February 21, 2005, Solitude,UT-WOW

WOW, what an incredible powder day. We returned to Solitude to be there when the gates to Honeycomb Canyon opened. It was sunny, 18 degrees and there was only a trace of new overnight. The report was that Honeycomb would open with 22" of powder available since the storm began and it was all untracked. We were on chair 4 and had to cycle 2 groomers until the Navarone gate opened. Justin, Jill and I were the second group to dart thru the gate into Honeycomb and began a powerfest that lasted until 2:30pm. We kept traversing new lines each run and skied untracked all day. This was the busiest weekend of the year but the longest lift line at Solitude for us was 3 chairs. We met employees from Park City and season pass holders from Alta. They all confrmed that on powder days Solitude has the smallest crowds and and shortest lines whenever Honeycomb is open. Justin skied with us for a couple hours and then linked up with 3 local pinheads. We saw him at 12:30pm as Jill and I were starting round 2. The local boys ran Justin through the powder stashes and when we saw him he was done. The powder was embedded in his beard and around his goggles. His grin was enormous. The forecast is for more snow tomorrow but the quantity of this storm will be less then the recent dump. We're getting spoiled. <br>Zap