Ski Southeast Messageboard

With two days off before the busy Presidents Week holiday period, it was a great chance to get out and explore. My first stop was Snowbasin, which had received 6" the day before and 1" overnight. Leaving from PC it was mostly clear, but upon arrival there was dense cloud cover at about 9000'. Looking at No-Name Peak and Hells Canyon to the right:







Snowbasin is a Utah resort I've been at fewer than six times and never when it's clear or bluebird. Finding some fresh in Wheelers:







On the subsequent lap, I made my way over to Strawberry Lift. The plan was to hike and ski DeMoisey Peak, Stawberry Peak, and Middle Bowl Cirque. I should have checked with patrol/info and saved the trip over because all of terrain was closed!







Visibility=fail:







So back to John Paul. But I did find this fun and steep little chute on the way back:







At the lift, I met up with some guys who were locals and were headed into Hell's Canyon, an adjacent backcountry area to SB. I had all my kit on me, our philosophies meshed, and they agreed to show me around over there:







A typical view:







We backed out of this one, looked tempting, but Hells Canyon is notorious for fatal slides and close calls, with one already this year:







A baby one, which we didn't trigger:







This chute isn't as bad as it looked:







Soon there appeared to be some breaks in the cloud cover. Looking NNW over Ogden:







Panorama looking N with Pow Mow on the rt side of pic and Ben Lomond the major peak in the center:







Looking down towards SB base lodge. Honest-to-God their bathrooms put DV's to shame:







Looking back SSE across Hells Canyon:







Looking back up at HC from the bottom:







Bounced at 2:30 for my night job in PC, and had to work on Super Bowl Sunday

But still a great day and thanks to Matt & Kyle for showing me some safe lines.



Enjoy!!!

@rvrscum 207228 wrote:Looking down towards SB base lodge. Honest-to-God their bathrooms put DV's to shame:



And people think I'm kidding when I put "Go poo at Snowbasin" on list of must do things in UT.



BTW, I've never seen more than about 30ft of Snowbasin at any one time.

that log looks beyond "tempting" in the 8th picture. i would've had to go after it with freshies underneath for a nice soft landing. sweet pics. would like to get a day or two of snowbasin under the belt at some point in the next few years.

Snowbasin is #1 on my list of UT resorts that I have to ski next time I'm out there. The landscape there looks so interesting and different, and some of the terrain looks amazing. Maybe later this winter....

I <3 Snowbasin, got to ski it on a warm day last March where slush was persistent... still super fun

@rvrscum 207228 wrote:The plan was to hike and ski DeMoisey Peak,



[img]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r133 ... 1265746502[/img]



I'da preferred Hel l s with people who know, given the choice. Great pics!

@teledave 207232 wrote:And people think I'm kidding when I put "Go poo at Snowbasin" on list of must do things in UT.



BTW, I've never seen more than about 30ft of Snowbasin at any one time.



I've driven by Snowbasin several times on bluebird days because I had a Pow Mow fetish. Plan on devoting more time there for sure. Both are awesome places to explore, with something for any experience level. Those elegant marble floors in the crappers are hell on plastic, wet ski boots. You have been warned!

@carvebeast 207259 wrote:that log looks beyond "tempting" in the 8th picture. i would've had to go after it with freshies underneath for a nice soft landing. sweet pics. would like to get a day or two of snowbasin under the belt at some point in the next few years.



Yes it looked inviting, but the 40 deg or so pitch behind it and the run out zone were the problems, plus the snow stacked up behind it, ready for a trigger. Several major players in the Utah BC scene have been involved in slides of late, including avy forecasters and others who get more than 100 days a year of touring. This day the rating was moderate with pockets of considerable danger on NW-N-NE slopes, especially in the Ogden mtns. This was that pocket!!! My "Spider-Sense" definitely tingled on this slope.

@Ga tom 207356 wrote:[img]http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r133 ... 1265746502[/img]



I'da preferred Hel l s with people who know, given the choice. Great pics!



I only made one trip to SB last year, and everything off trail was frozen death cookie/crust, but I still found excellent snow up there in those chutes and the cirque. I was going to post a TR, but I didn't charge my camera and it died. Here's the one shot I got from up there, looking west over Ogden, Hill AFB, and Antelope Island:

@teledave 207232 wrote:And people think I'm kidding when I put "Go poo at Snowbasin" on list of must do things in UT.



BTW, I've never seen more than about 30ft of Snowbasin at any one time.



+1 on both counts...