Back to the Canyons

Today I went back to The Canyons where there is now a bit more artificial snow than last time I went but quite a bit less of the natural snow further up. For a quick work-out, I walked up under the Condor Express liftline and down using Boa. Here are a couple of pictures (click to enlarge).

This is what I refer to as the "mini obelisk"
at the Canyons. It falls a bit short of the
original on the Hogum Divide in LCC.

A pic of the mini obelisk graced by Loki's presence.

This was what the snow-making effort looked like 8 days ago...

...and this is the state of the snow-making at the base today.
No wonder we didn't open for Thanksgiving...

Murdock Peak

Today I went up to Murdock Peak to check in on North Bowl. It looked better than expected and although it does not look ready to deliver a great ski immediately, it won't take much more to get there. Boa also looks greatly improved compared to last Wednesday. Here are some pictures (click to enlarge):

View from the top of North Bowl, looking
a bit better than expected.

...and Boa is holding quite a bit more
snow than last Wednesday.

View of the entrance to Dirt Shute. Later in the season,
it will get more challenging as the cornices build-out.

View of 9990...

...and a picture of Mt Baldy (LCC) taken from Murdock Peak.

The Canyons aka "Canyons Village at Park City"

So that's the latest iteration: Canyons Village at Park City, quite the mouth full. It started as Park City West in 1968, then became ParkWest, then Wolf Mountain which, as a name, was deemed not family-friendly enough by new owners and so was renamed The Canyons in 1997. After Vail Resorts took it over, pursuant to the disastrous Talisker ownership, it renamed it to the somewhat awkward Canyons Village at Park City.

In any case, that's where I was doing a reconnaissance hike yesterday to scope out Boa trying to assess the snow cover on that shaded slope. I did a loop so hiked up under the Condor Express lift and back down over Boa. The report is... no snow! In most spots on high Boa, there was a couple of inches, if that, and nothing on the rest. This means we will be fully dependent on new snowfall for any pre-season skiing to be possible on that slope.

In the meantime, even though it was 36⁰ F when I started my hike, snowmaking was in full swing both at the base and higher up closer to the Park City ridgeline. It seems the Thanksgiving pressure is on! Here are a couple of pictures (click to enlarge):

Snowmaking at the base...

...at mid-mountain...

...and up by the ridgeline.

November ski in the Cirque at Snowbird

After the last storm, the Cirque at Snowbird is holding 1.5 to 2 feet, and at the most privileged spots, even more. Not bad for early November! Yesterday when I got to the trailhead the temp was 31F at 8,500' and outright brisk close to 11,000' so not only is the coverage good (I didn't hit a single rock) but the snow quality was great. Here are some pictures (click to enlarge):

Looking down into Little Cottonwood Canyon

In the Cirque

Although mostly overcast, there were rare
blue skies too

Here, in some spots the snowpack was close to three feet deep

Current Snow Cover in the Wasatch

If you go north-facing and high enough, there is a respectable amount of snow in the Wasatch. Unfortunately, most of what we have now will end up being the weak facetted layer of the first half or so of the upcoming winter. So if we are lucky enough to see a drastic weather pattern change soon here, then we will likely be looking forward to a fair amount of avalanche activity. In any case, here are a few pictures of peaks approachable from any of the central Wasatch tri-canyon area i.e. Mill Creek, Big and Cottonwood Canyon, and Little Cottonwood Canyon (click to enlarge):

Mt Superior, Cardiac Bowl, and Cardiac Ridge,
all best accessed from LCC.

Sundial and Dromedary Peak, typically
accessed from BCC Mill B South.

Wilson Peak and Gobbler's Knob accessible
from BCC or Mill Creek Canyon.

Snowbird has a ton of snow!

For an October ski, I was surprised at how much snow Snowbird is holding. Having said that, it seems every time I've been to Snowbird in October, I'm always surprised at how much snow I find there. Today it was a little over six inches at 8,600 feet (next to Blackjack Village) and close to two feet at 10,000 feet. Here are some pictures (click to enlarge):

It's early, just not bright and early... In the center is
the Cliff Lodge and in the distance Salt Lake City.

View of Mount Superior except for the summit which
is hidden by the clouds that the sun is
unsuccessfully trying to burn off.

This is at a little over 10,000 feet and
the snow depth is about two feet.

Suicide chute seems pretty much filled out and maybe ready for a run.

Winter in the Wasatach

With close to two feet on the ground at Alta right now and this forecast that promises another foot or so, it's finally winter!

Tonight 6 to 10 inches possible and tomorrow another 2 to 4 inches possible so in all
8 to 14 inches to look forward to!

Here is to hoping for a season nothing like the last one...

Below are a couple of pictures I took on Saturday at a bit over 8,000 feet elevation (click to enlarge).

View of the Park City ridgeline from the north at 8,600 feet.

Loki breaking trail at about 8,300 feet elevation.

The UAC Black Widow!

After living in the Wasatch for some 17 years this is the first time ever that I see 1) an all-black avalanche rose, and 2) a promise of avalanches (see the yellow highlight on the below screenshot). 

It was starting to look like the Wasatch was about to skip winter entirely this year. Before these latest storm systems moved in over the last couple of weeks there was hardly any snow to speak of on the ground. Until then, my best skiing was in November! Now after a couple of weeks, I am back to being BC ski-in-ski-out right from my deck.

Here is a screenshot of the Utah Avalanche Center's "black widow":

The black widow. See the yellow highlight: That's your avy promise!