11.6.04

TR: 11.6.04
Bobtail Peak, Jones Pass
Mountain Junkie, wahamma 88, iskibc


Sunrise on the farm this morning:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0175.jpg


High pressure sucks. 5 straight days of high pressure is excruciating. Plan A didn’t work out, so we went with Plan B. Good turns were had, good ski partners were in check, and surprisingly good snow was waiting for the taking. After a shaky drive up a snow/ice covered road and almost sliding backwards into mountain junkie’s Subaru, we were quickly on our way. Wahamma skinned ahead of us while we parked down the road a few hundred yards. Within an hour or so we arrived at the summit, wind howling at our faces from the west, and untouched acres of snowfields below us just waiting to be painted with tracks.


Mountain Junkie began digging a pit and found a pretty bomber snow pack, despite all the wind-loading the area has seen over the past couple of days. No prominent weak layers were present in the two pits that were dug, so we gave it a “go”. Mountain Junkie took the honors and after a quick ski cut he let ‘em run. Nice smooth turns all the way down the bowl.

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0194.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0180.jpg

Next up was Wahamma:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0185.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0181.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0183.jpg

He opened up his turns a little and got some nice speed past the small rollover and down the slope. I followed and was surprised by the quality of the snow.

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0198.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0199.jpg

No sun crust, no defiant signs of wind slab, and nothing but untracked and blue sky. At the bottom we decided to hike back up the looker’s right ridge and make another run at it. There were other appealing lines in the area, but we were satisfied with what we were working with at the time.

Our mode of transportation for the day…….We ended up getting in around 15 laps: :D

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0193.jpg

Smoooooth:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0189.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0187.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0188.jpg

After getting up and over the ridge we hung out on the top for a little while and took in our surroundings. The whistling sound of the wind the only noise cutting through the air. Peaceful and energizing at the same time. Second lap was just as fun. We all took different lines this time around.


mountain junkie:

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0191.jpg

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0190.jpg

We skied down to tree line and then made the traverse back to the trail. Overall, a great day spent with some great ski partners.

Note: There’s been lots of wind action over the past few days, which has moved snow all over. We found coverage at 12,000’ to range from a trace to 10+ feet in depth. Things will indeed become very interesting as the next storm cycle moves through the state. There are some strong layers in the pack right now with no prominent weak layers; however the dynamics of the next couple snow storms may make things sketchy.

Awesome pics!! We must have been behind you by about an hour or so, saw you dudes hitting a nice looking run off the ridge while we were skinning up the road (the bright orange pants are hard to miss!)

Was a great day up there today, considering it was 76 in D-town!

Super pix! where is Bobcat? Looks like the ridge off chair 9.

Looks tasty. Very smooooooth.

sweet pics dude. Yes, the high pressure sucks (my face is permanently wind blown in a smile from today :D ) Great day today, just need some more snow, let it puke!! :yourock:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iskibc

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0198.jpg

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I like this picture

Awesome, Dave! Really beeeeyoootiful pictures.

Hey, I skied mines yesterday. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Super pix! where is Bobcat? Looks like the ridge off chair 9.

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Looks distinctly like my home hill. I think I've done more skiing here than any other single place this fall. Matter of fact, I'll be there all day today. Hehe. :yourock:

Agreeing with AKPM - that is a sweet pic.

reminding me why I'm moving back to CO :biggrin: ......but not till next season :(

Beautiful!

Let the cold air return - this doesn't look good right now... 70 degrees!

Oh man, so sweet! Thanks for sharing!!

Great pics dude, I foresaw good turns and good snow with the recent winds and they were delivered to you. Also, the pictures you took and posted, I predicted that as well. :D Nice work.

smooooooove pow and needed stoke! Nice.

High pressure, work pressure, home pressure....must have pow soon to relieve pressure(s)...

I second the monkey. That is an awesome pic....looks kind of moody.

Nice!

iskibc finding the goods again.

Shit you guys. We had the day from hell trying to meet you guys up there on Saturday. Slid down road with bile on back, NOT GOOD. Started going up the road when I blew the drive belt on my 'bile, NOT GOOD. My dog then ran off, NOT GOOD.

We had to call it and we went to Berthoud.

We took my other truck up there today and skinned up. We skied the long draw south of where you guys were, your tracks were still there. We schralped sun-baked boiler on top of pow. Locked my keys in my truck, but at least the beer was outside of the truck. I got lucky and slim-jimmed my truck in less than 3 minutes. Crazy weekend, Sunday night, I already got a case of the "Mondays".

I had that same experience this morning.....that one stretch is just pure ice, i went for it and just slid back...

So i backed out, and figured if i stayed all the way right in the snow i could pass it, but I let a chevy blazer give it try before me...and he got stuck sideways on the ice :eek: so i bailed..


anyways, nice tr iskibc.....but thats expected :biggrin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Z

but I let a chevy blazer give it try before me...

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If it was a white one, that's too fucking funny!!!

Paging Elesquiador(sp?)!!!

yup it was white...

yep that was me. That patch of ice was the scariest thing I've ever driven over. I was almost there when my tire went up on a little bump and I lost traction and slid sideways. I thought I was going off the road into the steep trees. Z and I tried to get it out but we couldnt. Thanks for the help though. After a while a guy with a snowmobile came and helped me pull it straight. We shoveled sand over the whole ice section so other guys could get up and then got some turns that were still surprisingly good.

Looks great. No faceting at the ground? Huh? Should've tagged along with you guys.

I did my footbed situation taken care of, and practiced my all-important 'looking rad in the lift line' skills at A-basin, though.

Nice pics, iski. I was up there with my bro on Saturday. His tranceiver was having issues, so we ended up drinking beers by the truck for a bit. We found some new batteries eventually...turns out that was the only problem, so we headed up around 1:30. The skin was kinda brutal after a few brews, but the turns were good. Pretty wind-slabby up high, but much nicer down low. I think I saw your orange pants while I was skinning, sorry we missed you. I left my camera in the truck, so I didnt get pictures...

Jones Pass is awesome, I was there last weekend, but my buddy didn't have a beacon so we stopped at treeline. Sweet pics! I remember that snow was great when we were up there.

That sunrise shot rocks!
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...cs/Cnv0175.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elesquiador

yep that was me. That patch of ice was the scariest thing I've ever driven over. I was almost there when my tire went up on a little bump and I lost traction and slid sideways. I thought I was going off the road into the steep trees. Z and I tried to get it out but we couldnt. Thanks for the help though. After a while a guy with a snowmobile came and helped me pull it straight. We shoveled sand over the whole ice section so other guys could get up and then got some turns that were still surprisingly good.

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Yeah, that was probably the scariest section of "road" I have ever driven over as well. So, there we were driving up the snowpacked road, which has a steepness of a beginner run at a ski area, when all of a sudden around the corner there's a 25 foot long sheet of thick ice covering the road. There was another truck stopped in the middle of the road ahead of us, so we had no choice but to stop smack dab in the middle of the ice. Not good times. Mountain Junkie was behind us in his subie. The feeling when your truck is sliding uncontrollably down a 15 foot wide road with a steep drop on the side and nowhere to go made my stomach climb into my throat. As I looked in the rearview mirror I saw MJ's car getting closer and closer as we slid :eek: . Finally, he threw his car in reverse and we got back some traction.

Liz, too bad we missed ya. How long are you going to be in CO?

Blurred, sucks about your problems getting up there. I skinned all the way across the valley because there was a sled and a couple of people whom I thought were you and Lone Star. Turns out it wasn't. My legs were fried after that so I called it a day. We got in some nice laps up there, but the area definitely needs some new snow for sleds. The lower valley is getting really thin.

Nice pics, really makes me miss CO's high alpine turning!

Probably the best first turns I've ever had. Great way to start out the season (although pitching off the side of the road would have been a buzzkill). Of course I didn't get to experience massive lift lines, complete with little shit racers who think they are Tomba's kin, so I really don't feel like I got the "offical" first day in, but it will do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by iskibc

Liz, too bad we missed ya. How long are you going to be in CO?

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I left today. It didnt take long or me to get sick of the CO scene...namely staying at my parents house. Hope to see you in Jackson at some point this season

Sweet pics iskibc!

We were up there on Sat. too. What a beautiful day, great snow considering. I was expecting boilerplate.

Blurred, I think we drove past you guys on our way out. We were in the Jeep that passed as your buddy slipped and fell on his ass, funny shit.

Here's a couple pics:

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic29524.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic29525.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic29526.jpg

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic29527.jpg

Hey Drifter I think we saw you guys up there. I remember that helicopter passing over. iski and mountainjunkie were on top of the ridge, I was climbing back up the spine. Wish he would have come down and picked my ass up!!

Snow was great, I was expecting alot worse but dropping off the cornice the snow was suprisingly soft

I hear you Wahama, heli laps would not suck.

By the looks of the weather heading our way, the road will probably not be an option anymore. It was real nice while it lasted though.

Note to self: 'Must purchase a sled.'

I should be heading up Saturday, it is raining down here in Arvada, could be some decent snow. Up for some turns Sat.?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drifter75

Blurred, I think we drove past you guys on our way out. We were in the Jeep that passed as your buddy slipped and fell on his ass, funny shit.

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That would be me. I'm glad there were witnesses for that--- and glad my beacon still was ok after flying through the air and smacking rock!!