And then we went to Alta

A few friends and I were sitting in the Cadillac on Monday evening talking about the lack of snow in Jackson, and how Little Cottonwood was getting dumped on. Suddenly, I stopped drinking my martini, and said, with quite a bit of conviction, that I was going to drive to Alta in a few hours. The guys looked at me like I was full of it.

Before 10 that night, however, we were on the road. The usual 4 hour drive took about 6 since someone forgot to plow the roads. By around 4 in the morning, we pulled into the Goldminer's Daughter parking lot, shut off the car and went to sleep for about two hours. The best alarm clock ever woke us up. They were bombing away, a sure sign it had been nuking hard. And then the siren sounded, signaling interlodge. For us, it was car lodge. Oops.

We were on Wildcat when it first opened, starting out one of the best days of the winter thus far. They had reported around 20", but many places felt a lot deeper. White room turns were definitely not in short supply. And, the sun even poked its head out for about half an hour, allowing Kerry and Sarah, who had never skied Alta, to get a feel for how expansive and gorgeous the area is.

We called it quits around 4, went out for Sushi, and then the rest of the crew headed back to Jackson. I was set to stay one more day. The thought of Alta and back in a day just wasn't that appealing since Jackson wasn't getting much snow.

Wednesday was more of the same pow. I met up with two friends, Vanessa and Tide, to go shoot some pow. Sadly, the weather didn't want to cooperate. Regardless, we had a blast lapping Rocky Point on the backside of Catherine's Area. All the bootpacking and sidestepping, however, didn't make my hurt knee feel so good. So, here I am, back in Jackson, taking the day off, limping around the house. It's been snowing a little in Jackson. Hopefully it just keeps on coming!


Vanessa Aadland
Tide Smid
Tide Smid
Tide Smid
Kerry Klauder
Me!!
Jacki Strenio