated: 12/12/98