La Sals beta

Heading down to Moab this weekend with my wife. Gonna bring the skis, snowpack looks awesome down there. Anyone been in the area recently? Looking at possibly Manns Peak, South Mountain, maybe Tuk... hoping to get up a peak, but probably not looking at camping or skiing anything too technical. We'll have crampons and whatnot but I'm hoping to keep the slope angle no greater than 35 or so.

Saw some instagram pics and coverage looks great, really just looking for route beta. Is the line here in red skinnable?

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If approaching Tuk's SSW face/chutes, what's the road situation? Similarly for the S/SE/SW face of Manns. Just wondering what can be done with a front wheel drive sedan without camping and with my wife who is fit and motivated but not comfortable skiing over probably 35º.

Just looking at the La Sals from the top Telluride on Sunday, they looked to have decent coverage. (Same with the Wilsons.) I'll bet you can find something to ski, especially northerly. I'm curious what you find.

Turning around and looking at Bear Creek which received a couple/few feet in the past couple weeks, there were some impressive lines skied I have never seen skied before.

Yeah I know one of the local UAC guys was down there this past weekend, and I know there are lines off at least Tuk (probably South as well) that go... but it's a me-and-my-wife thing and she's not as stoked on skiing steep exposed lines above cliff bands as I am :D

I am thinking if we attempt the line in question, worst case she/we boot back down the steeper section of the shoulder, I can bring gear to set a belay as well...

Haven't been this year yet, but there's sure to be some skiing.

The La Sal are kind of a throwback as far as Forest Circus road management goes. For all the access points, only a few have dates/gates. It's up to you how much mud you drive or walk. Kind of old fashioned and kind of refreshing.

2WD will get you to a bunch of trailheads. Grand County plows the one for Gold Basin pretty high, like 9,800' ?
La Sal Pass from the E is sweet access up high (W side is wheelin). The crux is a creek crossing down low, then its 2WD to above 10,000' (doubt you'll get that high yet). That one & the other road up Squirrel Cr ( I think ?) will get you plenty close for S and E sides of Tuk & Peale.
Manns Pk from the E will deny your car, but the road is plenty walkable and Beaver Basin is pretty cool.

I've got a bunch of pics on a flash drive I can't find, but here's some from last May :

Manns Pk from E
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Looking S from Manns Pk
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South Mountain from NE
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I'll be down there next month, curious as to what it looks like. If you get up high, post some pics!

Talked to some friends who were down there last week. No specifics on where they skied, but it sounds like conditions were really good and access was relatively easy.

Nothing useful to add, but I'm headed down at the end of the month, so please report back with what you find!

Went up to prelaurel from the gold basin th. Plenty of snow, maybe 3-4' deep at the parking spot. 2wd vehicle no problemo. Visibility was shit and t-storms forecasted for the pm so we bailed on Tuk. Couldn't really see shit. Some good turns had nonetheless, might come down again next weekend honesty. If we could have seen, it would have been epic... plenty of snow though. W facing 10500 and above was variable to pleasant, N facing high should be nice and should last.

Sorry for brevity, that was on mobile. Coverage is very good, not sure how fast it melts out down there though. Sorry for the bad pics, visibility was shit all day we were there. Cleared up just in time for us to leave, ain't that how it always goes though.

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Last pic is at the end of where they plowed, still plenty deep to ski to the car. If you get a better day than us, bag Tuk for me!

Thanks for the report! Looks like lots of snow and should be for awhile.

I think Colter Hinchecliffe has been down a few times this year... hit him up on social

Only thing I'll add, to echo one of the recent UAC obs, is that some spots down low were very punchy. I skied over a small (4') hill that couldn't support me and I went through. W facing, sun exposed, low elev, more a nuisance than anything, but something to keep in mind. The upper elevation snowpack seemed very solid and we saw no warning signs even on very obviously wind-affected slopes etc.

Good hunting! If you see a guy in yellow pants and Countdown 102Ls, ask me for change...

Here's one from a few years ago. Coverage looks good. Special place.

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Anyone get down there this last weekend? Headed down Friday night.

My friend and I skied basically the same line as Temagami yesterday. The snowpack didn't thaw at all, and it was snowing around noon, and was probably snowing in the La Sals today. Coverage was pretty good, we were able to skin all the way from the Geyser Pass parking lot into Gold Basin. Crampons and a whippet were mandatory for the ridge yesterday, but you'd probably be ok without them if the sun comes out. Also, we found a nice camera on the snow near the bottom of that line in Gold Basin. Let me know if anyone is missing one.

was down there at the beginning of the month. loved the fact that i could drive to a trailhead above the snow line with bathrooms and sleep there in my jeep. was planning on skiing tomasaki but when i came out of the trees i saw it was pretty burnt out and mellenthin was holding a lot of snow (mostly because i was looking at the south face of tomasaki and the north face of mellenthin).
topped out find that i would be sharing my beer with a herd of mountain goats, which was pretty awesome.
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farming turns on tuk
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mine on the left
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was there a few days ago. Skinned up to Pre-laurel from Gold Basin TH as well. Snow coverage on N facing stuff was good. S facing had some patchy spots.

Trailhead
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Tuk and Tuk-No from the NW
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Views were pretty rad.
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Skied "goldminers" I believe. A SE facing run.
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It got a bit patchy as we got lower.
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Thanks y'all. Looks like coverage and conditions are good. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look all that cooperative for this weekend, so we shall see.

Pics from recent visit between 5/11 & 5/14. Still lots to ski.

Recent storm snow made surface conditions a little messy. Older snow seemed consolidated. Brown skied better than white.

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any recent info, looks to be green light aside from wet loose

looked great two weeks ago. did not ski there but made some turns near Monticello.

Skied off Haystack today. Warm as fuck, was punchy and unsupportable by 11ish. But, the coverage is great, roads in great shape, and if they start getting some overnight freezes above 10k again, it should be another great spring. Might be back next weekend. S facing melting out fast though.

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Had another awesome trip down this way. Headed into Gold Basin with the intent of maybe wandering around Middle Cirque or similar. Coverage still very good except for 2 spots along the portion of Gold Basin Road that are lower elevation and will soon require either skinning on dirt or a brief bit of carrying your skis. The yurt was occupied as well. Protip: if you look at the topo, you might think you can avoid losing elevation by hugging the left (S facing) side of Prelaurel Peak and circling around toward Middle Cirque. This would be wrong and dumb. Just follow the skinner down to the right past the end of the road... saves much time and headache and bushwhackery, and you need to skin out anyway.

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Coverage was looking good and apart from some shrub wandering due to my desire not to unnecessarily lose 50' or so, we ended up at the bottom of Tuk No around noon. To my pleasant surprise my wife indicated her desire to head up Gravel Pit Lanes, the lower chute on the NE facing Tuk No. Green light conditions had us booting up the gut, and before long we were on the apron below the prominent Exxon's Folly chute that drops from the summit.

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The snow in the chute we skied was ok, kinda variable glassy crap but reasonably skiable. In general all day anything not hit by the sun was absolutely bulletproof. They get some legit refreezes still up there I guess.

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My wife was pretty pumped to ski a proper backcountry chute, with the entrance at the rollover right at 40 degrees, and the stoke was high skiing good corn out the apron and back down to the yurt.

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We left some beers chillin in the snow for whoever is thirsty enough to find em!

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Oh, and just some love for Up The Creek campground. It's on 300S right in town, walking distance to all of the bars/etc in Moab, it's $36/night for a 2 person site, a nice quiet spot with showers, bathrooms, etc. You can obviously camp free in most of the surrounding area but if you want to stay in town and don't wanna pay outrageous Moab hotel rates (especially during Jeep Safari), this place is rad. It's pretty much the only place we stay in Moab these days. You can pay in advance online then there's just a site reserved when you arrive, we usually get in late Friday night (coming from SLC) and it's awesome. No human interaction needed to check in or out. Some people might find paying to camp blasphemous but it's a good middle ground between roughing it and paying $200/night for a Motel 8 or whatever. It's near Woody's too...

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Cool. One of the curses of living on the wasatch front is that you never leave the wasatch front. La Sals never seem to make it into my rotation of road trips. next year for sure. thanks for posting this.

Is there anything left in the la sals (like tuk)?

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Originally Posted by kuusk

Is there anything left in the la sals (like tuk)?

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Also curious if it's too late for the La Sals at this point?