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2018 Utah Gathering Photos and Trip Reports
- Thread starter Tony S
- Start date
Yes, pulling my head out of my ass is step 1. After that it should be easy.
Ouch. Easy cowboy.
Ouch. Easy cowboy.
I failed at that one too, on a different day. A gate leading to an uphill traverese, so we come in hot to minimize poling. Unfortunately the gate was on the other side of the post. Fortunately, that was a single rope so I just ducked and zinged it off the top of my helmet. That is why we wear helmets, isn't it?
Tough crowd.
Got home earlier tonight. Thought I would share a story and post a few pics. I missed all the powder but had good spring conditions if you followed the sun. My cousin and his son arrived ahead of me and had the powder you all enjoyed. We stayed at the Goldminer's Daughter which was a very nice experience with great service and wonderful food. The property itself is a bit tired, but comfortable. And of course you have this out your back door!
The first day I took it easy as I am susceptible to altitude sickness due to my chronic congestion. My cousin had already skied 3 days and showed me around a bit. I kept the challenging stuff to a minimum as planned. I am the ugly old guy on left. My cousin Dan and I skied together frequently as teenagers and have taken ski trips together when ever logistics allow which isn't often enough. We last skied together at Mammoth back on 2012.
The next day I felt good and we went into the Catherine's area of Alta. Snow was thin in spots and I had to hop over a rock.On landing I got thrown off balance. Then I broke a cardinal rule and fell in a No Fall Zone...head first...on my back... down the very steep slope.. towards trees and boulders! I kept my head and was able after two tries to get my skis down hill and arrest my slide. Shaken but not hurt. I was feeling the adrenaline rush and felt short of breath. I took some time to regain my composure, but damn, I forgot my pack with water at the base. I am now getting dehydrated. I take some deep breaths, calming down a bit and continued on down without incident. I feel a better and go back up for another run in Catherine's, which I executed well. however on the next chair up I start feeling dizzy and nauseous. . Not good. I know what this is as I have had it before and ignored it. Not this time. I cautiously ski to the bottom with Dan (an MD) and go to the clinic for some much needed oxygen. They checked me out including blood pressure which was up coupled by the fact I am on BP Medicine, they gave me an EKG to rule out a heart incident. The EKG was normal so I was released along with an oxygen bottle to use that night. It worked as I felt great the next day, skiing strong for the rest of my trip.
Here is one of the many traverses at Alta. In fact a local told me what Alta actually stands for. Another Long Traverse...Again! LOL
But the traverses are worth it!
Myself, Dan and his son Evan
After they left to get Evan back to school, I went to Snowbird taking the mountain tour to learn myself around. That afternoon I met up with John Webb who showed me more than the guide did. We had a nice afternoon alternating groomers with some off trail delights.
It is amazing how many skiers they cram into the tram. Just when you think it is full, 20 more come in! LOL
Staying at the Goldminer's, their shuttle took me to Snowbird and was able to ski back home through the gate after 3 PM. Very cool.
I love the novel way Snowbird gets you from one side of the mountain to their other. A tunnel with a moving walk that takes you through a mining museum. Very cool!
The next day John Webb had given me a friends phone number to hook up with and i did meeting up with Tony, Marc and a bunch of others for an epic day at Snowbird. These guys knew their way around and we skied some very aggressive terrain. At the end of the day, instead of just heading through the tourist gate, they suggested a more interesting route which included a traverse and 15 minute hike to the back side of Baldy Chutes.
I wish I was in the condition to climb the rest the way up to ski Baldy's, but I am not. I swear I will be in better shape next year as I do enjoy that challenge. I spoke to a guy who was up there and said conditions were decent.
My final day was back at Alta. Morning conditions were decent on groomers but anything not groomed was frozen as i discovered when I went down Challenger. Now hard snow surfaces doesn't bother this eastern raised skier, but Challenger's face was filled with terrified intermediates who had no idea how to use those long silver shiny things on the bottoms of their skis! It was total mayhem. Now normally, with no one else around, I would have just bombed it. But with all of these flailing skiers going every which way, I played it cautious doing a controlled side slip down the face, keeping a close eye on every skier, adjusting my slide, back or forward, slower or faster to avoid collisions till I was past all of them, and then straight lined the bottom to the groomed connecting trail. I can still see the expressions of some of those skiers as I very nonchalantly passed them sideways on the face as they were in holy terror. wondering if they would ever get down! It was quite amusing and I laughed all the way to the chair.
By then, the back side of Alta was getting softer and i took some nice runs over their, after another long traverse...again. LOL
I was heading towards High Rustler but wanted to do one of the other chutes before you get there. Bad choice, as the snow still wasn't soft. So I traversed into the next chute, Same deal. I kept high on my traverse, and got to the next one and...Bingo!, I found what was probably the best snow of my trip. A section on skiers left was shielded by trees and kept in shade staying soft and fluffy. I took a deep slow breath, jumped in and had perhaps the best run of my trip!
Just as I popped out onto the connecting trail, I ran into Tony and his gang from the day before at Snowbird. I went exploring with them the rest of the day.
Then the time came to say goodbye and head down to the GMD to change clothes, collect my gear and catch my shuttle to a Hotel by the airport for my early flight home.
Though I had skied both Alta and Snowbird once 20 years ago, I could not say that I had really skied it till this trip. A big thanks to Phil and Trish for all their efforts for us Pugskiers!
Rick G
The first day I took it easy as I am susceptible to altitude sickness due to my chronic congestion. My cousin had already skied 3 days and showed me around a bit. I kept the challenging stuff to a minimum as planned. I am the ugly old guy on left. My cousin Dan and I skied together frequently as teenagers and have taken ski trips together when ever logistics allow which isn't often enough. We last skied together at Mammoth back on 2012.
The next day I felt good and we went into the Catherine's area of Alta. Snow was thin in spots and I had to hop over a rock.On landing I got thrown off balance. Then I broke a cardinal rule and fell in a No Fall Zone...head first...on my back... down the very steep slope.. towards trees and boulders! I kept my head and was able after two tries to get my skis down hill and arrest my slide. Shaken but not hurt. I was feeling the adrenaline rush and felt short of breath. I took some time to regain my composure, but damn, I forgot my pack with water at the base. I am now getting dehydrated. I take some deep breaths, calming down a bit and continued on down without incident. I feel a better and go back up for another run in Catherine's, which I executed well. however on the next chair up I start feeling dizzy and nauseous. . Not good. I know what this is as I have had it before and ignored it. Not this time. I cautiously ski to the bottom with Dan (an MD) and go to the clinic for some much needed oxygen. They checked me out including blood pressure which was up coupled by the fact I am on BP Medicine, they gave me an EKG to rule out a heart incident. The EKG was normal so I was released along with an oxygen bottle to use that night. It worked as I felt great the next day, skiing strong for the rest of my trip.
Here is one of the many traverses at Alta. In fact a local told me what Alta actually stands for. Another Long Traverse...Again! LOL
But the traverses are worth it!
Myself, Dan and his son Evan
After they left to get Evan back to school, I went to Snowbird taking the mountain tour to learn myself around. That afternoon I met up with John Webb who showed me more than the guide did. We had a nice afternoon alternating groomers with some off trail delights.
It is amazing how many skiers they cram into the tram. Just when you think it is full, 20 more come in! LOL
Staying at the Goldminer's, their shuttle took me to Snowbird and was able to ski back home through the gate after 3 PM. Very cool.
I love the novel way Snowbird gets you from one side of the mountain to their other. A tunnel with a moving walk that takes you through a mining museum. Very cool!
The next day John Webb had given me a friends phone number to hook up with and i did meeting up with Tony, Marc and a bunch of others for an epic day at Snowbird. These guys knew their way around and we skied some very aggressive terrain. At the end of the day, instead of just heading through the tourist gate, they suggested a more interesting route which included a traverse and 15 minute hike to the back side of Baldy Chutes.
I wish I was in the condition to climb the rest the way up to ski Baldy's, but I am not. I swear I will be in better shape next year as I do enjoy that challenge. I spoke to a guy who was up there and said conditions were decent.
My final day was back at Alta. Morning conditions were decent on groomers but anything not groomed was frozen as i discovered when I went down Challenger. Now hard snow surfaces doesn't bother this eastern raised skier, but Challenger's face was filled with terrified intermediates who had no idea how to use those long silver shiny things on the bottoms of their skis! It was total mayhem. Now normally, with no one else around, I would have just bombed it. But with all of these flailing skiers going every which way, I played it cautious doing a controlled side slip down the face, keeping a close eye on every skier, adjusting my slide, back or forward, slower or faster to avoid collisions till I was past all of them, and then straight lined the bottom to the groomed connecting trail. I can still see the expressions of some of those skiers as I very nonchalantly passed them sideways on the face as they were in holy terror. wondering if they would ever get down! It was quite amusing and I laughed all the way to the chair.
By then, the back side of Alta was getting softer and i took some nice runs over their, after another long traverse...again. LOL
I was heading towards High Rustler but wanted to do one of the other chutes before you get there. Bad choice, as the snow still wasn't soft. So I traversed into the next chute, Same deal. I kept high on my traverse, and got to the next one and...Bingo!, I found what was probably the best snow of my trip. A section on skiers left was shielded by trees and kept in shade staying soft and fluffy. I took a deep slow breath, jumped in and had perhaps the best run of my trip!
Just as I popped out onto the connecting trail, I ran into Tony and his gang from the day before at Snowbird. I went exploring with them the rest of the day.
Then the time came to say goodbye and head down to the GMD to change clothes, collect my gear and catch my shuttle to a Hotel by the airport for my early flight home.
Though I had skied both Alta and Snowbird once 20 years ago, I could not say that I had really skied it till this trip. A big thanks to Phil and Trish for all their efforts for us Pugskiers!
Rick G
Great TR Rick.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2016
- Posts
- 47
Phil/Tricia, great to randomly run into the both of you at the top of the Snowbird tram!
@Andy Mink ... was that ^^^^ meant for the "How many days skied?" thread? Or did you hit 67 days at the Gathering?
Andy Mink
Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Oops. Too many threads followed! Moved to correct thread.
My base welds, both from changing lanes on the Cirque Traverse. There was also a tiny pebble in a 3rd spot embedded in the base. Anybody else have Utah trophies?
The one on the left isn't perfect, but I felt I have reached the "further fussing with it is going to make it worse" point.
I did a quick patch in the condo garage the night it happened and reworked them today.
The one on the left isn't perfect, but I felt I have reached the "further fussing with it is going to make it worse" point.
I did a quick patch in the condo garage the night it happened and reworked them today.
I got this little kiss during the second day at Alta.
Thread Starter
TS
Ouch. That's a bad one.
Nah, no blown edge. Just ptex.
There were a lot of core shots to be had at the gathering.
You sound jealous. Did you forget to reserve one in advance?
Thread Starter
TS
OMG, Grump, let me introduce you to a little concept called sympathy.
@Drahtguy Kevin , I feel your pain.
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