Alta March 30 - April 6

[marzNC]

Having a great time at Alta Lodge with friends, including Bill, SkiBam, Gforce. The bonus was fresh snow on Monday, April 1!

March 31 was a blue bird day, got a bit too warm in the afternoon
This is the view from my room of Wildcat base with Mt. Baldy lit up in the morning


That's Bill in the green helmet with my daughter and one of her friends behind SkiBam and GForce on the Supreme triple


Woke up to snow on April 1. Didn't last long, but more came later in the day.
We went in for lunch during heavy snow. Can you see our skis? Snowing for about an hour.


On Saddle Traverse, new snow stayed good above mid-mountain


I took SkiBam & GForce into the Cecret trees where the ski school instructors take the kids.
Snow was good and pretty deep in there.

 

[marzNC]

Looks like 6 inches of fresh overnight at Alta base. Avalanche guns are going off. Ballroom and other places were closed yesterday afternoon, so there will be fresh and deep all over the mountain today.

 

[pinto]

looking good!

 

[marzNC]

It was starting to snow when I went to bed last night. Woke up to snow all over the Alta Lodge roof and porch. My daughter borrowed a ruler. 9 inches on the porch floor and 8 inches on the railing. More like 12-14 inches on the mountain.

The locals came out for the fresh snow. Collins lift corral was full by 9am. Hard to get a good start because the lift stopped for 15-20 minutes before 10am. We took the transfer tow over to the Albion side. The top of the mountains were in the clouds so visibility was a bit of an issue. The snow was deep and not exactly light and fluffy. Had to look out for hard bumps underneath in certain places. But sure beats waiting for frozen groomers to soften!

The sun came out by lunch time. The new snow was heavy in a lot of places. Several areas never opened, including Ballroom, the Castles, even Rock-N-Roll (blue). The parking lot was pretty empty by 1:30pm.

Will try to get the pics of us skiing from Bill.




Collins lift line at 9:10am, 5 min before opening time


Supreme around 11am

 

[litterbug]

I'm jealous!! I thought of you guys today between tense meetings and was half happy you got some winter conditions and half mad because I had to miss it!

 

[marzNC]

Spring skiing at Alta means the powder doesn't last long. As we rode up Collins at 9:30am, could see people on Ballroom (close yesterday). Bill, my daughter, and I did a run. Pretty nice snow, with first tracks to be had assuming you could avoid crossing someone's tracks. Per usual, pretty tracked out by 10:00.

The adventure of the day was heading over to Catherine's for the first day. I checked with ski patrol for advice since Bill and I had never gone that way before. Good powder up top, but crusty lower down. Had to side slip a couple places since we weren't quite sure which way to go.

Way too warm after lunch. Not many people left on the slopes after 2:30.

 

[SkiBam]

Well, two of the Alta group (G force and moi) are home safe and sound in Montreal and environs. When we were leaving the hotel in Salt Lake City this morning, a man there seemed surprised we had skis. He asked us if we had actually been skiing as he couldn't see any snow on the ground. We were able to reply that yesterday we were up to – and sometimes past – our knees in the stuff!

I'm sorry to have missed Ballroom and Catherine's and am a tad jealous. Still, it was a wonderful trip – take some runs for us, marzNC and, yeah, get pics from Bill.

 

[marzNC]

As of this week, my 12yo daughter is officially better than me. She was in Level 8 for the afternoon class yesterday. She did full-day ski school today in spring conditions. Her Level 8 class did Devil's Castle as their first run this morning. She said it was worth the hike for the powder turns (all the way over close to Devil's Apron). Then they were hucking little cliffs off Supreme black runs and on Extrovert. The class was all tween girls . . . with a good looking young man as their instructor. She had a blast!

 

[SkiBam]

Wow! I'm impressed. My daughters passed me in ability a long time ago – so get used to it!

 

[ScottishGirlie]

Superb report and pics as always marzNC!

Can't imagine Bill in a helmet, his hat from Big Sky just suited him! Give him a big hello from me!

 

[gardenmary]

The class was all tween girls . . . with a good looking young man as their instructor.

And THIS is why she is now better than you - she spent the day working hard to impress the good looking instructor.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing. Have to try to convince my DH to go to Utah for next season's ski vacay.

 

[HeidiInTheAlps]

As of this week, my 12yo daughter is officially better than me. She was in Level 8 for the afternoon class yesterday. She did full-day ski school today in spring conditions. Her Level 8 class did Devil's Castle as their first run this morning. She said it was worth the hike for the powder turns (all the way over close to Devil's Apron). Then they were hucking little cliffs off Supreme black runs and on Extrovert. The class was all tween girls . . . with a good looking young man as their instructor. She had a blast!

See, my girls need to get into a class like that... that would have a blast!

 

[marzNC]

The spring skiing roller coaster continues. After a super warm day, in the 50's at the base on Thu, April 4, winter returned. Sat, April 6 was Alta Demo Day. Not as many demo tents as last year. The bonus was that Ballroom was closed yesterday and opened first thing in the morning. The groomers were in good shape with the new snow from yesterday worked in. Then it snowed heavily in the early afternoon. Seemed like 2-3 inches above mid-mountain. The sun was out by 4pm when I was doing pick up at ski school. Snowing again at 9pm.

9am April 5


Alta Demo Day, Sat, April 6, 2013


Ballroom at 9:26, Collins lift opens at 9:15.

 

[litterbug]

And a nice day it was! OK, it was a nice morning until just before lunch when I sprained my calf being overconfident off piste on a pair of Temptation 88s. But the snow was great at all elevations, at least if you're a snow slut like me, and there was no problem with crowds. I hated to leave the fresh snow, but it looks like a regular old snowy Alta April, and she who ices pain away lives to ski another day! And anyway, MarzNC gave me a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies, so who cares?

 

[marzNC]

Not much choice for a woman under 5'4" in terms of demo skis. I decided to check out the Dynastar Cham 97 in 166cm since it has such a huge tip rocker. Rather liked it. First impression was on a run down Ballroom . . . without a groomer warm up run. Had I had time, I would've tried the Cham 107 in the same length.



Gave the Rossi Temptation 88 a try at 162cm. That's too long for me (5'0", 115 pounds). Then took out the Temptation 82 at 160cm. I like them. Hard to say if the next shorter length would be better or not. If I were looking to replace my Attraxion 8, the Temptation 82 would be at the top of the list.

Found it useful to do the same places I went with demo skis with my Black Pearls. Still quite happy with them as all-mountain.

 

[marzNC]

Naomi, age 91, was eager to ski this morning. As she is all mornings when conditions are good. That's her waiting for Collins to open between the man in the red jacket and the one with the grey jacket and yellow pants. She has patches on her jacket for 70+, 80+, 90+.

 

[badger]

Naomi, age 91, was eager to ski this morning. As she is all mornings when conditions are good. That's her waiting for Collins to open between the man in the red jacket and the one with the grey jacket and yellow pants. She has patches on her jacket for 70+, 80+, 90+.
View attachment 1596

At 91 I hope to look just like her: Still petite, standing erect on my skis, and situated between two hunkydudes-- in case my mind is not as alert as my posture and I might forget to ski off the chairlift!

 

[SkiBam]

Sounds like you lucky folk still at Alta are having a marvellous time. I'm jealous – but at least we've had some terrific days at Tremblant since I got home. In fact, I've taken just one day off since getting home and am now feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to do. I suppose it's a good thing Tremblant is closed this week until Friday when it opens for the closing weekend. Such a shame when there's still full coverage. Take some runs for me, marzNC, litterbug and Bill.

 

[marzNC]

Naomi was going to take a day off . . . but with several inches of fresh powder up on the mountain overnight, she booted up right after breakfast. A little easier to spot in her pink one-piece. Her age badges are on an arm band so she can switch outfits at will.



Headed down Mambo immediately