Utah Little Cottonwood Canyon 2018-2019, Reports, Pics, and Banter

[Tony]

Also had a great day at Alta today and ran into @Philpug when we took a late break. We started at Snowbird (staying across street from Wilbere chair). I skied both rope lines on Little Cloud and also took one run to the bottom via Glens and trees to skiers right of Mach Schnell then lower Mach Schnell. We skied Mineral Basin to get to Alta via Baldy chair, but visibility was poor and they seemed to have run a lot cats in area of Powder Paradise I came down. The bottom part was better.

Alta was much better with more visibility and soft new snow seemed deeper. We skied about four runs between Susies Trees and Greeley and a couple of steeper runs including High Rustler which was in fantastic condition and what may have been Garbage Chute. Our return to Snowbird was deep and nearly untracked via a gate that I cannot name.

I was thinking about returning to CA after skiing Monday, but 6-12" is predicted by end of the day Wednesday and group I'm staying with is a lot of fun. (They are cooking 35 lbs. of brisket for tonight.) So I now face an Ikon dilemma as I only have two Altabird days left so I may have to drive out of LCC and up BCC a day or two. Or I could go to Park City if @Jim Kenney wants to get together as I have not used any of my five CO/UT Tahoe Local Pass days. Send me a PM or text if you want to try to go together. I'm at 20 days on my trip and over 3K miles so it would be nice to get a ride if possible.

 

[Jim Kenney]

@Phelmut and @Tony , I am going to ski Snowbird tomorrow (Monday). I'm on a short leash, start at nine and have to quit at noon. I will be going to Park City on Tuesday for another partial day. Contact me if you want to get together.

Some photos from today at Snowbird:
Mixed age group in Tiger Tail area:
Gateway to adventure
little rippers wore me out!

I took Phelmut back there later, it was a bit more skied out.

Tiger tail is a very pretty area.

 

[JohnL]

@Jim Kenney , you gunna be in SLC last weekend in March? Or road tripping? I may be in Utah for about a week if I can get time off from new job.

 

[Philpug]

Where is everyone skiing tomorrow? I think I might be coming down with soemthing so my day is TBD.

 

[Johnny V.]

Keep us posted Phil. We don't want to be burdocks, but we'd like to make a few more turns with you guys.

 

[dbostedo]

...We don't want to be burdocks...

"Burdocks"?

 

[Jim Kenney]

@Jim Kenney , you gunna be in SLC last weekend in March? Or road tripping? I may be in Utah for about a week if I can get time off from new job.

I think I may be around that week, but the talent in the family (Vince) may not be. You might touch base with me before you lock in on anything. We are tentatively thinking about doing Telluride/Crested Butte trip first week of April.

 

[Johnny V.]

"Burdocks"?

Those hooked seed pods from the burdock plant (the inspiration for velcro) that once they stick on you it's almost impossible to get rid of them. One of our friends from our home mountain named a woman we know "the burdock" and the name stuck.

 

[dbostedo]

Those hooked seed pods from the burdock plant (the inspiration for velcro) that once they stick on you it's almost impossible to get rid of them. One of our friends from our home mountain named a woman we know "the burdock" and the name stuck.

Ah... I don't know that plant... so I didn't get the term. Thx.

 

[Rostapher]

We’ll be skiing Alta the week of March 17, if anyone wants to spin some laps. Hope to see some pugers out there!

 

[BobMc]

After skiing Deer Valley yesterday I continued to drink wine and put out a Ride on Snowbird's ride app. I thought I'd set the time at 11, but turns out I was more enthusiastic and set it at 10:30. Mind you, I've set one of these rides most every weekend since they unveiled it. I've never had anyone reply and I'm usually only one of two that has rides available.

Today I woke up late with three notifications from the app. Two people with an "interest" in a ride and one "friend" invite. I accepted the person that had sent me a friends invite and headed out the door. I was on the highway when I got a call from an unknown number, answered and coordinated a meeting at the LCC park and ride. Met the girl at the P&R and had an enjoyable ride up, parked at the bypass and negotiated the frontpoint onto the cat track and pulled her up it.

She headed down to Zoom at that point and I headed to the tram.

What a great day, crowds were at a minimum and the snow was soft. There's a lot of cliff area signs that aren't true, we've been shellacked and the base is deep. The sun actually came out at the end of the day, it was good sport watching folks ski Superior from the bypass. We stayed late to avoid a traffic that never occurred but the portable firepit kept us warm anyways.

Got home and noticed I'd given the Utah Jazz sideline reporter a ride up. Heh.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/kristenkenney/

Edit to add the above link was more pertinent when her story reflected me picking her up.

 

[Wasatchman]

Where is everyone skiing tomorrow? I think I might be coming down with soemthing so my day is TBD.

I'm skiing Brighton tomorrow.

 

[AmyPJ]

Tell us after the day if it was worth it. What I'm worried about is by the time you get to the Bird, it will already be tracked up. You deserve a great day for the effort!

After experiencing this, you can see why IKON isn't popular with locals. Not saying it's right, but at least you can understand the frustration first hand.

And yes, today would have been a shitshow regardless, but incremental traffic is still noticeable.

Change that to MCP for us at Snowbasin. The traffic you all experienced sends everyone with MCP, including LCC passholders, up to Snowbasin. Word is Saturday, there was NO parking to be had. I missed the powder because I was skiing Sun Valley, but I also missed the crowds.

 

[Phelmut]

Got home and noticed I'd given the Utah Jazz sideline reporter a ride up. Heh.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/kristenkenney/

Yowza, hope you kept your eyes on the road

 

[Tony]

I'm skiing Brighton tomorrow.

I will probably also be there and sent you a PM.

@Vince and @Jim Kenney
I saw a large group of young skiers dressed like those in Jim's pictures on large open face named Tower 3 on map and now wonder if it was Vince's group. Most of them were laying in the snow waiting on one or two recalcitrant group members who were being coached down.

 

[Jim Kenney]

I skied Snowbird for a few hours this morning. Good visibility has been hard to come by in the last week due to a lot of snowy days. I know they say Mineral Basin is for tourists, but I guess that's what I am. It was really nice and I connected with @Phelmut for some nice runs.





They opened the Bookends area after it had been closed. We were about 45 minutes late, but enjoyed sloppy seconds.

Great to make runs with Phelmut. Safe travels!

 

[Johnny V.]

We skied Alta today. Judy was not a happy camper as for some reason they had glitches in the RFID system and a good portion of the passes, both IKON and Mountain Collective were not reading or not releasing the gates. She had to go down to customer service and they gave her an Alta/Bird pass. My IKON worked fine all day, but I guess I was the exception. The sun was out for a good portion of the day with occasional clouds and fog rolling in just to keep you on your toes.

 

[Andy Mink]

not releasing the gates.

It's a conspiracy to keep the IKONers away!

 

[Phelmut]

LOL, I was going to say the same thing Andy.

Jim, another great day skiing and some fine guiding. Thanks again for the hospitality.

 

[Johnny V.]

It's a conspiracy to keep the IKONers away!

Apparently they let in the really obnoxious ones like me.......................