I took Thursday, March 1st off from ski riding, but the report was a good one from the people I talked to. The skiing’s been real nice this week in the canyon. It was a good call for me to wait until Friday (March 2nd). For one, I got tons of work done. Also, we got slammed Thursday night with a weather system plus some classic lake affect that the Cottonwood Canyons are famous for.
Even though I had to take an airport run later in the morning to drop off my sister and her friends (they arrived just in time for a good storm cycle where the Wasatch delivered big time!) it was good timing. They didn’t even get Highway 210 open until 10am and traffic was backed up so by the time I hit the mouth of LCC at noon it was pretty easy to get up the road. The skiing on the afternoon of March 2nd was just about as good as it gets. Crowds weren’t too bad, I didn’t feel the bottom once all afternoon, and they even got the backside open for us! I think 24 hour storm total was about 20 inches on top of a very active weather pattern over the last two weeks.
I did a few laps with Michael Higgins and we decided to go in stand on line for the Eddie’s gate to open. We got off Collins and started hiking. There were around 100 people at the High Notch gate, but only about 15 at Eddies. After standing at the Eddies gate for a few minutes, and while casually chatting, I heard a ‘thump’ noise and then saw Mike hit the deck. Barely a second later I noticed a good sized rock (probably around 8 lbs.) in the snow next to him. We was tagged with that sucker right in the back behind his scapula. The patroller waiting to flip the gate (and I assume a doctor that was in line, too) came to check him out. Everyone got a little sketched and hugged the wall from that point. Also, a guy standing next to Mike said one just missed his helmetless head! Apparently four or five rocks came down at the same time. Mike is one tough bastard. The line-up invited him to the front for 1st in and he destroyed the pow even after getting hit with that rock.
A couple of things to consider if standing in line at Eddie’s on bluebird day:
- WEAR YOUR HELMET
- Higgins was about 10 feet out from the wall and the rock bounced off a ledge to tag him. To avoid falling rocks if you’re waiting for the gate to open stand up close to the wall.
Mike, glad you’re alright! I think he’s alright, anyway. I saw him in Collins line after he skied that Eddie’s top to bottom.
