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

[jmills115]

It was a pretty good weekend at Alta with 5” overnight into Saturday and 7” at the start of the day Sunday with it continuing most of the day. With a few areas not opened today and me having the week off work I’m thinking tomorrow will be an ok day also.

Saturday


Had I not been focused on taking pics of me standing in pow today, I would have gotten a nice pic of mrsjmills testing the depth with her face just behind me. Two weeks off a shoulder dislocation on the mountain and she isn’t letting it slow her down

 

[jmills115]

On a bluebird day with Ballroom, Backside, and Devils Castle being opened and attracting many, the rest of the mountain skied great

 

[Shawn C.]

Hi guys and gals!

Question time!

I’m recovering from a bad injury (broken arm/shoulder and my leg suffered in late Jan). I’ve been speaking with my physical therapist and surgeon and they think a return to skiing some time in May is potentially feasible. In a good snow year usually only the tram is open and I sure as hell don’t want to ski down Regulator Johnson with two newly repaired bones and ZERO confidence. Enter Mineral Basin. Never skied on that side and wondering if there are some mellow runs for a guy who is on the the mend. Thanks!

 

[Bill Miles]

Hi guys and gals!

Question time!

I’m recovering from a bad injury (broken arm/shoulder and my leg suffered in late Jan). I’ve been speaking with my physical therapist and surgeon and they think a return to skiing some time in May is potentially feasible. In a good snow year usually only the tram is open and I sure as hell don’t want to ski down Regulator Johnson with two newly repaired bones and ZERO confidence. Enter Mineral Basin. Never skied on that side and wondering if there are some mellow runs for a guy who is on the the mend. Thanks!

A schedule is posted in post 279 showing Tram open through May 5 (probsbly goes down for maintenance). chairs open thrpugh May 12th, then three day weekends. In any event, there are mellow runs in Mineral Basin although they gey sun affected and sloppy pretty early. There are also mellow runs on the Peruvian Gulch side.

 

[blackke17]

Hi guys and gals!

Question time!

yeah according to the schedule bob posted the route you would take is Peruvian to Mineral. that whole side of Mineral by the Peruvian Tunnel would be a great place to get back on skis, its really mellow.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Sorry, got distracted and couldn't initially add photo info.
UPDATE.
Photos from Snowbird, 3/27/19, it was a mild spring day, but just cool and partly cloudy enough to delay thaw, so a lot of areas were firm in my AM visit.
First pic is ski patrol in Mineral Basin. Love this view from their office window

Bob identified second pic, spawn of Godzilla.

Great Scott from tram.

The entrances to Great Scott are much improved since last time I was in there about a week ago.

Boarder in lower Great Scott, chalky wind buff goodness.

The snow always seems to be good in the Cirque even when rest of the mtn is going through spring AM firmness.


Chariot of the gods. Walk-on tram rides today.


Didn't see anyone skiing Pipeline today. Road to Provo was closed.

 

[dbostedo]

^^^
What is the second pic a pic of?

 

[BobMc]

It’s a toy dinosaur in a hole in a rock formation adjacent to the Mineral lift. That one is fairly new as the long time one disappeared last season, now there are mouse traps around the new one.

 

[Phelmut]

Those are great pics Jim. The 2nd one looks like some kind of goofy lizard??

 

[AmyPJ]

Altitude is your friend this time of year, especially during this freakishly warm spell we're having. 55 at Snowbasin yesterday. While skiing in sleeves and shorts is a fun thought, the snow is so grabby/suction-y, it's not fun. So, enjoy the higher altitude in LCC!

 

[Jim Kenney]

Snowbird 3/29/19, hit the jackpot. One of the best days in LCC in the last month. Good, deep snow and not too crowded or terrible traffic.

Summit does not look like late March

This looks a little like BobMc

 

[BobMc]

Can’t see the pics Jim.

Today didn’t suck. Brought skiing type stuff with me to work, planned on leaving mid afternoon and hitting last tram. After a couple calls and a few texts I’d decided that wasn’t going to work and I was in need of more powder time. Ended up getting there at 10:30 and meeting up with the Jazz sideline reporter. Been slacking lately and she ran me ragged. The girl can ski and we had a great time hitting up the deepness.









Tomorrow should be every bit as good, it was nuking when I left and quite a bit of terrain hadn’t opened.

 

[Shawn C.]

Always love your trip reports, Bob!

 

[Jim Kenney]

3/30/19 Snowbird, UT: Pretty day today, no significant new snow, but lots of leftovers from the 20" yesterday. Variable early spring weather, mix of sun and clouds, high temp about 35 degs. The mtn was busy, but not insanely so.
I guess my most interesting run was around noon climbing up to the High Baldy traverse and going over to the area of Thanks for the Memories. Great snow here. This view is from the summit tram deck, Mt. Baldy is background right.

There was a steady conga line of climbers going up Baldy all day long.


There is also some good terrain off to the right of the above view, dipping into Mineral Basin, this is pretty near Chamonix Bowl:

Back to High Baldy, this guy is heading down over by the area called Thanks for the Memories, I went a little further along into the trees in background before skiing down to the left into Peruvian Gulch at Snowbird. Believe that is the Wildcat lift? at Alta in background to right.

 

[Rostapher]

My wife & I skied Alta the week of March 17 and unfortunately we missed we missed the deep that I’ve been seeing on this thread all season long. Thursday & Friday it did snow some to soften things up. We had to leave Saturday am as fat flakes were flying but it was still a good week.

Thursday we both did Alta’s off trail workshop, but neither of the instructors that @Tricia or @jmills115 recommended was working the workshop that week, so we just went with who was available. They had 3 group levels: low, mid & high, with my wife in the mid and me in the high. I had a great time with one only other guy in my group & we skied some really great lines off the backside and in the trees on the north face, east of high rustler. My instructor was John Rudolph, level 3, and he was great & is recommended! He helped me get a small breakthrough in steeps and trees by (among other things) transitioning edges much earlier in the turn. By the end of the session, I feel like my skiing had improved measurably, so well worth it!

My wife had a much harder time with her instructor, even when she came in with a couple of specific goals and tried to ask him about it in multiple different ways. Eventually, her instructor just told her to watch him and to not think so much. After two & a half hours of “instruction,” she felt like she was skiing worse & was very frustrated. Fortunately, the next day she explained her frustration to the person at the ski school desk at Watson shelter and they gave her a full credit for the previous lesson and she ended up taking a private lesson with John Rudolph that afternoon. John was able to address one of her main issues in the first 10 minutes they skied together and then with that fixed they worked on improving further. After that 2 & a half hours, she was skiing better, more smoothly and was more confident than I have ever seen her ski! So Yay!

I guess the main points of this post are to a) highly recommended John Rudolph at Alta for instruction b) note that a great instructor makes a world of difference and c) commend Alta for making things right after she had such a bad initial lesson.

 

[4aprice]

Just back from the annual "big" family western trip, involving 5 days in Utah (4 in Colorado). I guess its the time of year that we go but after reading the Ikon Lightning Rod thread (we are Ikon Pass holders) I was a bit surprised to see that for us at least not much was different. As a group it seems that our posse seems to prefer BCC to LCC so we did not get up to Alta or the Bird, but did 2 each at Solitude and Brighton and a day over at Deer Valley.

My observations were as follows. Solitude was still Solitude (at least for us). Skied there Monday and Thursday, had no issues parking what so ever (Thursday was pretty much front row at a 9:30-10 Am arrival) . Got as far out along the Honeycomb Canyon wall as I ever have for a couple of great runs (with fresh) Monday. Enjoyed chasing around 2 twenty two year olds (son and friend) on Parachute and Middle Slope and Headwall Forest. Thursday was an interesting day as everything up high was kind of locked up so I concentrated on the lower lifts Sunrise, Apex and Honeymoon and then Eagle later in the day as it thawed out. Different from a typical Solitude day for us but fun and interesting all the same.

For some reason Brighton has always been one of our favorites. Tuesday was actually a pretty normal there with not much to report. Was happy to ski lots of groomers with the wife after chasing the "young men" around Solitude the day before. Dips in the woods but nothing exotic. Friday was the best day of the trip with double digit powder and refreshers almost every ride up the lift. Spent all day in the woods that day. Will note that the parking lot was pretty much at capacity,however, nothing more then a couple of chair wait for anything all day long.

Deer Valley Wednesday. Haven't done this one in several years but looked forward to it with the Ikon Passes. Seemed pretty busy and had to park the car pretty far away but never had any issues at the lifts or on the trails. We enjoyed our day there including a run on Last Chance to see the Racoon and Bear houses ( a little nostalgia, for the wife and I as our kids when small loved it) Spent a lot of time on Northside Express which is a favorite of the wife, and got into Empire Canyon, but did not get over to Lady Morgan which is new since the last time I had been there. I think the biggest observation I had from DV was made après ski from the deck. While we enjoyed a drink (expensive , but we were on vacation after all) we got to watch the release of ski school. From the kids to the parents to all the instructors that place was cranking out the lessons (and hopefully the future skiers) big time. I have heard some lament Ikon as killing the sport for newbies but if DV was any indication things aren't too bad.

I realize that we were not there during the busiest times of the season. We have always planned it that way and probably will not change much in the future but things seemed pretty normal to us, and we enjoyed our visit as always. Never heard one peep from anyone about our Ikon passes and actually heard some who seemed to be welcoming the extra business (this was also true at Aspen on the Colorado portion of our trip). Once again we thank Utah (and Colorado) for its hospitality and look forward to the big family trip next season.

 

[RJS]

While we enjoyed a drink (expensive , but we were on vacation after all) we got to watch the release of ski school. From the kids to the parents to all the instructors that place was cranking out the lessons (and hopefully the future skiers) big time. I have heard some lament Ikon as killing the sport for newbies but if DV was any indication things aren't too bad.

To add an anecdote, when I was at Deer Valley with my family a couple of weeks ago, we tried on a Sunday afternoon getting an adult group lesson for my brother's girlfriend, and the lessons were all booked out for Monday-Wednesday! We ended up all going to Park City for a day because they had an availability on Tuesday. I hope that this is a good sign for the sport too .

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

 

[Slim]

We are headed to Utah next week for spring break. I was expeting a warm spring skiing trip, but it looks like it will be full on winter:

 

[Jim Kenney]

Going up to Snowbird today. Been away and haven't been up there since late March. 30+ inches in last 48 hrs. . Catching bus.
Oops, no UTA bus service up to LCC or BCC after Apr 7.

 

[RJS]

Going up to Snowbird today. Been away and haven't been up there since late March. 30+ inches in last 48 hrs. . Catching bus.
Oops, no UTA bus service up to LCC or BCC after Apr 7.

I wish that they ran the bus for an additional week or two at the end of the season to at least make it until the last day of the season for Brighton and the end of daily lift service for Alta.

I can't wait to see some pictures of people having fun in LCC with the almost three feet of snow that you guys got! I'm a little bummed that I left on Sunday and missed out on the new snow, but stoked that those of you who are out there get to enjoy this.