I looked at the Alta.com website to see that 5 inches had fallen up at Alta so I prepped my rig for an assault early the next morning. Thursday I woke up and headed out by 7:30 am to make my way up LCC for a jaunt up to Ballroom or the Shoulder. When I arrived the parking lot had squat for snow and only 6 or so cars were in the parking lot indicating that I must have read some mis-info on the alta website because there was no new snow. Well, almost no new snow. The snow-making machines were hard at work plowing out at least 1 inch per two hours in 35′ diameter around each machine.

What I could almost not believe is that the south faces of LCC and the surrounding area around Alta had much less or no snow at all compared to that blissful day I reported earlier on the 8th of October. What a difference and “where is my snow?,” I thought.

Skinning up Corkscrew the snow was absolutely firm and once I stepped onto 30 degree slopes it was very difficult to not slide out because my skins wouldn’t stick. I made my way up and past the Watson and then to the ballroom with ease once I passed the man made madness below. The air was cold and the sun lazily hid its face not wanting to feel the cold of this morning.

Making Ballroom was a breeze as a half hour passed. I was able to see a few parties heading up the ridge to baldy’s coveted Main chute but I wasn’t into skiing bumps or something that is over skied as it is. I set my mind to tackling a line near the upper triangle of Baldy, the north easterly section that isn’t skied that much during the regular season when they open the gates to hike above the Ballroom traverse. I skinned up as high as my rig would take me before I started punching through the sugary snow on the lower apron.

Placing my rig on my pack and prepping for a boot pack up to the destination I eagerly made ladder like steps hoping this would work me out like lunges or other quad building activities. The snow was sugary and deep without the ability to compact under my boots. I wrestled with the snow and made my way onto rocks and/or other precipes as to form stairs as a perch. On I slogged and until I could travel no more without removing my ski’s from my pack in order to use them as mtn. axes or make shift snow shoes on my hands. I would throw the skis in front of me (while they were attached at the brake) and kind of shimmy myself up and over them as to keep me levitating on the snow and then search through the sugar for a place for my feet. This I did for a good while until…I reached the top of the snow line and I could scurry along the rock face above me. I just needed to work my way to the right about 50 yards and higher about the same distance.

Reaching the end of the line without any hope of ascending further I made a short stop to put on my jacket, beanie, and goggles. I sat and pondered the trip while feeling euphoric for being in such a place on a Wednesday while others were still hoping for the resorts to open for chair assisted lazy skiing. I was on day five and the experiences I had achieved thus far were great to say the least.

After a few chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and some water I geared up and made ready for a descent. The snow at this level was (as best as I can describe) 2-3 inches of chalk on top of 2-3 feet of styrofoam. The angle of the slope roughly 40 degrees and there were plenty of turns below me to make a perma grin for the rest of the day so I made a side slipping motion to gauge the extent of the carvy-ness of the snow. And then it was turn after turn and I relished as my legs burned. Right then left and then right again to make my way into a choke with a rocky exit.

Smiling I looked over the edge and took a self inventory as to whether or not leaping over a 5 foot rocky section would be worth doing at this point in the season. I couldn’t decide so I felt that doubt made the decision for me. I looked for place to side step down the rock but it seemed like a worse choice. So, I unclamped my rig from my boots and pretended that a nice butt-slide wouldn’t be that bad especially since I was wearing the used pair of Burton pants I picked up at a yard sale for 5-BUCKS. Then looking down at those jagged rocks and breakable snow I came to my senses and put my skis back on my feet and made for the rocky edge. Funny that this 5 foot air could cause me to falter so and was potentially a fateful obstacle that could have changed my heaven into hell at any moment.

Airing over the rock I entered into the ballroom edgy goodness and then schralped my way towards the groomers for a zippy run to the car. The groomers though were BULLETPROOF with lots of frozen chunkies all over them making for a chattery ride. My teeth vibrated almost the whole way down until I hit the mid-way station near the Collins lift where the snow was so sparse I took my skis off to walk to the next section. Here I made more turns toward Corkscrew where I had the experience of skiing some fresh man made snow that was dreamy to turn on and the consistency of New England clam chowder. I almost stopped and hiked back up for those 3-5 turns.

Reaching the car I could only smile even though the season has started a slow towards winter but all is good when you feel the pre-season burn while waiting for the heart of Winter to reveal its smiling face.