Day
one – up, dressed, had breakfast and out by 8:30am. Pretty good start. Snowbird is only 20 minutes up the canyon
from our hotel in the city – not bad at all.
Good base of ten feet and some fairly fresh snow – five feet in the last
five days! Not too cold but a little
windy. The top was closed but we hit a
lot of runs and rode in the trees on the lower mountain. Snow started falling in the afternoon making visibility
tough. Did a few more runs in the increasingly
soft snow but called it around 3:30 and hit the spa, sauna, steam room, and
rooftop Jacuzzi – complete with snow falling on our heads giving us little ice
caps. Wrapped up with some tea and
relaxing before the semi sketchy drive down the mountain. I heard someone say they may close the road
for avalanche control but usually open it back up a few hours later – hmmm,
what happens if we get stuck up here?!?
A bit later I saw a snowplow drive down canyon and it had stopped snowing
so we were all good. We hit a Mexican
place for dinner (and some tequila) and headed to bed.
IDay two - lja’s cold got worse
so he sat today out hoping to get better and not ruin the rest of the
trip. Guess the tequila and outdoor
Jacuzzi were not the best idea. Now
familiar with the mountain, I hit it solo and took the tram to the top. The backside, Mineral Basin, wasn’t open yet
so rode all the way down the front. Then
up and down again, had lunch, and took the tram to the top when I heard the backside
was open. As I rode the ridge, I saw an
Experts Only double diamond sign so chickened out and stayed on the front but
then traversed to another “Experts Only!” warning so the only choice was to
drop in! Trammed it back up – this time
I decided to go over the edge and give it a go.
Snowbird is very steep but I had pretty good snow (although a little
heavier than expected making turning tough, especially once it got tracked up a
bit). Got into the groove though and
started digging the big deep turns (and yes, I stopped to rest a lot). I decided to head back to the front side but
then saw that the tunnel back through the mountain was open (complete with a
magic carpet) so had to take it. One
more ride up from the back and then all the way, peak to lodge, down the
front. Wow, I’m tired.
Next, headed back to
pick up Ilja and drive to Jackson, WY.
Five hours, mostly on a two-lane road bordered by barbed wire
fences. Beautiful open range country
covered in a blanket of snow with the pastel of a sunset painting the sky to
the west. Once it got dark, the driving
was tough with blowing snow obscuring the road and a couple big mountain passes
to cross. We made it safely to Jackson
and hit the Roadhouse Brewery (for some elk chili) then the Cowboy Bar before
turning in. Fun day!
2025-02-15