Snowbird
Friday 30 January 2004

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

After suffering problems with my knees for the best part of a year, I was keen to find out whether it would cause problems with my skiing. I originally hoped to meet Walter Stahlecker for two day prior to a meeting, but that didn't happen, so it turned into a work out for my legs.

I decided that Snowbird had plenty of blue runs for me to cruise around on and 8:30 am on a Friday morning saw me pulling into the Gal Valley parking area. Most people park at the resort center, so this was almost deserted, only 4 other cars in the parking lot, many of those probably staff.

Gad Valley at the start of the day

Mid Gad lift (not yet open)

Gadzoom lift opened about 10 minutes early, to avoid building up an unnecessary queue according to the operator. When I left the hotel, the weather was beautiful with sub shining on the tops of the mountains on the West side of the valley. By the time I started skiing it was rather different. There was total cloud cover, with very flat visibility.

First run was a cruise, down Lunch Run and Big Emma back to the foot of the lift. Nice groomed slopes with soft snow.

Gad Valley	Gad Valley
Below Gadzoom lift

For the second run, I tool Bassackwards from the top of Gadzoom down past the bottom of Gad 2 lift and onto the rather steeper, but still groomed Lower Bassackwards.

The top of Gadzoom lift

So far so good, and no problems with the knees. I always start with the intention of a day of cruising on the first day of the season and it never works out that way. Riding Gadzoom up, I noticed an interesting looking run under the lift and headed for it on the descent. It is marked black on the trail map, but does not have a name. The upper section was relatively flat, with soft ungroomed snow, just starting to form moguls. The lower section of the run was a little more challenging, with a combination of steepness and exposed rocks. By the time I got to the bottom of that section, my legs were telling me that I had been skiing and I decided to move over to Gad 2 for the next run.

Under Gadzoom lift	Moguls under Gadzoom lift on the unnamed black run
The unnamed black run

For this run, I tool the easiest route form the top, Bananas snakes its way round the mountain, at times being a cat track and at other times wide enough to be considered a run.

On Lower Bassackwards, I kept to the left and found some friendly moguls.

Gad 2 lift	Gad 2 lift
Skiers on Bassackwards	The sun trying to break through the clouds
The sun trying to break through over Gad Valley

For the next run, I took Bassackwards to Gad 2 lift.

I intended to ski down to the resort center from the top of Gad 2. However, the moguls on Gadzooks looked just too inviting and when I started to ski, they were as good as they looked, soft and forgiving. By the time I got to the bottom, I was too far down to cross over towards the Tram, so I skirted round Gad 2 lift and continued on Lower Bassackwards. Near the bottom, I turned left towards Madam Annie's. Although only graded blue this was pretty challenging with well formed moguls. That and a narrow section led to my 1st fall of the day. I only just stopped myself sliding a long way down the slope. Climbing up the soft snow to retrieve my skies was exhausting. I had to kick steps in powder to make sure that I did not slide back down.

Gad 2 lift and Bassackwards

This time I did head down towards the Resort Center via the Dick Bass Highway, a rather grand name for a cat track which traverses across from Big Emma to just above the center.

Looking down towards Salt Lake City

Looking over Big Emma towards the valley

The Tram was not a good idea! As soon as I got to the resort plaza, I could see the queue coming out of the tram building, but I had paid $13 extra to use the tram, so I joined the queue.

I had to wait about 30 minutes. There were 3 tramloads ahead of me and the tram was operating slowly because of the winds.
At the top conditions were "primitive", with high winds blowing the surface snow. On the Summit itself, the surface was "wind groomed". Despite the conditions and the abundant warning notices, I continued with my plan and skied along Path to Paradise, the track around Mineral Basin. Visibility was appalling. The flat lighting disguised all of the surface features and even the gradient, so I carried on all the way round the path until it stopped.

At that point there was a congregation of skiers wondering what to do next. The only option was to try to ski down the bowl. I started down and the snow was in great condition, with about a foot of powder on a firm base. The only problem was trying to identify the fall line and variations in the terrain. At various points, I found myself going too fast because I misread the fall line, but the slope was wide with plenty of room to recover. Amazingly, I reached the bottom without falling and realised that I quite enjoyed it.

Almost white out on Powder Paradise

Baldy Express is the Snowbird link to Alta ski area. From the top it is possible to ski into Alta (but to get back you need a more expensive lift pass than I had). So I took a series of green runs back towards the bottom of Mineral Basin. It was hard to find the runs and this run I did not enjoy.

Baldy Express

The top of Baldy Express and the border with Alta

I was intending to ski down the Peruvian side to get back to the bottom for lunch, but I missed the turn off for Chips's Run and carried on to Regulator Johnson. This proved to be a really pleasant run. At the top it was wind-groomed, so slick with no fresh snow cover. Lower down there was more snow. The run was deserted, which allowed plenty of space to recover control after particularly large moguls.

The top of Mineral Basin	Looking down towards Salt Lake City from Hidden Peak
The top of Gadzoom

I was unsure whether to ski after lunch, but decided that I needed to, if I wanted to test out my knees. To make things interesting, I decided to ski from every lift on the mountain The first challenge was to get to the summit without using the Tram.

I also needed to ride Little Cloud so that formed part of the strategy.

I started with a quick run down part of Bassackwards to the base of Gad 2.

From the top of Gad 2, I took the upper section of Bassackwards to Little Cloud. This was interesting, at places there was no run, simply tracks through fresh snow.

The next target was the bottom of Mineral Basin to get back to Hidden Peak. I repeated the run of the morning. Conditions were marginally better, but not a lot. I still enjoyed it.

Little Cloud lift	Frozen chair on Little Cloud
Little Cloud lift	Looking across Mineral Basin
Mineral Basin

From Hidden Peak, I started down Chip's Run the long trail down to the bottom of the Tram. This meanders down the mountain with a series of zig-zags at the top. I rapidly lost patience with a group of skiers who should not have been on the trail at all, who were skiing slowly down in snowplough and at the first corner abandoned the zig-zag in favour of the powder on Primrose Path. This was in about the best condition I can ever remember and a very easy black run.

Since first learning to ski at Snowbird, I have never returned to Chickadee. This time, to complete the set, I need to. Since I learned, a new trail has been cut so that it is possible to reach Chickadee without having to walk through the resort center plaza.

Chickadee run	The cliff lodge
Rope tow

To get back to "real slopes" it is necessary to gain about 80' from the bottom of Chickadee slope. Another innovation since 1989 is a rope tow. These are not particularly pleasant, but better than walking up.

From the top of Peruvian I needed to cross back to Gad Valley. Rothman Way is a cat-track across to the top of Wilbere lift. From there, I took a variety of ungroomed slopes down to the bottom of the lift.

Peruvian lift	Snowbird Center
Dalton's Draw and the line of the tram

I used to use Wilbere lift quite a lot, before I got confidence to go higher up the mountain. I was beginning to get tired, so I took the easy way down.

Wilbere lift	Wilbere lift
The top of Wilbere lift

Just two lifts to go. Mid Gad leads to just above Mid Gad restaurant.

Every time I skied down Bassackwards during the day, I noticed a sign to a short, narrow black run, Carbonate. This was the last opportunity for me to try it, so I skied in too far to walk back and stopped to look. In fact, it was an anticlimax. Snow conditions were so good that it was a rather wide half-pipe with plenty of room for turns.

Big Emma getting pretty crowded

The top of Mid Gad lift

Baby Thunder was the last lift of the day. There were a number of options for getting back to the Mid Gad base. I opted for the most difficult and returned via the moguls of Madam Annie's. This time I did not fall.

So, by the time I finished, it had been a long day and almost 25000 vertical feet represented a good test for my legs on the first ski of a new season.

I was tired, but when I got back to hotel and showered, I realised that my knees were fine. As soon as I sat down, they locked up, but that is usual. Skiing seems to keep them nicely loose.

Mid-Gad lift

Gad Valley in mid afternoon

Runs

Last updated: 1st February 2004