Day 22 Snowbird - The Aerial Flyer

I made it to the Peruvian Express by 9:45am. No excuses just found it a bit hard to get motivated. The day was kinda overcast, flat light, and I've done a lot of skiing. Before leaving on this trip I wasn't sure if the body would hold up for 20 odd days skiing but it's done pretty well. Today was my 18th day on snow.
The tram was closed again, although it didn't feel very windy. Fifty metres up the hill we heard an unmistakeable noise. The sleeping giant was being awoken from its slumber. They were firing up the Aerial Flyer.
The tag line for today could have been Double Black Diamond, or Off Piste Heaven, or Chuting up in Snowbird, because I skied off piste double black faces and chutes all day. It was a very full day. But the Aerial Flyer was pretty special.

Alta customs and immigration at top of Mineral Basin

So we'll skip the first three or four runs down the steep walls of Baldy's Bowl, the next bowl over from Peruvian Bowl, kinda like having two Mt Hutts side by side. I had started the day off content to do ski instructor type turns on the groomed, flat light, sore body and all that. My turns took me down to Creekside at the far right of the area because I hadn't yet been there. I rode the Gadzoom High Speed Quad into Gad Valley (Breckenridge could learn a few things from Snowbird) with a very nice local girl who responded to my praise of her ski resort by saying I should ride Little Cloud Lift to the top because there would be great soft snow on the shady faces of Baldys Bowl. I did and there was.

Baldys Bowl. Nice pitch, awesome snow.

Baldys Bowl

The snow was sublime. It was like skiing the Towers at Mt Hutt a few days after a storm when the snow has packed down but is still soft and you just sink into it. Ego snow.

Hamilton Cliffs in Mineral Basin

Satisfied got down Hamilton in one piece.

Snowbird has some really amazing terrain, and the best thing about it....no bumps. There are bumps but there's a ton of smooth, steep off piste terrain. Something we couldn't seem to find at any of the other places we visited.

So that was the first three or four runs that I wasn't gonna tell you about. After those three of four, or five or six runs I headed to the bottom to take a fun ride on the tram.

And what an experience it was.

The Snowbird tram has a capacity of 125 skiers. It is massive.

One of the most striking things about it is that it travels above the resort. The towers are so high you're looking down on the resort the whole time. It's like being in a helicopter. The tram runs above Peruvian Gulch. As you're gliding to the top you can look across at the Peruvian Gulch ridge line and watch people dropping off the ridge into the chutes below. When the tram blasts past the towers it dips and sways gently like a cruise liner ploughing through a swell.

The most striking thing about riding the tram however, is the din from 125 skiers all talking at the same time...as only Americans can.

In addition to being a pretty spectacular way to access the top of the mountain the tram opens up some amazing terrain along the walls of Peruvian Gulch.

It took me a while to pluck up the courage to drop into one of the chutes off Cirque Traverse (the ridge above Peruvian Gulch) but once in, the snow was superb and the slope comfortably steep. It was such an adrenalin rush, I rode the tram back up and skied it again.

Middle Cirque accessed from the tram. I skied this baby twice.

Looking down from Baldys Bowl.

As you can probably tell from the pics it didn't stay grey and overcast for too long. Turned out to be a very nice day. Overall I'm very impressed with Snowbird. It's got it all, amazing terrain, terrific snow given the drought conditions, and a functional no frills base area. Terrain and snow wise it would be my pick of all the resorts we've visited.