Powder day at Alta

I would not usually report on a day of resort skiing on this blog but I have to report on today. I hooked up with Craig and Liz. The plan was to meet at the LCC park and ride at 9. LCC was way backed up with cars. We made it to Alta and to our first lift ride by 11. The plan was to head straight for the Supreme lift. Supreme was still closed so we rode Collins and then over to Sugarloaf. The lift operator told us that the Supreme lift was open so we headed there. Signs were posted that said the lift was closed but yes it was open. We got into some fantastic powder skiing in the runs close to the lift. Plenty of snow hitting our faces as we skied. One time I plowed through a drift and I could feel the snow slamming into my chest. Another time I was breathing in and sucked down a mouth full of snow. At about 2 we went to the Watson lodge for lunch. I didn't add to my elevation totals today since I rode the lift but we still did a bit of hiking and traversing to get to some of the runs we were seeking. The worst was the traverse from the Sugerloaf lift to the Collins lift on our way to lunch. It was snowing hard, the wind was howling and in our faces. My arms were dead at the end of it from pushing myself with my poles. Liz asked me if I knew what Alta stood for?

A = another
L = long
T = traverse
A = again

We certainly did our fair share of long traversing. We skied the rest of the day off the Collins lift. Craig wanted to show me some of his favorite chutes around High Rustler and the Eagles Nest. I was skiing terrain that pushed me to my limits. It was such a hard day of skiing that my thighs started to cramp. On the last run of the day I had to stop a few times to work the cramps out. Craig was kind enough to give me some pointers on my skiing technique. He was able to ski the terrain with much less effort than I. I was begging for some guidance. It was a real clinic in skiing the steep stuff. At the end of the day of skiing I was totally spent. Since the canyon road conditions were bad and all the traffic we stayed at the lodge and had a pizza. I got home after 9:30.

Little Cottonwood

Today I hiked up from Alta to the pass that looks into Mill D-South just west of Flagstaff. Then I skinned on up the next peak to the west. At the top there were glorious views of Superior, the Pfeifferhorn and all the peaks around Alta and Snowbird. The Powderbird helicopter was dropping skiers off in the Cardiff area. There were getting some nice low angle pow from their drop to the drainage. It was satisfying to be higher than they were at their drop. It was a beautiful sunny day and I hiked in my shirt and baseball hat. There wasn't much wind at the ridge either. I originally thought that I might hike up Superior but again my lack of knowledge about where to start put me in the wrong drainage. I tried to boot on down the west side of the ridge but it became a drop off so I booted back up to the peak. I debated skiing off to the north and then out to Big Cottonwood canyon but would then be in need of a shuttle back up LCC to get my car. At the peak there was a nice and steep couloir to the southeast. The snow was good in the center of the gully but as you got the edges the snow became crusty. The soft snow was deeper that I would have guessed and made the turns fun and tiring. After I got out of the steep section the snow became increasingly more difficult to turn in. Near the end of my run I was just traversing back and forth across the snow as I had absolutely no control in the crusty conditions. I crashed a couple of times on the way down re-torquing my left ankle. I lost my right ski twice but the left ski never came off. Maybe I need to ease the DIN on the left ski. My left ankle is pretty sore. I hope it doesn't slow me down as there is killer storm coming in tomorrow and I hope to get out on Thursday after it dumps. It should be epic.

Wet - Big Cottonwood

Forrest and I did the dawn patrol today. We met at LCC but the canyon was closed for avalanche work. We drove to BCC to meet and drive up to the Spruces. Our plan was to hike to the spot above Green's Basin where we had hiked before. We drove up the canyon in the dark. We were some of the first skiers/hikers in the parking lot. All the other skiers that we saw were headed across the road to start their hike. I quickly realized that I had left my skins in the car at the park and ride. Forrest was kind enough to drive me back down to get them. With the delay of LCC being closed and my skins forgetfulness we started hiking about an hour late. We were breaking trail pretty much all the way up too. We didn't make it to our goal when I ran out of time. We got a few nice turns in up high on a north aspect where the snow was soft enough. As we got lower and as we traversed onto more westerly facing slopes the snow became more dense and was very difficult to turn in. We skied a little too low and ended up in the Spruces campground group area then hiked to the parking lot. Great workout but the skiing was not too good.

LCC in BCC

I hiked today with Craig and Candice in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We met at the park and ride and drove on up to the Spruces campground parking lot. We hiked up the Days Fork trail under sunny and calm but cool weather. We then skinned off Days Fork to the east and onto a ridge taking us above Green's Basin. As we hiked along the west and south aspects of the hill the conditions were icy with only about 6 inches of really light powder with a hard crust under it. Thankfully, as we made our way up we got to look at the aspect that we would be skiing. It was some very nice powder over a foot deep. Near the transition area we had some excellent views of Mt. Superior. When we got to the transition point we noticed only a couple of other tracks in the ski run. It was a great powder shot. Craig was whooping it up Frankie style. I had a smile on my face that's still there. The sun was pretty low in the sky by time we got to Green's Basin so a second lap was out of the question. Dang.

Here is a video of us in the parking lot getting ready.


Here is a video of C and C hiking.


Continuing our hike by bushwhacking through the aspens.


After the hiking - now the skiing. Great powder day.


Candice skis the trees.


Pretty nice!

Twin Lakes Pass

Brett and I did our first Dawn Patrol today. It had been snowing during the evening and was still snowing lightly this morning. We met at Brett's office early and drove up LCC together. This was Brett's first time out on his new AT set-up. We skinned up Grizzly Gulch with the plan to hike to the top of Patsy-Marley. By the time we made the Twin Lakes pass we had run out of time. During the transition we observed 2 ski patrolmen from Solitude doing some avalanche work. The low angle ski out through the new snow was big fun. Brett said he had never skied in powder like this. We planned to do a dawn patrol at least once a week for the rest of the season. We also decided that we need to start earlier so we can get to better, steeper skiing.

Basic Avalanche - field work

I met the club at the Butler Elementary parking lot at 9am this morning. We broke into like groups (I went with the ski/snowboard group) to go to our site for field work. Our group had about 8 folks in it. We carpooled up to the Spruces parking area and started with beacon training and practice near the parking lot. The instructor taught us about beacon use and then we practiced searching for the beacon he would hide in the snow behind a stand of trees so we couldn't see him hiding the device. After each recovery we would debrief what had gone well and what we could have done better. Each time we improved our procedures as we worked on more difficult burials. The last time we searched the guide had buried the beacon right up next to a tree. It took a bit longer to find the beacon even though we had good readings from our beacons. After beacon review we started on a ski tour up Days Fork. The guide would point out what to watch for and how to select appropriate and safe routes. Some members of the group were new to ski touring. The guy I carpooled with Forrest, it was his first time ski touring with his AT gear. We forked off of the Days Fork trail to the east and then up a ridge for a wonderful powder shot through some aspen trees. This was the deepest powder I had skied in this year. It was real fun. The ski ended at Green Basin. Some of the group skinned back up to ski it again. I wanted to real bad but my ride back to Butler Elementary wanted to ski out. The guide said to just follow a skin track out which we did. It put us out to Big Cottonwood Canyon Road about 1 mile from the Spruces. We carried our skis back to the parking lot for the ride down the canyon. This was a real good learning and skiing experience. I traded phone numbers with some of the group so we could tour together again. Here is basically the trail we took up.

Avalanche Basics

I attended an evening Basic Avalanche course through the Wasatch Mountain Club that I have just recently joined. This is the first of a two part Basic Avalanche course. The session was held at a church near 3900 South and 3000 East. The presenter was from the Utah Avalanche Center. It turned out to be the director Bruce Tremper who is the author of a booked that I had purchased a few months earlier entitled "How to Survive in Avalanche Country". He had a video and a powerpoint presentation. The session was incredibly informative and will help me make real good decision about winter backcountry travel. The second part of the training will be field work on Saturday.

Patsey - Marley

Craig, Candice and I hiked up Grizzly Gulch to the Twin Lakes pass and then on to the peak just north of Mt. Wolverine. There was about 6-9 inches of new snow that was very skiable. We skied the main run, the wide open bowl off the north east aspect. There were a few track before us but it was still real fun. We then skied back through the trees and then to the skin track. After we got back to the Albion Basin summer road we skied onto the resort near the Sunnyside lift and waited for Scott. Candice hiked back to her car. Craig and I skied with Scott on the Sunnyside lift until the lift closed. We got 3 chairlift runs in. Craig gave Scott some good advice to help improve his skiing skills.

Sunnyside Laps

Scott got a new backcountry set mounted up last night so we went to Alta to hike up the Albion Basin summer road first thing this morning. We started at 8 am and did three laps up the road skiing back through the groomed easy runs. Scott needed to get used to his new stuff. Our legs were pretty tired on the last lap. We climbed about 3,000 feet total and made it home by Noon.

Weather Station Peak

Craig, Frankie and I planned originally to hike up grizzly Gulch but with the avalanche forecast rating at low we decided to hike the Weather Station Peak just east of Little Superior. The view from the Alta parking lot of the nice track in the southwest face were very inviting. The sun was out and it was even warmer than yesterday.The southwest face of the peak was in the shade. To our amatuer thinking the shade would protect the snow and make it better to turn in. We moved our vehicles down a little to be closer to the face we would be hiking to. We started hiking and I quickly realised that we should have moved our car's down further as we had to cross several small gullies. We were hiking is our shirts and were still working up a pretty good sweat. At about 9,500 feet the sun went behind a cloud and the wind started to pick up. We put our shells on and continued to traverse northwest. We hit the pass at 10,000 feet and then skinned up a couple hundred more feet for our transition to skiing.



After this ski we traversed back to the cars through stiff and crusty snow. Happy Birthday Craig!

White Pine trail to Tri-Chutes

Tom C took me on the White Pine trail up to the Tri-Chutes area. This was the very first ski tour I ever did back in 2007 on rented equipment. It brought back some good memories. The White Pine trail is nice low pitch skin up a summer road to the Tri-Chutes area. We had the benefit of well used skin track that also suggested that the new snow we were hoping to find would probably be tracked out. The hike really begins as you zig-zag up to the point you select for your ski run. There was lot's of fresh, light snow after last Sunday's dump but the warm weather stiffened up the snow and made for more difficult turns. As we skied back into the trees the snow conditions improved and made for better turns. I had some of my best powder turns ever on these short 5 to 8 turn shots. We started hiking about 1 and got back to the car at 4:30ish. No photos of the trip this time which is probably a good thing. I had forgotten my shell jacket so I packed the jacket that I wear to the bus stop. It looks like a trench coat with a hood on it. Tom said I looked like "the Bystander" from an old Go Fish card game his kids had when they were young. "the Bystander" was one of the pairs of cards in the game.

Honeycomb Cliffs

Craig and I hiked up the canyon toward the Honeycomb cliffs on Friday afternoon. It was warm and the snow was melting. There was really brisk winds blowing and as we got higher we were hiking on some crusty snow. We had some nice views at the top and then skied down. The snow wasn't as nice as it was on Wednesday. Consequently I fell 3 times. I was also hiking with a new backpack. It carries the weight a little lower on my back so that may have thrown me off a little too. We had a good time hiking and skiing together. Hopefully there will be new snow to ski on next time out. The avalanche forecast is calling for a big dump over the next few days taking the danger to high. It may be a while before we venture into the back country. Slackcountry will be the rule.

Grizzly Gulch

Tom goes retro with his old telemark setup. All his skis were in the shop getting tuned for the season. Tom invited his friend Pete and the 3 of us hiked toward Twin Lakes Pass. Tom stopped a couple of times along the way to dig a snow trench and test the snow. There were 3 distinct layers. They had all bonded nicely. Then yesterday it blew like crazy so there was some additional snow on top in some spots that had not bonded. Snow depth was about 3 feet on the north aspect and about 2 and a half on the south aspect. It was a pretty safe day to be in the backcountry.


Me at the top of the ridge near the Honeycomb Cliffs. Little Cottonwood Canyon in the backgound.



We got some nice turns in through the tree. The snow was deepest in the gullies.

Back to Catherine's on Veteran's Day

Craig W. and his daughter Candice got new BC ski gear and were ready to take their first tour. We met at the end of Little Cottonwood road and started hiking up toward the Catherine's area at about 2:20. I forgot to say that Frankie was with Craig and hiked with us for about an hour. He had to get back to meeting so he skied back just after we got past the top of the Albion lift. The weather provided foggy and cold conditions. Nothing too bad until we got to the top of the ridge above Catherine's Pass. Craig and Candice did super on their new gear. Craig had a little trouble with his binding releasing as we were hiking. We'll have to look into that. We skied the So Long run. It was pretty cut up but the snow was still light and soft. Craig and Candice have great skills when it comes to going down and they seemed to really be enjoying themselves. We were back to the cars and on our way down the canyon by 5. I hope we get another storm soon.

Catherine's Area

We woke up Tuesday to some rain mixed with snow in parts of the valley. This was bad news for commuters but great news for me as I was planning a little hike with Tom later that morning. We started hiking at 11:00am and were at the summit to the northeast of the Supreme lift at Alta by 12:15pm. We were getting snowed on at the start of the hike but the sun peeped out a couple of times. We got a killer powder shot on So Long and were tempted to continue laps on that run. We both had to get back to other things so we skied out. It was a gorgeous day with really nice early season powder. The temperature was a bit cooler than my last outing and we were down right cold by the time we got back to the car. Back to the office in a suit and tie by 1:30.

More hiking at Alta

Tom C. and I planned to hike on the White Pine trail. We started hiking at 1:45ish and could quickly tell that the snow had melted away too much to hike in very far without damaging our skis. Tom wanted to go on this trail because his friend Pat had already gone in on the trail and Tom wanted to meet up with her. We met her coming out after about a 1/2 hour of hiking. I took my skis off and carried them out. We got back to the trailhead at 3. Pat went on home but Tom and I drove up to Alta. We hiked corkscrew and on up to the top of the Collins lift (about 2,000 feet of vertical). I used my Dynafit setup today. They climbed very well. The snow was beginning to harden as the sun was going behind the peaks to the west. Just about to the top we saw a couple of skiers in a couloir. The snow looked good as they skied their tight turns. They only got about 10 turns in the couloir. We got to the top after about an hour and fifteen minutes of climbing. It was icy the top half of the ski down but the snow softened as we descended. My turns were sluggish and my thighs burned but it felt great to be skiing. The views were great as well. Here is a picture of me at the top with Mount Superior behind me.

2010-2011 Ski Season Begins Now

I thought I would list my skiing adventures on this blog for the 2010-2011 ski season. Last Wednesday October 27th we were blasted with snow. There was snow on the ground in the valley and a ton up at the resorts. I should have headed on up Wednesday but ended up going Thursday afternoon. I wanted to try out the Black Diamond Ethic skis I had picked up at the end of last season. They are short at 158cm and are equiped with telemark bindings. I had a set of skins that fit them nicely. I left the office at 3:09 and was hiking by 3:40pm. There was more snow than my first outing last December. I hiked to the top of the Sunnyside lift at Alta and skied back to the car through the resort. I had a couple of tough spots on the way up as the bindings don't have climbing wires. It was a short outing and I was on my way back down the canyon at 5:09pm.