We had a blast; Abe, his friends Brandon and Patrick, The Colonel, Skier 219, myself. Not quite a Blue Knob quorum but not bad for 2000 miles from home. When we met at 9 the prospect was for a firm and scratchy day. The 5" predicted overnight did not happen. But One thing I have learned about this place is you never know what you will get, and it can change radically day to day. It soon began to snow hard, 2-3" per hour for a couple hrs. By lunch break it was getting doggone good. The snow slackened then but no matter. We were a posse, all feeding off one another's energy. I ran out of gas shortly after that and had to go ski mahogany ridge, a skier's term that I recently learned for the bar.

I hear the chairs in Mahogany Ridge are toasty.

Snowbasin has Tiffany Ridge.

I was figuratively skiing Mahogany Ridge at 2 PM today; gas tank emptied quickly. The chairs in my Mahogany Ridge weren't too toasty; the back seat is never very comfortable.

Sorry I missed the Alta posse on Thursday; hope everyone had as much fun as I did today at The Bird.

Yes, it was a great day. It was good to see Morgan and Denis at Alta again, and I had a blast skiing with newcomers Abe, Pat, and Brandon (aka, the "Three Stooges of telemark") in the afternoon. Those guys really tear it up on tele gear and eke every bit of fun and adventure out of the terrain.

It was one of those Alta days I will remember for a long time. No new snow at the bottom in the morning, so of course expectations are tempered a bit. Halfway up first chair on Collins, however, it was a whiteout, and there were already 2" or so at the top. Then it literally puked snow off and on for the next 7-8 hours (ending up with some thunder-snow that closed the lifts at 4:15 -- nothing like going out with a bang). As Denis noted, some of the bands were dropping snow at 2-3" per hour or more. The result was "free refills" for a while, where your tracks pretty much get covered up by the next run. Denis mentioned how you know it's been a good run when you get to the bottom with a whole bunch of snow all over your skis, and that was common all day.

Alta terrain transforms with new snow, becoming quite a bit more forgiving, and the whole place becomes a big fun playground. The line between easy and hard terrain blurs, and it's the perfect time to explore, have fun, and go big. For example, I led the tele gang through a gate to a powder-choked chute in the area below Castle Apron. One side of the entrance was framed by thick trees, the other side by a cliff complete with one of those little orange "CLIFF AREA" signs. Being a middle-aged old guy, I hit the chute and enjoyed the quick turns in easy powder. The Three Stooges of tele then proceeded to find three completely different routes down, involving the trees, the cliff, and some air. Pretty cool to watch.

That was cool - wish I could've been there. I was in Utah three weeks ago, but was at Park City, Deer Valley and The Canyons.

I also just got back from Jackson Hole yesterday evening, thus while you guys were skiing some freshies at Alta, I was sking some freshies at Jackson Hole. I ended up renting a pair of powder skis (Rossy S7s) and it was so friggan awesome.

I'd love to ski Alta myself. Someday...

Except for the cliff part, these guys live up to their Internet reputation. But they do get a looot of air. Also never saw tele turns while holding a tea-filled road cup before.

Skied with them today at Snowbird; the snow forecast was for 3-7", I'd estimate at least a foot fell. (Alta's late afternoon update is 10".) Visibility was often tough in the open slopes, but the trees were fantastic. Could drag those guys anywhere.

We scored an excellent bonus run at the end of the day. Liftie let us on The Gad 2 lift even though the closed sign was up, Ski Patrol hadn't gotten around to closing the Tiger Tale gate, and we ended up with an extra 2000 feet of tree and gulley pow turns. Arrived at the base lodge at 4:40 or so.