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Speaking of avalanche conditions, we had our first fatality of the season Saturday evening, on Gobbler's Knob, between Big Cottonwood Canyon to the south and Mill Creek Canyon to the north. Photos and detailed explanation at: http://www.avalanche.org/%7Euac/photos/Images02-03/Gobblers_2-15-03/Gobblers.htm Trib story at: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/feb/02162003/utah/30070.asp A more generalized story about the avi conditions this year: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/feb/02172003/utah/30282.asp [last two links active till around 2/24] Sunday was a wild day at Alta. It didn't start snowing till around noon-ish, but the day started with crappy visibility that got worse, fog, about 2" overnight snow atop crusts that closed some large areas of terrain, and blowing snow....lots of blowing snow. Steady 30 mph from the south gusting to 60. Germania was shut down at 11:30 as it required double polling and strong skating to get off the chair into the wind. They were also running it at 1/3 speed. I put in my morning and left - it was pretty unpleasant. That afternoon we got 8" of graupel, some hail, and thunderstorms. Towers on the Supreme lift were hit by lightening - a needlessly exciting ride for the folks on the lift at the time. Yesterday was pure sweetness. If you knew how the winds were blowing and know how some of the terrain catches snow, you could find a foot of new styrofoam balls. I've never seen the High T so smooth and (relatively) rock free. Saw one guy launch off the side of Pyramid Rock on East Greeley, dropping it at about the 30' high mark. -marc www.mchrusch.com Direct link to my weblog page: http://home.earthlink.net/~mchrusch/blog/blogger.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont. To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html