Another Wasatch Grand Daddy-Stairs Gulch
Stairs Gulch: About 5,000 verts of continous fall line skiing with a relatively safe and short approach. Moderately steep the entire way. Spits you out right at BCC road.
Start by skinning up Broads Fork and eventually to the top of 'Bonkers'. From the top of Bonkers you can either ski Bonkers or drop directly into Stairs Gulch. Best to run a lap on Bonkers since you already busted a skin track.
Photo below is from avi.org. From the fatality in '01. These guys were booting up Stairs Gulch. Big mistake in my opinion, because you are exposed to lots of hairy avy terrain for way too long.
http://www.avalanche.org/av-reports/image001.jpg
This is 'Bonkers'. A relatively (by Wasatch standards) peaceful and isolated area. Lower 2/3 is mellow pow, upper 1/3 is a bit steeper. Caution is warranted when skinning the upper 1/3, as the snowpack sits on a big slab of slick quartzite, which makes for an extremely poor bonding surface. Notice all the tracks and skin track on 'Bonkers'. This shot is taking from across the canyon.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_1%7E0.jpg
Another shot about 2/3 up Bonkers. This day we ran a lap on Bonkers and then skinned up it again and skied down Stairs Gulch.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_4%7E0.jpg
Crossing over the top of Stairs. From here you can look down Ferguson Canyon and get a jaw dropping view of the couloir coming down the N. Face of Twin into Ferguson. I have looked at N. Twin 4 times from here, never skied it yet.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_5%7E0.jpg
Another view of the start of Stairs. The trees in the lower right of the photo are a good safe spot to dig a pit. Kind of flat running into them.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_8%7E0.jpg
This is another shot of the top of stairs. Notice the snow starting to 'creep' and getting ready to rip one day. The top of stairs is around 35+ degrees and the snow sits on a very slick layer of quartzite. Don't even think about skiing this on a warm day. Get on it EARLY and don't dilly dally on the descent. You'll see why later.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_7%7E0.jpg
First turns in Stairs. This day we scored boot top pow for about 4/5 of the way. Then it was chunky monkey at the end. From here it is a direct fall line to the road. No traversing or other BS. Just 5k of perfection.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_6%7E0.jpg
This is a pinhead friend of mine skiing backcountry moguls courtesy of a huge wet avalanche. The damn thing ran nearly to the road. The debris piles were over 50ft deep in places. And he was wondering why I was nagging on him to stop hanging around.:rolleyes:
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_2%7E0.jpg
Same shot as above, but not cropped. The last 1/5 or so often has avy debris of some sort. Stairs Gulch can be hit by avi's from nearly every aspect. So speed is safety in this huge terrain trap.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_3%7E1.jpg
I've skied Stairs 4 times. It was pow top to bottom twice, crust and avi debris once, and marginal-thin snowpack once. If you hit it before the first big slide comes, the lower 1/3 is still a narrow (10ft. in places) couloir for a long ways.
A few common sense survival tips that are particularily relative to Stairs Gulch.
1. Start and finish early. Best to be skiing before the east facing slopes on Stairs have been baking in the sun all day.
2. I don't like to be anywhere near Stairs in the spring. The sun is too intense on the rock bands that loom thousands of feet above you. Spitting wet sloughs, etc. that can turn into big slides quick.
3. There is no escape to safe terrain in Stairs. If something significant comes down, you are going to get hit. Once you make your first turn, you are committed. So make sure it's safe.
Other than that, I think it is one of the easiest huge runs in the Wasatch to access. When it's good, it's unbeatable.
