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.