This video will set the tone for this trip report, Geezer Gangnam Style:
I skied from 11:30 AM to 3:45 PM today (27 Jan 2022) at Snowbird, UT. It was a sunny, if slightly cool day (don't think temps reached 20 degs on the mtn), but there was very little wind. I am gradually skiing myself into shape. Prior to MLK Day I had only one ski day this winter, now I have nine. My previous couple of days at Snowbird were spent primarily on groomers. Today I was skiing alone and I wanted to slowly and carefully explore some off-groom areas, geezer style.
The Wasatch Mtns haven't received any significant snow storms since very early in Jan. The highest traffic groomers are getting pretty firm at Snowbird, but still there are quite a few groomed runs that are chalky and fun to carve on, probably because Jan has been seasonably cool and without significant warm-ups. Today I wanted to take a survey of a few off-groom areas to see which still held some fun snow/surfaces and I met with a decent degree of success.
It was an extremely quiet day at Snowbird with very light trail traffic and that's always a good time to head to Mineral Basin, because on busy, sunny days it can get the longest lift lines on the mtn. Mineral Basin is hard to resist in bright sun, seasonal temps, and no people. I headed to the Far Bookends area and skied a slope that I believe is identified as Richies Run on the trail map. It was good with chunky, but fairly soft/dry snow that I could turn relatively easy on.
Traverse to the Bookends area:
Looking up at Richies Run in the far Bookends:
I later took Baldy Chair and started skiing Ski Patrol Gully. The first 300 yards were great, but I decided I did not want to commit to the full run out of fear that the walk-out would be very rocky in Snowbird's current low tide conditions. I returned to the main run (Bird's Nest/Lupine Loop).
A number of folks were skiing the expansive off-piste to the skiers right of the Mineral Basin Chair liftline. I joined them and skied the area identified as Lonestar on the trail map. It was pretty decent too, but the chunkiness of the snow required effort.
The Lonestar area is looker's left of the upper Mineral Basin liftline in this photo:
After a while I headed to the Little Cloud chairlift on the front side of Snowbird. I tried several different off-piste runs in little cloud bowl including Old Ladies just to the skiers left of the lift line. It was doable too, but somewhat chunky and similar to Lonestar.
Heading to Old Ladies slope (where the little yellow sign is) in Little Cloud Bowl. This photo also includes a nice view of Pipeline Chute in the upper, center background, something I will never ski in this lifetime
:
Then I skied several runs off the Gad 2 chair. I skied the middle part of Tiger Tail, but wow was it skied out. The steeper parts had really big, gnarly, and malformed bumps. No pictures, not pretty. I tried Black Forest and it was ok. I stayed out of the gully and skied the low angle trees to the left in photo below. The steep little exit at the end that brings you back to Bananna trail had the same kind of stale, unfriendly bumps as Tiger Tail.
Entrance to the Black Forest:
I saw some people skiing STH under the steep part of the Gad 2 liftline and they were throwing up some snow like the surface looked pretty good. I gave it a try by entering via the trees to the lookers left in 2nd photo below. Once I hit the open part the snow was very good, some of the best I skied today, soft and carveable.
Entering the open section of STH:
A look at STH from the Gad 2 chairlift, I entered the open part about 3/4 of the way up and the snow was quite good there:
Around 2:45 PM I shared a ride up with a stranger on the Little Cloud lift. I told him where I'd been skiing and said the only place I was a little hesitant to check out by myself was the Cirque because in the current low tide conditions I feared rocks along the traverse, as well as rocks in many entrances of the various chutes. He was a local and said he'd take me on the lower Cirque Traverse to middle Cirque, a route where the snow coverage was fairly good. So I followed him and we skied something in the middle Cirque area that I believe is called Lone Tree.
Here the friendly stranger leads the way to Lone Tree chute. The snow was as good or better than STH once beyond the little notch in center of photo and on down to the flats below:
It was good to check out the conditions on some of my favorite off-groom areas at Snowbird. It was a fun day, but Snowbird, like much of the West, needs a good dump of snow. It's getting pretty boney out there. Thank goodness the cold temps have preserved fairly well the snow that fell over Christmas-New Years time frame.
PS: While I was back in Mineral Basin I noticed a pro photog on the hill. I skied past him and sure enough - he got me. Here's the proof:
I skied from 11:30 AM to 3:45 PM today (27 Jan 2022) at Snowbird, UT. It was a sunny, if slightly cool day (don't think temps reached 20 degs on the mtn), but there was very little wind. I am gradually skiing myself into shape. Prior to MLK Day I had only one ski day this winter, now I have nine. My previous couple of days at Snowbird were spent primarily on groomers. Today I was skiing alone and I wanted to slowly and carefully explore some off-groom areas, geezer style.
The Wasatch Mtns haven't received any significant snow storms since very early in Jan. The highest traffic groomers are getting pretty firm at Snowbird, but still there are quite a few groomed runs that are chalky and fun to carve on, probably because Jan has been seasonably cool and without significant warm-ups. Today I wanted to take a survey of a few off-groom areas to see which still held some fun snow/surfaces and I met with a decent degree of success.
It was an extremely quiet day at Snowbird with very light trail traffic and that's always a good time to head to Mineral Basin, because on busy, sunny days it can get the longest lift lines on the mtn. Mineral Basin is hard to resist in bright sun, seasonal temps, and no people. I headed to the Far Bookends area and skied a slope that I believe is identified as Richies Run on the trail map. It was good with chunky, but fairly soft/dry snow that I could turn relatively easy on.
Traverse to the Bookends area:
Looking up at Richies Run in the far Bookends:
I later took Baldy Chair and started skiing Ski Patrol Gully. The first 300 yards were great, but I decided I did not want to commit to the full run out of fear that the walk-out would be very rocky in Snowbird's current low tide conditions. I returned to the main run (Bird's Nest/Lupine Loop).
A number of folks were skiing the expansive off-piste to the skiers right of the Mineral Basin Chair liftline. I joined them and skied the area identified as Lonestar on the trail map. It was pretty decent too, but the chunkiness of the snow required effort.
The Lonestar area is looker's left of the upper Mineral Basin liftline in this photo:
After a while I headed to the Little Cloud chairlift on the front side of Snowbird. I tried several different off-piste runs in little cloud bowl including Old Ladies just to the skiers left of the lift line. It was doable too, but somewhat chunky and similar to Lonestar.
Heading to Old Ladies slope (where the little yellow sign is) in Little Cloud Bowl. This photo also includes a nice view of Pipeline Chute in the upper, center background, something I will never ski in this lifetime
:Then I skied several runs off the Gad 2 chair. I skied the middle part of Tiger Tail, but wow was it skied out. The steeper parts had really big, gnarly, and malformed bumps. No pictures, not pretty. I tried Black Forest and it was ok. I stayed out of the gully and skied the low angle trees to the left in photo below. The steep little exit at the end that brings you back to Bananna trail had the same kind of stale, unfriendly bumps as Tiger Tail.
Entrance to the Black Forest:
I saw some people skiing STH under the steep part of the Gad 2 liftline and they were throwing up some snow like the surface looked pretty good. I gave it a try by entering via the trees to the lookers left in 2nd photo below. Once I hit the open part the snow was very good, some of the best I skied today, soft and carveable.
Entering the open section of STH:
A look at STH from the Gad 2 chairlift, I entered the open part about 3/4 of the way up and the snow was quite good there:
Around 2:45 PM I shared a ride up with a stranger on the Little Cloud lift. I told him where I'd been skiing and said the only place I was a little hesitant to check out by myself was the Cirque because in the current low tide conditions I feared rocks along the traverse, as well as rocks in many entrances of the various chutes. He was a local and said he'd take me on the lower Cirque Traverse to middle Cirque, a route where the snow coverage was fairly good. So I followed him and we skied something in the middle Cirque area that I believe is called Lone Tree.
Here the friendly stranger leads the way to Lone Tree chute. The snow was as good or better than STH once beyond the little notch in center of photo and on down to the flats below:
It was good to check out the conditions on some of my favorite off-groom areas at Snowbird. It was a fun day, but Snowbird, like much of the West, needs a good dump of snow. It's getting pretty boney out there. Thank goodness the cold temps have preserved fairly well the snow that fell over Christmas-New Years time frame.
PS: While I was back in Mineral Basin I noticed a pro photog on the hill. I skied past him and sure enough - he got me. Here's the proof:
Last edited:
