Bogley

[FirstTracks]

Day 20: "It's like skiiing through orange sherbet."

Those are Tele Jon's words, not mine, but I couldn't come up with more accurately descriptive words for today than those. I'll let the Utah Avalanche Center explain:

Utah Avalanche Center wrote: The fire hose was pointed strait at the upper Cottonwoods overnight with snow totals of around a foot of graupel which measures near 30 percent density.

That's heavy stuff, heavy enough to create enormous slide potential. Interlodge was declared in Alta until 12:15. UDOT closed Little Cottonwood Canyon until 12:45. It was thus that I didn't board a lift until nearly 1:30 p.m. today along with Skidog, Tele Jon and SkiVT-L''er John Babyak who's visiting with his wife Nancy. Nancy was kind enough to let John tag along with us for the afternoon.

That new snow was weird stuff. In places like Wildcat, Greeley Hill and, of all places, Vail Ridge it skied smooth and creamy. In other spots like Eagle's Nest and Sugarloaf, however, it was nasty wind-whipped hell.

Round 2 of this massive Pacific storm arrives in the morning, and should bring with it much fluffier typical Utah snow. We'll see, for we'll be there.

One video shot on Vail Ridge:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1287024889/bclid1301088717/bctid1365763637