Ski Trip Report: You Win Some and You Lose Some

The old saying goes that you win some and you lose some. As ski days go, Saturday was one of the worst ski days I’ve ever had. Temperatures were only in the low 30’s. But there were high winds that made it feel far colder and turned most of the snow to absolute crap. Yes, I know that I sound like a complete west coast weather weenie and you might say that I’ve forgotten my northeastern roots. If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re absolutely right. I’m soft and I’ve been spoiled by great weather and snow conditions. But you’d be spoiled too if your ski season had gotten off to the kind of start that mine has. Anyways, now back to how the day actually went. Winds were coming from the west. When we actually got smart about figuring out where the wind was depositing all the blowing snow, we did find some good snow in East Greeley, Greeley Bowl, Gunsight and Glory Hole. But by then, I was mentally out of it (didn’t really want to be out there) and was skiing terribly. I was leaning back on my skis the whole day and had no energy in my legs.
(Lone Pine on Ridge, looking up from East Greeley)
The only highpoint in the day was meeting another one of Alta’s interesting personalities on the chairlift. I hope all who go to Alta have the pleasure of one day meeting Rob Rowley (Rob, sorry if I messed up on your name, I’m going from memory of what I saw on your pass). Rob is an absolute riot! Like Red Man, Rob looks a bit disheveled. He’s in his mid 40’s, is slightly overweight, had gloves but wasn’t wearing them, has long hair, and has a pair of fairly new Fischer skis with 25 year old bindings. According to Rob, his mission in life is to get the POW POW and to the ride the first chair every day he’s there. Like Red Man, he does not actually live or work anywhere in Utah. He’s from the great skiing state of Virginia. Within the first few minutes talking with him, he will proudly tell you that last season he got 37 first chairs, 2 seconds, and 1 third. Probably more impressive, is the 22 double double’s that he got the year before that. The double double involved first chair on both the old Collins and Germania lifts (both replaced last year with the Collins High Speed Quad). According to Rob, the difficult part wasn’t being first in line on the old Collins double. It was surviving the Chinese downhill, with some of Alta’s best skiers behind you, to the Germania lift. Legend has it that one day Rob rode up with a former US ski team member who characterized the aforementioned Chinese downhill as the scariest run of his life.

Another story Rob shared with us was the time he met the guy he was on the chairlift with. It was 10 years ago and they were both staying at the Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge. Rob checked the weather forecast at the front desk and saw that 6-8 feet of snow were predicted. He thought it was a typo. But no, it wasn’t. It was the storm of all storms. They ended up with 99” of 4% moisture content (really dry) snow. The road coming up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta was closed for 2 of the next 3 days due to avalanches. On one of those days, they did try opening the road. But after 4 cars made it up, another 4 were buried in an avalanche and it was closed for the rest of the day. Despite all this snow, Alta did manage to keep the lifts running. I jokingly asked Rob if it was deep enough to necessitate the use of a snorkel. His response was that it was it was too deep for a snorkel. It would just clog up with snow. In that depth of snow, he prefers the filtered breathing mask. He said that it’s pretty weird to be standing at the top of a slope and to see the top of the powder chest deep, 12” below your goggles. It must have been absolutely incredible. I wish I was there. But breaking first tracks on the high traverse must have really sucked!

The National Weather Service predicted 4” of new snow Saturday night with another 4-7” on Sunday morning. At 4 in the morning, I woke up and was stoked to see blizzard like conditions outside. When I woke up again at 7, I was disappointed to see that the blizzard conditions had given way to blue skies and had left only 4” of new snow. But I figured that the 4” would significantly improve conditions from yesterday and a bluebird was always good. Dad and I made it over to the lifts by 8:45. The lifts were running, but were only taking ski patrol up at that point. There was one person waiting in line before us. At first I thought it was a liftie. Then I realized it was Rob. He had just arrived at Alta the week before. So this was first chair number 4 for the season. Dad and I got chair number 3.

Shortly after getting on the lift, it started snowing again. It turned out to be another great powder day. We got first tracks on Greeley Bowl and North Rustler. At that point, we put the no friends on a powder day rule into affect and split up. Next I took a run off of the high traverse. To my delight, I again got first tracks on Stone Crusher and Lone Pine. The next run I met up with Red Man and we hit High Rustler and took a bunch of runs in Eagle’s Nest. Before taking me into Eagle’s Nest, I again had to sign one of his iron clad confidentiality agreements promising not to show anyone his secret stashes. By 11:00 (when the original forecast called for the storm to let up), the storm only intensified. With much regret, I decided to meet up with Dad at the Peruvian for lunch.
(Wildcat Lift in Snowstorm)
After lunch, we took one run before we were forced to go our separate ways, me for maintaining my sanity (I hate to wait) and him to keep from having a heart attack(trying to keep up with me). I originally meant to head out to East Greeley. But not seeing any tracks going towards Glory Hole, I hiked out there and again got first tracks. Next, I moved over to the Supreme lift and had an excellent run in Catherine’s area and got first tracks in 2 chutes in Supreme Bowl. I was elated that at 2:30 in the afternoon, I was still getting first tracks. Granted, both chutes had sketchy entrances that probably discouraged most skiers, but anyone with a little ingenuity could have skied them. By that time, there was at least a foot of fresh powder in the untracked areas. So it was real good. I finished the day with a couple more runs in Eagle’s Nest before heading back to the Peruvian to get cleaned up before catching the van down to the valley. To top that all off, the perfect day ended with one of those perfect moments. Before I caught the van down, I headed up to the Peruvian bar for a beer. I was sitting in a big soft leather chair, next to the fire, drinking a PBR, and listening to a Dead cover band. I was just sitting, smiling, and thinking that it doesn’t get any better than this.
(Grizzly Dad in Snowstorm just after skiing Eagle's Nest)