Surpise, Surprise!

What a nice surprise to wake up to 6 inches in Ogden Valley, and a foot or more on the mountain by the time the lifts started! Resorts only reported 3 or 4 inches in early morning posts, but we found lots more to play in. Check out the great links for conditions and forecasts at: http://www.ovba.org/snow/ . (UTAH SNOW SURVEY... That's how I knew that there were 10 inches at 7,550 ft level at 8 AM, and now I see 2 more inches fell after that.)

A Great Week of Storms!

Mike enjoys his secret stash at Snowbasin.

That's my Honey! More Wonderful Snow!

Seven untracked powder runs before lunch! And more snow coming tonight....

Snow at Last

It started out snowy, then snowy and windy, then sunny and calm. As you can see, the snow was much deeper than the 6 inches reported by Snowbasin this morning. Kelly was having fun in the Centennial sun.

Know... Before You Go Out of Bounds

Snowbasin offered a free Avalanche Awareness Class - consisting of an indoor session last night, and outdoor demonstrations today. The device below is available for the public to select a difficulty level, and then use a transceiver to find the buried transmitters.


Ski patrol staff demonstrates above how he listens to his transceiver and walks a pattern to narrow down the area of the signal. The purpose of this session was to emphasize that if you plan to ski out of bounds, you should take a class and PRACTICE using your gear so you are ready if the need arises.

We followed our leader to see some of their in-bounds control routes. The slope above is between 35 and 40 degrees slope - very prone to to avalanches if not controlled. We felt perfectly safe - in bounds here.



A volunteer on the patrol staff allowed patrolmen to bury him for a demonstration of the use of dogs to find victims. It did not take long the canine to pinpoint the"victim" - really wonderful and amazing.

"Good job!" And THANK YOU to Snowbasin Ski Patrol for a very interesting session!!

Ogden Area Avalanche Daily Advisory - check it daily!

More photos and information about the session posted at: Alpine Vistas

Yummy New Snow for the New Year

A nice storm rumbled in to the Ogden Valley just before the New Year and made for some mighty fine powder skiing. The dump allowed us to venture off piste for some great fun and adventure. The slopes we selected still had some twigs and sticks poking out of the fresh snow fall but everywhere we ventured was excellent. Hopefully Mother Nature will be very kind to us in 2010. Happy New Year!