Posted by Photo-John on May 12, 2015
The lifts have stopped and the 2014/15 ski season is officially over in Utah – for the resorts, anyway. There’s still snow up there and it looks like more is on the way. So for those skiers who are willing to earn their turns, there are probably a few good days left. I was at Alta on closing day, on the job as the resort’s POD (Pic of the Day) shooter. The Alta site only allows a few POD images so most of what I shot came home with me. It would be a shame to let all of my closing day photos go to waste, though. So I present to you, Alta Closing Day 2015. Please to enjoy.
It’s always good when there’s snow in the Alta parking lot. It’s extra special when there’s fresh snow on closing day.
Usually closing day is sunny and slushy and it’s all about the bikini photos. Not this year, though. We got snow on Saturday and Sunday and closing day was a legit powder day. No, it wasn’t blower pow and it was probably the foggiest day of the season. But I didn’t hear anyone complaining about skiing spring hero snow on closing day. It was a very fun day that should leave everyone with good memories, and looking forward to November.
Wildcat was supposed to be closed but there enough people and enough fresh snow that they decided to open it up for some bonus pow laps. This is what it looked like before lunch, before the fog turned everything to milky soup.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get any action shots on closing day. I was too anxious to get party photos and get in a few pow runs of my own. When I did get around to shooting some actual ski photos the fog had descended and visibility was down to about 25 feet. After making it safely back to the bottom in the whiteout, I decided to call it a day and get as many parking lot party photos as possible.
That’s Mt. Superior in the background. Or rather, it isn’t. The fog was so thick in the afternoon that you couldn’t see a thing.
Booze donations for the lifties at the base of Collins lift. Don’t worry – no one was drinking on the job 🙂
Thanks for a great 2014/15 season! I hope you enjoy all the Alta closing day photos in the gallery, below. Let’s hope next year is better with more plentiful snow and lots of over-the-head powder days 🙂
If you like this gallery, check out my 2014 Brighton closing day photos. Last year, closing day at Brighton was on Easter Sunday, which also happened to be 4/20. That was a hell of a party!