After March bringing some snow to the Wasatch, a little know area 3 hours South of Salt Lake called Eagle Point had been quietly getting pounded with up to 60″of powder! No big deal for some, and since the Cottonwoods are so close and getting there own reset, why care?
But Eagle Point is closed Monday till Thursday, so I ventured down there Wednesday night and got a ride in/ride out condo for $59.00 a night (cheaper than the Motel 6 in town), a $30.00 lift pass, and then waited till the 9:30am opening to find a
solid settled layer of at least 3 FEET OF FRESH POW.
Encouraged by the fact that there were only 2 other cars in the parking lot after a hot tub session the night before, I wondered if there would be a crowd in the morning…
The next morning broke with blue bird conditions and cold air. The day before was very cold and allowed the snow to settle without getting wet and heavy. The extra half hour wait till opening was a nice buffer, so I drove to the top parking area and got a top to bottom warm up lap on a low trajectory fun run. Sure enough, it was deep and fluffy and I knew it was going to be a memorable day. When I got to the base of the Lookout Chair, there were 2 skiers there who were surprised to see other people.
With a few minutes to spare, I did a quick wax job and then the the loading began with all of 8 riders in line which was a “crowd” according to the locals. I was on 2nd chair as I neared the top I looked back down the lift line and counted about 18 on the lift and a North facing steep pitch of fresh powder below. Since I was riding a Lib Tech Birdman 180 swallowtail, getting stuck in deep snow was not a concern.
As the first 2 skiers got off and hit the deep stuff they started to struggle, but thanks to the speed and convenience of riding Shimano Clicker Bindings, I blew right by them for first tracks down the fall line with enough speed to be blowing over head on every turn. As I got to the bottom, there no one in line so I didn’t even bother getting out of my back binding and rode right on to the pick up platform for run 2.
With such low competition for lines I started to venture out taking the 30 degree pitch hoodoos run a couple of times, then moving down the ridge to the drop were I was able to get 3 top to bottom, un-tracked runs in before anyone else bothered to go there. By all accounts, an epic day was underway.
By 1pm I was starting to lose count of the number of runs and vertical feet I had taken, but the Aleve was keeping fatigue at bay. You never realize how much easier it is when you don’t hit others tracks.
Come 2 pm, I decided to go to the other side of the resort and check out the tree glades since it’s a primarily low trajectory area where the beginners don’t go in the trees, and even at 3 pm, I was still finding wide swaths of un-tracked tree runs, top to bottom. 4:30pm arrived and it was apparent it was last chair. I realized it was the first time in 15 years I had ridden first to last chair in a day, and I would have taken more if they would have let me! There was still un-tracked powder EVERYWHERE, so once I was at the top and the chair stopped running, I decided to do one more top to bottom run knowing the local shuttle bus would take me back up to the car at the top parking lot.
All totaled, I got somewhere between 32 and 35 epic un-tracked runs in a 7 hour period.
Outside of heli-boarding in Alaska, this was by far my best powder day in at least 5 years. Not only for the quality of snow but the relaxing, non-competitive nature of getting un-tracked top to bottom runs.
It’s been a full week since this day came and went, and now that my finger is on the publish button, I’m still debating heavily before posting this as it’s one of Utah’s best kept secrets. I’m not sure I want anyone other than friends knowing about it, but I realize there’s not that many slush surfers out there and even fewer who read this post!
– Shred Johnson
