Ski Southeast Messageboard

3/19, 496 Inches for the Season at Alta



Arrived in the land of Utardia Friday night the 18, the next morning began with a skin up Scotties bowl outside of Snowbird. Snow was terrible, everything refrozen. Skiing_rules (Walker) went ahead and dug a pit out of boredom and interest, then we skied back down the car. Not a prodigious start. I skinned up Grizzly gulch that afternoon for some exercise, and it had begun to snow heavily. Made a few nice mellow solo turns and returned to the Snowpine at Alta, where I was staying and skiing_rules has made his home for the winter.



3/20, 508



Over the course of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning it snowed something like 14 inches. All the pow days are kind of running together at this point. I think I skied inbounds that day, shredding pow with some Snowpine guests and then Walker after he got off work. I think.



3/21, 517



Storm total was up to 21 inches. It was deep, but resort had been tracked and there was a break in the weather. Walker and I skinned up the most grim skintrack ever, ice and sastrugi and all manners of terrible. The wind had picked up and we knew slabs were going to be an issue, so we decided to hit some sheltered trees in Days Fork. Good decision:







Vision was grim, and not because of the nuking snow:







Walker just skiing some pow:











What a photo$lut:







Powpowwwwwww:







This day ended early because I lost my skin tailclip, then my skin on a steep incline, then my skin tail. All of these things, a wallow in the snow, and lots of cursing on my part us having to ski out Silver Fork, hitch down BCC, then up LCC, me soaking wet and shivering the whole time. Not a fun ending, but still a good day.



3/22, 526



The deepest and best inbounds day of my life. First run down lone pine with Walker was pure untracked whiteroom insanity. The rest of the day was pretty similar- no one was out and we shredded barely tracked pow on Supreme chair all day. No pictures because it was too good. A ski day dreams are made of.



But we couldn't let the day go without pictures, so we put our skins on after shredding inbounds pow for 6 hours. Walker getting some on Emma Ridge:















Of course I was getting a little pow action myself:







Skies starting to blue, letting us know what the next day would hold:







This picture basically captures most of the day:







Back to the Snowpine for dinner...







3/23, 526, Bluebird



The day dawned with blue skies and good stability in the backcountry. It was time to hit the skintrack and make some bluebird pow turns. Honestly, nothing better.



First run was with some folks from Austria and Germany that were staying at the Snowpine, tired of the weak snow year in the Alps.



Stripping skins with Alta in the background:







I think they like UT:











So much for one-at-a-time in the BC, but nothing was moving:







Oh yeah:











Walker arrived after work. Don't you wish this is what you did after work each day:



















UT is the best:







Huck yer Meat:







Landed it...







Our original objective were the aspen glades you can see across from Honeycomb canyon lift in Silver Fork, but the sun was rapidly heating that aspect and in addition to crappy snow, we were getting into wet slide danger. Therefore we decided to break trail in deep through the trees on a northern aspect to see what we could find. We found deep snow and a good photo op for yours truly:











Sick light, sick pics, sick run, sick day.



3/24, 533



No pics from this day, as I was flying solo. Stability was still really solid, skied some north facing trees into Silver Fork. Faceshots were had, Walker missed out. Another sick day.

3/19, 496 Inches for the Season at Alta



Arrived in the land of Utardia Friday night the 18, the next morning began with a skin up Scotties bowl outside of Snowbird. Snow was terrible, everything refrozen. Skiing_rules (Walker) went ahead and dug a pit out of boredom and interest, then we skied back down the car. Not a prodigious start. I skinned up Grizzly gulch that afternoon for some exercise, and it had begun to snow heavily. Made a few nice mellow solo turns and returned to the Snowpine at Alta, where I was staying and skiing_rules has made his home for the winter.



3/20, 508



Over the course of Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning it snowed something like 14 inches. All the pow days are kind of running together at this point. I think I skied inbounds that day, shredding pow with some Snowpine guests and then Walker after he got off work. I think.



3/21, 517



Storm total was up to 21 inches. It was deep, but resort had been tracked and there was a break in the weather. Walker and I skinned up the most grim skintrack ever, ice and sastrugi and all manners of terrible. The wind had picked up and we knew slabs were going to be an issue, so we decided to hit some sheltered trees in Days Fork. Good decision:







Vision was grim, and not because of the nuking snow:







Walker just skiing some pow:











What a photo$lut:







Powpowwwwwww:







This day ended early because I lost my skin tailclip, then my skin on a steep incline, then my skin tail. All of these things, a wallow in the snow, and lots of cursing on my part us having to ski out Silver Fork, hitch down BCC, then up LCC, me soaking wet and shivering the whole time. Not a fun ending, but still a good day.



3/22, 526



The deepest and best inbounds day of my life. First run down lone pine with Walker was pure untracked whiteroom insanity. The rest of the day was pretty similar- no one was out and we shredded barely tracked pow on Supreme chair all day. No pictures because it was too good. A ski day dreams are made of.



But we couldn't let the day go without pictures, so we put our skins on after shredding inbounds pow for 6 hours. Walker getting some on Emma Ridge:















Of course I was getting a little pow action myself:







Skies starting to blue, letting us know what the next day would hold:







This picture basically captures most of the day:







Back to the Snowpine for dinner...







3/23, 526, Bluebird



The day dawned with blue skies and good stability in the backcountry. It was time to hit the skintrack and make some bluebird pow turns. Honestly, nothing better.



First run was with some folks from Austria and Germany that were staying at the Snowpine, tired of the weak snow year in the Alps.



Stripping skins with Alta in the background:







I think they like UT:











So much for one-at-a-time in the BC, but nothing was moving:







Oh yeah:











Walker arrived after work. Don't you wish this is what you did after work each day:



















UT is the best:







Huck yer Meat:







Landed it...







Our original objective were the aspen glades you can see across from Honeycomb canyon lift in Silver Fork, but the sun was rapidly heating that aspect and in addition to crappy snow, we were getting into wet slide danger. Therefore we decided to break trail in deep through the trees on a northern aspect to see what we could find. We found deep snow and a good photo op for yours truly:











Sick light, sick pics, sick run, sick day.



3/24, 533



No pics from this day, as I was flying solo. Stability was still really solid, skied some north facing trees into Silver Fork. Faceshots were had, Walker missed out. Another sick day.

3/25, 542



Can't even remember what we did for the first part of the day. I think I skied inbounds this day, chasing Walker and backcountryben of TGR fame (co-founder of Famous Internet Skiers and legitimate ripper). Snowpine worker Mike had hurt his knee on St Pattys Day and was getting back on skis for the first time. We needed to ski some untracked snow, so that evening we started up Toledo pass...



This is the "switchbacks are for wimps" skinner:







At the pass, Ben waiting for Walker to put his jacket on. Still snowing at this point...







Ben's girlfriend Kate, also a Snowpine worker, reaches the peak as the clouds start to clear:







From the back, Mike, Walker, Ben, Kate, a little blue in the sky:







Walker looks into the beauty of the Wasatch:







Assessing snow, waiting to drop:







We knew the biggest risk was windslab and possible sluff. Ben did a ski cut, then stomped a bit at a safe zone on the ridge to see if energy moved the snowpack at all. We did kick off a 4 inch sluff on the aspect, but it was manageable and wasn't going to carry. Ben went for it, Snowbird in the background:







Down towards Alta, whooping in joy the whole way:







Kate's turn:







Mike's first turns back were pretty good:







Really good:







Time for Walker to get in on the action:











Sweet pow:







The sun is out and Ben opens up the throttle:







Pow fields of glory:







Kate's turn:











Mike:







Walker laying it down:







Time for Mike and Walker to get all powder 8's on us:







I dug the light in this one:







eexxtreeeemmmeeee poowwddderrrr:







What a way to end the day.

3/25, 542



Can't even remember what we did for the first part of the day. I think I skied inbounds this day, chasing Walker and backcountryben of TGR fame (co-founder of Famous Internet Skiers and legitimate ripper). Snowpine worker Mike had hurt his knee on St Pattys Day and was getting back on skis for the first time. We needed to ski some untracked snow, so that evening we started up Toledo pass...



This is the "switchbacks are for wimps" skinner:







At the pass, Ben waiting for Walker to put his jacket on. Still snowing at this point...







Ben's girlfriend Kate, also a Snowpine worker, reaches the peak as the clouds start to clear:







From the back, Mike, Walker, Ben, Kate, a little blue in the sky:







Walker looks into the beauty of the Wasatch:







Assessing snow, waiting to drop:







We knew the biggest risk was windslab and possible sluff. Ben did a ski cut, then stomped a bit at a safe zone on the ridge to see if energy moved the snowpack at all. We did kick off a 4 inch sluff on the aspect, but it was manageable and wasn't going to carry. Ben went for it, Snowbird in the background:







Down towards Alta, whooping in joy the whole way:







Kate's turn:







Mike's first turns back were pretty good:







Really good:







Time for Walker to get in on the action:











Sweet pow:







The sun is out and Ben opens up the throttle:







Pow fields of glory:







Kate's turn:











Mike:







Walker laying it down:







Time for Mike and Walker to get all powder 8's on us:







I dug the light in this one:







eexxtreeeemmmeeee poowwddderrrr:







What a way to end the day.

3/26, 547



I had planned on taking this day off. I was sitting in the lobby of the Snowpine reading when Kate came looking for me and asked if I wanted to join them on a ski of Superior. This guy:







I tossed down the book, got ready as fast as possible, and we started skinning up Poleline pass. It's not a terrible skin to get to Little Superior, going up to the pass, then along the ridge. Some nasty skinning conditions but altogether not terrible. Then we got to the bootpack. As bootpacks go it's not super gnarly- most of it is slightly off the ridge, so not too bad. There are, however, a couple of knife edges, the wind was blowing, and skis were acting as sails on my back. I did find myself hanging onto a knife edge and one point, feet dangling trying to find purchase. I would have been ok if I had gone down, but it would not have been fun- probably would have slid through some rocks into the pow field below and tumbled for a bit. Luckily I regained purchase and scrambled to the top with Kate and Ben.



We assessed stability (moderate danger day) and snow quality, and knew that the worst would be some sluffing. We decided to ski the northern aspect of the mountain, rather than the south, which you can see in the picture above. It goes from the pointy end of the mountain down and to lookers right. I was first to drop:











What an incredible place, an incredible descent:















About two turns later I lost it. I don't know what happened- maybe my sluff caught up with me (I kicked off a small one), maybe a nicked a rock, I don't know. I did take a tumble and had to recover my ski a little ways down, then ski out the rest of the apron. Very frustrating not to ski the line clean, but still a line to remember.



The pow turns in the lower apron weren't bad either:











We decided to do another lap on Cardiac ridge, Kate dropping:















My turn:















3/27, 554



A couple solo laps on southern face of Emma Ridge for me- this was my "rest day", which meant I only skinned and skied about 3800 ft of pow. UT sucks, don't go.



3/28, 560 Inches for the Season at Alta



Last day of the trip, possibly of my season. Disappointed that it didn't snow much the night before (as was called for), we skinned up Grizzly Gulch to see what we could find.



Then the snow showed up, just in a delayed and dramatic fashion. Full on nukage, Walker is in there somewhere:











I need skinnier skis to facilitate more faceshots:







The last pic of this TR just really captures the whole trip. Day after day of pow, all running together, so much snow, such an amazing trip:







10 days, 64 inches of new snow, big lines, good times with new friends, countless pow turns, couldn't ask for a more amazing end to my season.



Fin.

3/26, 547



I had planned on taking this day off. I was sitting in the lobby of the Snowpine reading when Kate came looking for me and asked if I wanted to join them on a ski of Superior. This guy:







I tossed down the book, got ready as fast as possible, and we started skinning up Poleline pass. It's not a terrible skin to get to Little Superior, going up to the pass, then along the ridge. Some nasty skinning conditions but altogether not terrible. Then we got to the bootpack. As bootpacks go it's not super gnarly- most of it is slightly off the ridge, so not too bad. There are, however, a couple of knife edges, the wind was blowing, and skis were acting as sails on my back. I did find myself hanging onto a knife edge and one point, feet dangling trying to find purchase. I would have been ok if I had gone down, but it would not have been fun- probably would have slid through some rocks into the pow field below and tumbled for a bit. Luckily I regained purchase and scrambled to the top with Kate and Ben.



We assessed stability (moderate danger day) and snow quality, and knew that the worst would be some sluffing. We decided to ski the northern aspect of the mountain, rather than the south, which you can see in the picture above. It goes from the pointy end of the mountain down and to lookers right. I was first to drop:











What an incredible place, an incredible descent:















About two turns later I lost it. I don't know what happened- maybe my sluff caught up with me (I kicked off a small one), maybe a nicked a rock, I don't know. I did take a tumble and had to recover my ski a little ways down, then ski out the rest of the apron. Very frustrating not to ski the line clean, but still a line to remember.



The pow turns in the lower apron weren't bad either:











We decided to do another lap on Cardiac ridge, Kate dropping:















My turn:















3/27, 554



A couple solo laps on southern face of Emma Ridge for me- this was my "rest day", which meant I only skinned and skied about 3800 ft of pow. UT sucks, don't go.



3/28, 560 Inches for the Season at Alta



Last day of the trip, possibly of my season. Disappointed that it didn't snow much the night before (as was called for), we skinned up Grizzly Gulch to see what we could find.



Then the snow showed up, just in a delayed and dramatic fashion. Full on nukage, Walker is in there somewhere:











I need skinnier skis to facilitate more faceshots:







The last pic of this TR just really captures the whole trip. Day after day of pow, all running together, so much snow, such an amazing trip:







10 days, 64 inches of new snow, big lines, good times with new friends, countless pow turns, couldn't ask for a more amazing end to my season.



Fin.

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

Excellent! Congrats on a great trip and some excellent photos.

Excellent! Congrats on a great trip and some excellent photos.