Woke Saturday morning to the pitter-patter of rain on my window. Rolling over I thought that the previous plans to ski would be on hold. I can tell I’ve lost the winter mentality.
Regardless, my ski partners for the day arrived in Kamas and we headed up the Mirror Lake Highway in search of snow to slide on. The scenery was impressive as we passed Yellow Pine and Beaver Creek at mile 7 or so.
(click for a larger view)
By the time we hit mile marker 25 near Bald Mountain Pass the we had re-entered winter.
Needless to day, we found plenty of snow out there to ski on as we summited and then skied down most of Reid Peak via the NW Coulior.
Regarding the road being open, it’s been plowed past Bald Mountain Pass to Butterfly lake. All of the lakes up there are still frozen over, every single one of them. Fishing is not happening anytime soon. For road biking, the snow on the side of the roads isn’t a factor until just prior to the pass where the snow is easily 4-5 feet deep on the shoulders. They may get the road open for the Over the Top bike race but it’ll be a cold ride with the snow on the sides of the road from Provo River Falls and beyond.
As for the skiing, I think we’ve got a few more weeks of good skiing. Right now though the obvious and less steep spots are hit hard by the sledders who on Saturday were nearly as thick as the mosquitos are in July. So my advice, go steep (NE face of Bald) or be creative about your approach (Watson, Hayden)
While a number of the peaks have aspects or ridges that are void of snow, gullies and sheltered aspects (east, north, NW) hold plenty of snow. My next target is Watson, whose east face is still mostly filled in. With snow predicted for Wed into Thur this week it’s bike-ski-bike week.
More pics to follow….
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