Utah Little Cottonwood Canyon 2017-2018, Reports, Pics, and Banter

[blah]

Nice shot of the ski bases. Note to self: pack the rock skis for the trip out next weekend.

Conditions greatly improved!

The small storm that was forecasted wasn't supposed to hit until after 11am this morning, but on the way up we encountered light rain till just before entry 1. Traffic backed up a bit just before where it goes to two lanes due to a vehicle off into the trees being winched out. Entry 1 was backed up to 210, they must've had a race going on today. We parked in the pond lot and it was lightly snowing.

We got there in time for second tram, there was only about 40 people on it. The morning was pretty quiet, we had runs to ourselves at times. We got to the top and found winter conditions had returned, a bit of a wind and a decent snowfall. We headed down Chips and found about an inch of fairly dense snow covering everything. The temps weren't too cold and even the snow under the new stuff was edgeable.

Even though they closed a few trails and went from 40 to 36 the place skied a lot better today than it has the last couple of weeks. It snowed at a fair clip the whole time we were there, I'm predicting this storm overproduces, which is a refreshing change from the pattern of, "Utah, where storms go to die." The crowds got there about 11, we skied till about 1 and walked onto the tram every time we rode it. Lift lines were minimal today, the hill wasn't crowded unless you encountered one of the pods of people. For some reason most of the crowds always seem to ride around together, if you time it right you can get in between the herds.

Tomorrow morning should be pretty good as well, it's still snowing/graupeling at my house here in West Jordan.

My skis have been taking a beating. Ski Utah likes to crow about the conditions but my skis would beg to differ.

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Nice to have a bit of snow at the base this morning.

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Visited a new shrine today, Fitz was a regular on the tram and passed a season ago.

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It was a bit softer and that allowed for faster speeds and actually leaving the snow surface.

 

[BobMc]

It must've snowed...

I left the house this morning in time to get there about 8:20. I hit traffic at the last light, and it was bumper to bumper up the entire canyon. It looked like Alta must have been busy today, I've been parking at the pond lot in entry 2 and most of the traffic continued on past that point. I got to the lot at 8:45, it's time to start getting up earlier. (The crappy conditions have lessened the line-up and increased the sleeping in time.)

Even though I got there late I was still able to snag one of the first five parking spots. I arrived at the line just as first tram took off at promptly 9:00. The line was still fairly long but I ended up on second tram. One inch overnight and 7 inches in 24 hours and the powder panic was on. The new snow softened things up but we're still on the same runs and handcuffed to groomers for the most part. They did re-open the Cirque Traverse, Middle Cirque only. Reports from friends said the traverse is still in pretty bad shape, definitely hitting rocks. I'm giving it another storm before I venture out there. They also pulled the Rat's Nest gate around noon, to be passed through by people with no regard for their skis whatsoever.

It started getting greasy around noon. Everyone in the resort skiing the same groomers will do that. We ventured over to Gad 2 and the sound of people touching rocks from the lift told us not to ski Bananas, and then the top of Election was an ocean of glare with iceberg bumps scattered about. I'm not going back there until at least another storm.

Luckily it looks like this week should bring a decent shot of snow. I'm hoping if the Tuesday-Wednesday storm comes through we could be skiing either Road to Provo or Mineral by next weekend. Anderson's looked pretty close as well, it'd ripped wall to wall on the last storm but this one covered up the debris fairly well.

Traffic entering the canyon this morning.



Looking back at Mineral...








It was a beautiful spring like day in the lot, looking up from the Zoomer lot.

 

[Jim Kenney]

It must've snowed...



Luckily it looks like this week should bring a decent shot of snow. I'm hoping if the Tuesday-Wednesday storm comes through

NAT'L WEATHER SERVICE CALLING FOR ONE TO TWO FEET AT ALTA ON TUES-WEDS!

 

[bbinder]

Heading to Alta in 3 weeks. Feeling optimistic

 

[blackke17]

shot of High Rustler yesterday 1-7 ....Avi bombs doing their job .

 

[Jim Kenney]

Heading to Alta in 3 weeks. Feeling optimistic

Me too. From approx 1/27-2/5 should be skiing Bird 2-3 times and Alta at least once. Also PC. Maybe we can connect for a few runs? Believe I rode a chair and skied some runs with you at JH Gathering in 2015?

 

[bbinder]

Me too. From approx 1/27-2/5 should be skiing Bird 2-3 times and Alta at least once. Also PC. Maybe we can connect for a few runs? Believe I rode a chair and skied some runs with you at JH Gathering in 2015?

We can certainly try. I am staying at goldminers daughter with a group of guys from 2/1 to 2/7. We will probably ski Alta mostly, but may get over to the Bird for a day or two

 

[blah]

Heading out to SLC and LCC starting this Sat. Given the recent snowfall, how is the base coming along, especially off-trail? I had planned to bring my rock skis with me, and just wondering if that's still necessary.

 

[BobMc]

Nothing is 100% open yet, bring rock skis and hope they open something new.

 

[Shawn C.]

Bob, any indications of rain at the base of Snowbird? I figure this latest storm may have rained even up there for a bit.

 

[cosmoliu]

I'll be up at The Cliff Feb 3-10. Probably will ride the shuttle over to Alta at least once to cash in a MCP day.

 

[BobMc]

I highly doubt rain at Snowbird today, friend at Alta reported 4-5 inches overnight.

 

[blackke17]

Bob, any indications of rain at the base of Snowbird? I figure this latest storm may have rained even up there for a bit.

i skied Alta on wednesday - It was raining like crazy in the valley and headed up the canyon but it turned to snow well before the Bird, dont think any rain fell at the Base.

The storm filled in alot of the bumps and covered more rocks, just what we needed.

 

[BobMc]

The holiday crowds arrived!

Blackjack is now open and that makes getting back to my favorite parking area a lot easier. We got to the bypass road at about 8:20, geared up and headed down to the tram. We found the line out into the plaza and a big line at the ticket window. The tram line was only a half maze and we ended up on second public tram of the day. It was a pretty stellar day, the snow from the midweek storm softened things up nicely.

Off trail improved greatly, there's still rocks and stumps/vegetation hiding but much fewer for the most part. They did open a bit more terrain, Anderson's was open and skied well, we skied Sign Line Gully from the top and it was soft. The Cirque opened for a bit, then shut down due to massive poaching and disregard of signage. We spent most of our day on the Peruvian side, they had a rather large race on the Gad side which filled the parking lots down there quickly this morning. The lift lines left the ropes of the corrals about noon, the tram was a two boat wait most of the time we were there. We skied till a bit after 1, when we left 210 had cars parked both sides from entry 4 to entry 1. It was one of those days where I think I could've gotten $10 for my parking spot when we left.

I heard Mineral may open tomorrow. They were throwing plenty of charges back there today and setting up rope and bamboo. After the debacle on the Cirque today they may rethink that?

Little video of Travis in Sign Line gully.


We hit traffic getting off of 215.



The Cirque went pretty big after this latest storm.








Pic Travis got of me in Sign Line.

 

[BobMc]

Another busy day...

I left my house to be in the lot at 8:45, I ended up getting there about 9:05. Once again the canyon was a red snake going up, bumper to bumper pretty much the entire way up. I was planning on riding around with Travis and his family so I parked down at Zoom. When I got there all the preferred parking spots were already taken, the attendant put me in a 5 minute unloading zone spot. The parking pass comes through again! If you roll up to filled spaces they'll move cones or find you somewhere close by to park.

The Zoom area was a bit crowded, the races are still going on. The snow is still skiing well but seemed just a bit firmer today than yesterday. I dropped into Lower Mach Scnell first run and it was definitely louder turns this morning. I spent most of my day riding around with Travis, his wife, and their two kids that ski. It was a fun day in the sun. I skied till 1:00 and then sat in the lot and watched the racers for a while. I had a pretty good view of Race Hill from my spot in the Zoom lot. Some of those kids are pretty darn fast.

Mineral never opened today, but I was told by two employees that tomorrow is the day. It'll probably be Lupine Loop only but was told this last storm really helped out back there.

Didn't take many pics today, one of the clouds and jet contrail first thing in the morning.



Anderson's from the Peruvian lift. Traverse out further for a smoother ride.

 

[BobMc]

Rather humorous anecdote. First lift ride of the day I ride solo and get on with an older gentleman also solo and a youngish guy and his 8-10 yo daughter. Older gent is obviously local and asks us where we are from. I answer with the valley and the youngish guy says Park City. His daughter immediately corrects him and says, "We live in Indiana, Dad." He tells us he's bought a place in Park City a year ago. Oldish guy tells us he moved here from Kalamazoo Michigan in the late 70's. Being a Kalamazoo person myself it was interesting to find someone else and I think he was equally surprised.. He immediately started asking me if I knew other people from Kalamazoo also out here, to no avail.

The two of us chat about Kalamazoo for a minute or so, mention the local hill of Timber Ridge. Youngish guy mentions that his daughter learned to ski there and now they live in Utah. Daughter, "Dad, we live in Indiana." I'm guessing they're going to have a talk tonight and the daughter will learn that their time share gives them locals status...

I also rode a lift with a skier with a Pugski sticker on his helmet. He didn't seem interested in chatting. He also had an AlpineZone sticker, so I thought it might've been Greg.

 

[blah]

Spent the day at Alta on Sunday. Coverage is decent off of Sugarloaf and Supreme.


Snow is pretty packed and hard now. The forecasted storms later in the week can't arrive fast enough. Some soft turns could still be found, though. Best snow of the day was in the High Greeley and Greeley Bowl area off the backside of the high traverse. Speaking of the traverse, High traverse is closed. You can get to high traverse from low traverse through a side-step route that's filled with rocks in some places. The rock skis definitely came in handy today. Doing the tourist thing off of high traverse:

 

[blackke17]

Sunday - i got the mouth of the Canyon around 9 from a southern approach. Proceeded to turn around once i saw the traffic. It was a horror show - forgot how crazy MLK weekend is . ( never again)

 

[blah]

Got a late start today. Just wasn't motivated to wake up early to catch 1st chair for hardpack. So I was pleasantly surprised by no traffic up the canyon road at 10:30am. Breezed into the creekside parking lot around 10:45 not really expecting to find a spot. But totally lucked out here, as the attendant directed me to a recently vacated spot in the front row. Nice!

As @BobMc predicted, Mineral opened today. From the top of Baldy lift:


Snow wasn't the greatest, but definitely thanks to patrol and all the lifties for getting it open. Chamonix bowl was skiing a little better than all the lines off of Path to Paradise. But otherwise definitely need snow. The sooner the better.

 

[blackke17]

good to hear Mineral is open! - did you notice if the gate to Alta was as well?