Frankly, this ad in a major ski magazine made me laugh outloud, then I cried. Anyone else notice? The red markup was added by me, as were the tear edges. I was thinking of slogans the ad copy writers could have come up with, such as “Alta, where you don’t have to turn on the low angled groom, and you can point at the imaginary untracked powder above.” Perhaps the distant tracked up powder simply didn’t resolve in the ad when it was printed? Or only the Photoshopper knows for sure? Or everything at Alta was closed when they took the photo — except for that strip of corduroy?
Alta, where nobody skis powder, they just stay on the groom and point at it. (Image used in derivative work, to illustrate opinion writing.)
The two figures are of course taken from a historical photo that shows two skiers at Alta pointing up at High Rustler.
Clyde Anderson 1940s photo the figures above were pulled from, markup by me on the derivative work, to compare the advertisement with the original image, for opinion writing, educational purposes, and reporting.
I love the Wasatch and I love Alta (the fluffy Alta, anyway), sorry to see this desecration.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
