March 13-16, 2008 Brighton

On Wednesday, March 12, we're in Salt Lake City shopping for laptops and enjoying sunny weather and temperatures in the 50's. The storm is supposed to arrive on Thursday morning. We arrive at Brighton, the snow is spring-like, and the parking lot by the Brighton Store is bare and dry. I call the Utah Avy Center and listen to Bruce Tremper detail the approaching storm. We get up at 6:45am and the parking lot is still bare so we decide to sleep in. At 8:15am Jill peeks out the window and shouts "its snowing!". Like a shot, I'm vertical; I open the door and find 3 inches of dusty powder on the doorstep. Damn! Its a powder panic and within 15 minutes we move to the front of the parking lot at the Brighton ski area. It's a full-on blizzard. Damn, I love the Wasatch! We go to Guest Services and again get our free lift tickets. Then we ride the Great Western quad which is almost deserted. I think folks in SLC probably didn't believe the forecast either. It was lonely in the powder for the first two hours. Too bad. It just kept snowing all day with gusty winds along the ridgeline. The steep terrain was dust on crust while the moderate terrain was boot deep powder. This is the beginning of a 3-day storm cycle. With free lift tickets and parking just a short distance from the lifts, life is good.

We woke Friday morning to the sounds of the payloader clearing the parking area behind us. I looked out the window and it's showing heavily, no wind and about 10 inches of light powder on the van. Luckily I had installed the chains yesterday, and we pulled into the ski area parking lot in front of the ticket window. We were on chair 4 on the Great Western Express and, on the ride up, enjoyed the view of an untracked powder paradise. It was a mild, windless powder day of face shots with snow squalls and sunshine all day. After 5 hours of epic powder, we retreated to the van to consume pita chips and gorp while reviewing the day's photos.

Saturday, March 15, started sunny, 10 degree F, with no wind but a forecast of a late afternoon dump of 6-12 inches of new powder. We pulled out the rando gear and warmed up in yesterday's powder scraps. We got off the Crest chair, passed through the backcountry gate and skinned up the ridgeline of Pioneer. Thankfully, a ski patroller had already broken trail. As we neared the top, the trail stopped and the flurries rolled in. We dropped into "V Trees", a steep, tight tree shot that was easy to find with the residue from the hand charges gun powder.

Sunday, March 16 was another powder morning with 7 inches of new, cold temperatures and clear skies. We are on the third chair and begin cycling as fast as we can while the weekend crowd gradually arrives. After a few hours, the easy lines are skied and we are too lazy to search out the scraps or hike out for more. Four days of powder with free lift tickets -- this is the good life. Time to head to Tahoe.

I recognize that grove of aspen trees you're skiing.

I can't wait. I'll be skiing in the Cottonwoods for 6 days a week from Sunday. Any other TAY'ers going to be there?