First Day at Alta and There Was Plenty of Snow to Go Around
Here it is, October Fifth and I can proudly say I got my first face shot of the season. My morning started early… 5:30am early. I had a huge day ahead of me. The kind of day that you love before the season really hits. It’s a day when you get to run all over working on the season at hand.
First, on the agenda was taking advantage of the rare early October Dump. That was what got me going at 5:30am. I love the feeling of those first snows, when the alarm goes off and you are startled into remembering that it is a powder day, or (as it were) the first ski day of the season. Nothing else quite gets the blood pumping like the anticipation of putting those boots on, stepping into those bindings, and dropping into that first turn. So, it was with that type of anticipation I hurried through my morning routine, jumped into my Tacoma and hit the road to Little Cotton Wood Canyon.
The road was slick, and with no sand bags in the back of the truck and my very bald, too many long highway road trips, summer tires on, my truck was wiggling like a fish out of water. But that slight tense feeling of gripping the wheel extra tight only added to the fullness of the first snow experience. As I veered off on 6200 south all of last seasons epic memories came flooding back. How many times had I been up Little Cotton Wood Canyon before dawn? It was far too many to count and way to early to get any deeper into thought about it.
As I pulled into the Wildcat parking lot at Alta it was all I could do to contain myself. There were about five other cars there and I was working hard to distinguish which ones were the vehicles of dawn patrolers and which were the ones of the Alta staff. At any rate, I was stoked to see others up there getting after it.
As I got out of my truck, I turned around to retrieve my skies from the back,and was suddenly faced with the most welcoming image I could ever imagine. There, gracefully hanging above a snow dusted Superior was a full moon. As if to illuminate the path of the season to come. It was at this very moment that I took a huge breath in as if to taste the energy of the winter ahead.
Breaking trail
The next two hours was filled with skinning, boot packing, and in general huffing and puffing to get the best of every last vertical foot I could gain before my 8:15am turn around time. The time when I would get to slash my first turns and make my way down to the office to meet up with Tyler and Connie to discuss the up coming season and find out whether I would, yet again get to be part of the Alta athlete program.
Not Bad for October
8:15 hit just as I had reached the top of one of the many shoots around the Eagles Nest. Looking around it was hard to believe that it was only October 5th, but then again we do live in Utah. So I hopped into my skis threw on my goggles, thanked my new friend Nate (who I met at the base) for breaking trail and took my first turns, and that’s when it happened. The snow was light and deep. It swirled around me as I entered the steeper choke of the chute and just as I dropped my knee the white fluff enveloped my face and kissed it, as if to say “welcome back, Shaun”.
With about 700 vertical feet of powder skiing behind me I headed into the Alta office to meet up with Connie and Tyler. Then it was off to Ogden and Snow Basin to meet up with Chad Spector to work on this last minute photo shoot for Mountain Sports & Living Magazine.
The tracks
The afternoon was spectacular. Meeting new people, running around in the mountains, laughing through cheesy photos and remembering why we all live the lives we do, was an incredible way to start the season.
As I headed home, exhausted from a fun day of play and a little bit of productive work, I began to think about all that lay in the season ahead… I can’t wait!