Upper Little Cottonwood in Bony Conditions

The Wasatch continues to suffer from delayed winters. This year is no different, in fact worse than I can remember. That said, corduroy has been a constant. 

Yesterday morning Lars and I headed into upper Little Cottonwood.  We experienced it all, fun rocky scrambling moves to the top of Superior, heavy westerly winds, more rocks, some good snow down South Superior, motion sickness from poor visibility, and a ride at the bottom from Jay Burke, Park City P2P race director who must have succumbed to Lars' grin and hitch-hiker thumb. Then to finish out our morning, perfect conditions up and down Toledo.

Lars rocking the morning

Me with a foggy dawn breaking

Winter's Dawn 2014/15

While being confined to date to artificial snow, certain treasures have been had. Time with important friends and family, solitude in the darkness and mornings such as these remind me why I love the mountains.

Winter that keeps giving

Jared sent me and some of the folks a text Monday evening (April 28, 2014), asking who was up for a Tuesday morning tour, following 20+ inches of cold spring snow. I knew I had a conference call right at 8am that I had to be on, so with limited time, I put the fly on the water, a 530 AM start and graciously Jared bit. The morning was magically cold, with a stillness in the air as we joined Alta local and Wasatch luminary Chris Cawley heading up pole line. With the same destination, we became a threesome along a trackless ridge line.  Up high we were met by an icy northwest wind. We continued up into a clear blue morning, accompanied by a firey red movie screen of a mountain around us.  We welcomed dawn as we descended into the trackless Turkey Chute of Superior.  The skiing was too good to stop for pictures.

Chris breaking- Courtesy SLC Samurai

Dromedary and White Pine Couloir

This morning Jared, Louie (a writer and photographer) and I had an excellent steep tour along a couple sections of the Cottonwood Ridge.

We aimed for an ascent of Dromedary via Tanners, then to ski from the summit down the east face and over to Little Pine Couloir. Everything went as planned, semi early start, firm conditions along the south face of Dromedary and a really nice ski off the top of Dromedary. In working our way from upper Blanche area to Little Pine, we found things warming quickly. We reached the ridge and ended up skiing down the White Pine Couloir instead of Little. It was packed with avy debris, but luckily we could hang on the east headwall most the way down. It was good to get off the mountains early as conditions were obviously quickly deteriorating.

A side note- I had previously lost my pair of ski crampons. Jason, who recently started Skimo Co had just the crampons I needed. It is exciting to see a local business like this starting out strong and supplying exactly what we need. Keep at it Jason!

Approaching summit via exposed ridgeline

Jared, top of Dromedary, beautiful morning

Jared coming off of the East Face of Dromedary Summit

Jared ripping the East Face

Jared working towards White Pine Couloir

Winter's Reign- Y Couloir

As Spring works to take over the Salt Lake Valley, Winter is still the king in the mountains. Yesterday, Scott and I got in an early morning tour up and down the Y Couloir.  He had never been up this great line and yesterday seemed like a good time to do it. While conditions varied, the upper couloir yielded soft snow.  However, crossing over a day or two old avalanche debris, the lower sections skied marginally at best. Regardless, the time in the steep Little Cottonwood Canyon environment was wonderful. It was a great way to kick off General Conference weekend.

Scott, topping out the Y amidst falling snow

White Baldy and Lake Peak

As life passes ever so quickly, day to day activities become the essence of our existence. However, far too often our senses and emotions become dulled from the stresses of life. The occasional entry into an environment that is far greater than ourselves provides a unique perspective on life.

I was able to get work off yesterday afternoon. Amidst lots of new snow, shrouded blue skies and an electricity in the mountains you could grab a hold of, Scott and I skinned up Red Pine to the lake then up to the ridge of Great White Baldy (GWB). We found the west,  rocky exposed traverse to be splendid all the way to the top with a few winds and moments of low visibility. Reaching the summit, the sun ripped open the sky and magnified the environment where we sat. We skied off the Northwest face of GWB, in knee deep heaven all the way down to the upper lake.

We then moved up the backside of Lake Peak to the top and after cutting a cornice, entered an untouched East Couloir.  Best turns of the year for me; deep, light and consistent.

Scott, West Ridge GWB

Scott enjoying the granite and verglass

Me moving along upper part of GW Baldy Ridge

Winter in the Wasatch! Below summit of GWB

Scott ripping around the sharks from summit GWB

Me wrapping up the afternoon in Lake's East Couloir

Scott and Lake's East Couloir

New Snow, Superior and Toledo

Last week's blue bird days are gone, at least for now and for good reason. 20" or so, right side up snow fell this week in the high mountains.  This morning Lars and I headed for Superior with low visibility and blackness all around. We ran into a group friends led by Scott W as they were heading with great plans for Days Fork.

Our plan was to top out on Superior then travel further west on the ridge for other options, however strong winds, poor visibility and loading proved limiting factors so we halted on top of Superior. We were happy to run into fellow ski compatriots Chad T. and Arie, both having just arrived too and were freezing like us. That's what makes having skied all my life in the Wasatch so great, the regular smiling faces of acquaintances and friends.

We skied the south face in knee deep powder all the way to the car. I then went up Toledo and skied great snow in the main chute, while Lars met up with Tom G. for other longer plans.  For me, today was the best quality skiing of the year, and the company made it even better.

The Viking enjoying icy winds and a narrow sidewalk

Lars, top of Superior beginning the descent into the fog

Arie fore and Chad T aft, watching Lars like two bird dogs on a pheasant

Arie on the upper apron, suffering in the deep