TR: WATERFALL CHUTE (PICS of Summit airborne and Brett inverting off a cliff)
Sunday, February 1, 2004
10 images ~800K
ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT ME (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
Images taken with Canon PowerShot A70 and Canon EOS 3 with 17-35mm f/2.8 L USM and Fuji Provia 400F
Backcountry trip to East Vail Chutes with Blurred Elevens (Brett), Allison, and I
Pardon my fuzzy memory.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18468.jpg
Chilled Maw (A70)
Woke up late… called CAIC’s (Colorado Avalanche Information Center) forecast hotline… left for Frisco.
We rolled out of Frisco with a light snow and made our way over Vail Pass. The roads were in fairly good condition but an Audi A4 in front of us swerved on small patch of snow and slammed on its brakes. The driver over corrected left then right and we watched his taillight exploded against the concrete median before bouncing the A4 into the right lane, our lane, and temporarily regaining control. The driver of the A4 was exceedingly panicked and attempted to swerve back into the left lane and lost control again by over steering to avoid the center median. The A4 swerved hard into our path causing Allison to brake hard. The A4 hit the right concrete median hard causing the car to spin around backwards to a stop on the shoulder. We pulled over immediately and I ran up to the A4 and forced open the bent passenger door. Both occupants said they were alright and had their own cell phones. Their vehicle, still running, was making horrid noises and leaking various fluids. We left as they called for a tow.
We drove into a small East Vail parking lot in the morning and watched the bus drive by us on our way to the bus stop. After catching the next bus and switching to another, we proceeded with the regular four quads, three catwalks, two runs, one poma, and then we hiked through the gates and skied down to Joint Point, ate while taking in the glorious views of snow covered trees, did a beacon check, and traversed out around (yellow route in the original topo/photo map pics) to the waterfall chute. The snow was wonderfully deep but we noted running cracks as we skied a shallow slope through the trees. We came down to the fantastic open steep slope surrounded by trees that I had skied last time. We well above the steep (~35deg) part of the slope and dug three snow pits space across the shallow angled part of the slope. Though the pits were incredibly deep (6 feet perhaps), we were disappointed. CAIC reported that below treeline was moderate on all aspects but near and above were moderate with pockets of considerable. Despite the fact that we were well below treeline, we were on a NE aspect and the pits revealed a very dangerous snowpack. A few inches of light fluff (fist) on top of a ~8” soft slab ranging to hard slab as the pits moved towards the side and shadow. The top fluff was not holding to the slab and the slab had very little bonding to the layers below it which is exactly what CAIC had called for (“new snow is not bonding well to the old snow”). What’s more… the layer below the slab was very soft and weak facets and the slab had a lot of energy in it. We decided that the slope would be too dangerous to ski the middle steep part of the slope that had received sun. We discussed with Allison what to do if caught in a slide and then skied very carefully, one at a time, from safe point to safe point on the very edge of the slope and then made our way through some more snow covered pines to the beautiful Waterfall Chute: a never ending series of beautiful stair-stepped waterfalls, pillow drops, cliffs, and powder down a narrow, steeply walled gully.
~1350 We reached a medium sized waterfall and Brett decided he’d huck a rock on skier’s right of the frozen falls. I dropped small to get below the falls and slowly setup my camera gear in the cold taking my time to meter. I called read and Brett pushed off as my EOS-3 burned through film. To my amazement, Brett fell forward and spun around to stick a perfect flip.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18458.jpg
Inversion #1 (Provia 400F)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18462.jpg
Inversion #2 (Provia 400F)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18463.jpg
Inversion #3 (Provia 400F)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18464.jpg
Inversion #4 (Provia 400F)
It was absolutely thrilling to watch. We then made our way down through several small pillows along the frozen creek that ran through the gorge. We eventually reached the main waterfall which is amazingly large. Brett dropped down the falls while I led Allison around the side for a steep drop in to avoid being in the gully below the falls because two absolutely massive pines had fallen across the valley blocking passage unless one stuck very high. Brett managed to get himself on top of a massive tree and then dropped it.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18457.jpg
Dropping the Mighty Fallen (A70 sorry about the head)
Continuing on throught the fantastic snow, ever wary of the steep walls, we reached more ice falls and I found a decent sized drop with a fantastic landing. I gave Allison my A70 and sent her below to attempt make up for her past digital JONGery. I waited and launched.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18465.jpg
Summit 1776 Flyin’ Off (A70)
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18466.jpg
Summit 1776 Stickin’ a Deep Landing (A70)
The thrill of that landing was so fantastic as the snow shot across my face while I skied out of it. Kudos to Allison for getting those shots in. The way down the chute continued to delight us with incredible fluffy snow and drops.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18467.jpg
Texture of Life (A70)
While many waterfalls had bomb holes to be avoided or thin ice on the pools below, it was usually easy to find the right line. One line of stepped frozen waterfalls was just indescribably lovely to go off of so I will let the image speak.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic18456.jpg
The Frozen Stairs of Light (A70)
We eventually reached neared the bottom and the snow became very firm and shallow and we had to choose our lines carefully, including avoiding a narrow chute with a drop where the landing was too firm.
The run was one of my best BC runs ever. I wish I had been in better condition last time I had run Waterfall. I can’t wait to go back
Past East Vail Chutes TR’s:
Trip Report – 2 Days of East Vail Chutes BC – Sick!
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...&threadid=5188
