Last Sunday (two days ago) I went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon and had a great time skiing it up with good friends and all the energetic locals that make up the traditional last day festivities at Alta Ski Area. Of course Snowbird in LCC is still open, and they will be for several more weeks.. but the season is pretty much over for me/us. Notice I said ‘pretty much’ 😉 I am certainly not afraid to hike for good corn or even pay for a day of skiing at the ‘Turd if there’s exceptional April/May powder.
In recent years Alta Ski Lift Co. Management has split up the closing day for skiing into two weekends, which I think is probably a good idea. One driving factor for ‘two closing weekends’ is likely to mitigate the impact and potential hazards of too much drinking and trippin’ on High Boy. The last day antics and raging have gotten pretty intense and the party keeps getting bigger and bigger. It can’t help but keep growing when Powder Mag and other major skiing media write stories about classic High Boy Parties. I missed the first High Rustler party of the 2007 year (last weekend – Apr 15th), but on the second last day party (Apr 22nd) I noticed Onno Wieringa himself (the GM of Alta) checking tickets at the end of the day. Again, a good idea and IMO it’s very refreshing to see the actual general manager there rolling up his sleeves and checking tickets. (It has been widely known that anyone can get on the chair lift from 3pm on during the last day – no more and I applaud that!)
So how about the skiing you’re wondering? Well, um…not too much to report there. Although I did have fun on some high speed groomers and even 3 High Boys in a row top-to-bottom to end the season. The last of the three was my favorite. I was solo all the way out on the High T, and all the way down High Boy..non-stop..thinking the whole time about our little baby growing in Danette’s belly. What great thoughts and surely a last run of the year to remember. Next ski season, we’ll have our baby to take turns watching in the Goldminer’s Cafe while we switch up our ski time. I like the sounds of that.
This was a different ski season for me because we moved to the Wasatch back east of Heber City in April of last year. That made the commute over an hour each way to Alta so I was there 1-3 days a week instead of 4-6. What that did was help me appreciate skiing and life in LCC all that much more. No matter how crappy the snowpak was (just barely broke 400 inches – first time of 8 I’ve been here that we haven’t hit that magic 500 inch mark – see the Alta Snowfall History) I always focused on appreciating being there and making the best of every turn. I am proud to report that I am still a full-blooded Altafarian paying the price everyday! Alta…til next season old friend. Thanks for the 2006-07 memories 🙂
One last thing…check this out. This is the Photo of the Day on Alta.com for the last day of the 2006-2007 ski season. I am 99% sure based on the skier form and Rossi skis that it’s Sam Howard skiing off into the sunset of another amazing experience. Thanks all for another great ski year!
