More snow hiking since the last post and probably more after this one as we continue to rope people in by making foot equipment appear at the correct times. All the trips so far have been at Brighton Ski Resort, Big Cottonwood Canyon, east of Sandy, UT. That is all we dare to do right now - I am not sure what we would be into risk-wise right now if we went off into remote territory, and concern about risk tends to diminish the fun. Maybe someday. This really is all about how not to be CRABBY about everything but a little slice of summer. By doing outdoor stuff during more of the year, we reduce the likelihood that Dadson will be quite so crabby about other activities in the summer. The only time that is not really usable for outdoor now is the spring when the snow is horribly inconsistent and therefore totally in the way of non-snow foot travel.
I will now stop right here and make a couple of correlations of Summer vs Winter place names... Ready? OK
- There are actually two sections at Brighton: Millicent and Majestic
- Majestic section is the big main area served by the Majestic, Crest, Explorer Lift system
- Majestic section adjoins the Lake Mary/Martha/Catherine basin and also SnakeCreek and Clayton
- Mt Majestic in Winter is Clayton Peak in Summer
- The unsused Lift equipment above the Lake Mary Trail in Summer belongs to the Crest Lift and run system
- The Crest Lift area is what we now call the Freeway.
- There actually is a traverse run called Lower Mary. I think that is the one we use to get to Dog lake.
- The Crest Lift goes to the Snake Creek Pass area except that the skiers do not call it that.
- The whole SHE-BANG is lighted at night and much used
- The Millicent section is the side area adjacent to the NorthWest of the parking lot, aka the Twin Lake basin
- Mt Millicent and Mt Evergreen are the same in Summer and Winter
- Since Twin Lakes is covered in snow it is out of area boundary and not identified to skiers
- The Twin Lakes trail is the main Millicent ski run system, covered with 6-8 feet of snow
- The Area is NOT lighted at night and so closes at dusk for skiing.
We have now found out by trial and error what all the skiers probably know already - that the runs served by the Majestic (Quad), Crest, and Explorer Lifts are lighted at night. So by extension, the resort does not care that they have various people running around in those areas event until evening, and there are a lot of people so they cannot possibly keep track of them all and therefore, one is left alone to wander.
We say this because we had different results when we tried the Millicent area on this last trip. See above note regarding lack of lighting, hence no Night Skiing at Milly. Since there is no night skiing they close the mountain at 1700. By extension they appear to want to kick everyone off the mountain; We were not all that sure about the actual possibility of this close the mountain thing -- How does one do that? It is big, it is out of doors. it is on Forest Service territory, which is Public land ... It is .. well, A mountain, sort of. Apparently this kicking users off is meant to pass for this close the mountain thing , I surmise..... Also, staff at Millicent Base Lift station are what James describes as TERRITORIAL. So, in a word, we were nibbled to death by resort personnel at various intervals:
At the lift boarding area by lift operations people,
Near the top of the hill by ski patrol, and
by the hinting presence of a SnowCat with engine running further up.
We did get to Twin Lake dam. Mt Evergreen would have been too much risky snow due to slope or we would have done it.
The route was straight up the hill at a high angle and we toe kicked a whole lot. The cleats (actually called crampons by the MSR folks) were indispensable and imperative on this trip. It was a massive workout - it got James tired and that is saying something. It was nevertheless still very COOL in my view. By the time we got to the top, James was tired and weary of the nibbling (comments like "you have to go way over there on the unsafe snow away from our ski run", and "when I ski down there will be no one above me or you and you will be on your own" ("We hang round up here profusely in Summer, know our way round and are profusely equipped" says James), and finally "Rumble, rumble, rumble, putt, putt, humm, whirr - approximately the sound made by the SnowCat as its driver says nothing directly but hints by its presence for the walkers to GO AWAY so that the SnowCat can do whatever it is up there to do - we never found out - perhaps the run needed grooming.
So we touched the Dam, took a few camera shots (which we for some reason cannot upload, sorry) and got the heck down.
I originally projected that this post would be short in addition to not having pictures. Apparently I cannot write anything short, I guess. There nevertheless are no pictures.
And there it is... The endeavor convenes on the next Saturday with good weather....
