Alta, UT Conditions Report: Big Face-Shots on November 5th...

1458713_10152323717948056_911259042_n 2 — Alta, UT. November 5th, 2013. photo: Carl Heath

by Liza Sarychev. all photos by Carl Heath from November 5th, 2013 at Alta, UT

Waking up to a half-inch of snow in downtown SLC is never a bad sign when you’re about to go skiing. As we drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon the excitement grows. We park on about 7 inches of fresh. Two hours later, atop the skin track, it looks more like a foot… A foot of the cold smoke Utah is known for.

This is a photograph of a skier at Alta on November 5th. Whoa... — This is a photograph of a skier at Alta on November 5th. Whoa… photo: Carl Heath

Same shot, zoomed out. photo: Carl Heath

Carl Heath was brave enough to go first. Dropping off the backside of Alta into the southeast facing zone, Gargoyles, he scraped rocks about every turn. The rest of us watched intently and then quickly put our skins on and traversed back to the northwest facing.

1419968_10152323717963056_1843356539_n — Alta, UT. November 5th, 2013. photo: Carl Heath

Catherine’s Area. Catherine’s Area had plenty of bottomless turns and over the head face shots. The thought that this might be on par with my Japan days definitely crossed my mind…. But I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.