Another Wasatch Grand Daddy-Stairs Gulch

[Trackhead]

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.
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.

[splat]

One ugly mofo when it goes, no doubt.

[FreakofSnow]

Another fine, information packed TC from brutha Trackhead.

[frozenwater]

I love that you've done the stairs. I have looked at its pristine slopes most of my life and long to feel her caress my check as I slide into her making those first tenuous turns.

I also know I'll never make those turns. For me it is just to big a risk no matter how much I could do to mitigate the danger.

Props to you for laying it all out and coming back to talk about it. Looking at your pics is a distant second best to being there, but it's all I've got.

[iskibc]

That pic of the glide slide is nasty. Some great pics in there Trackhead. Sweet stuff indeed.

[powstash]

Like you Frozen I too have looked at Stairs with a longing to ski her, but always heard one too many horror stories of her ripping out big to venture up there.

Great report Trackhead. Sweet pics too.

Here on the backside of the Wasatch, we've got a slope that's very similar in Square Top - it's not as large (only 1200' vert) but the upper 1/3 is a slick rock slab face that heats up as water percolates down through the snowpack along the bed surface. 1200' and 5K are certainly the minors vs. the big leauges but the same respect must be given. Although I've skied ST about a dozen times, I've backed down at least that many times and opted for a different line.

[Endlessseason]

Great report and pics, Trackhead!

I had already decided I would never set foot in the Stairs when my buddy George's medical practice partner Martin Gleich was killed there, along with his friend Scott Dull. (They're the avy fatalities from '01 that you refer to in your post.)

At 38, Martin was incredibly fit and very accomplished in climbing/skinning/touring. It was a very sad loss. They weren't dumb guys. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when that slabby decided to drop.

After your pics and report it reminded me once again that skiing that gulch is one experience I don't need to have in my life.

Martin was this guy's partner and friend: http://www.endlessseason.com/2004/may/memorial1.jpg

[Trackhead]

Originally posted by Endlessseason:
At 38, Martin was incredibly fit and very accomplished in climbing/skinning/touring. It was a very sad loss. They weren't dumb guys. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when that slabby decided to drop.

I'm sorry for your loss. In no way do I mean to be callous about a death of a peer in the mountains. I have lost two very good friends in the mountains as well. Both were experienced climbers/skiers who had unfortunate circumstances that lead to their deaths. The best we can hope for when someone dies in the mountains is to hopefully learn from their experience.

I just can't imagine booting up Stairs Gulch and being exposed to those potential risks for that long. Skiing it in twenty or so minutes holds the pucker factor for about as long as I can take.

[Endlessseason]

Originally posted by Trackhead
I'm sorry for your loss. In no way do I mean to be callous about a death of a peer in the mountains.

No worries. I didn't detect any callousness. Besides, you're alive. They're not. Any thoughts you have on negotiating these areas of the Wasatch automatically receive my undivided attention.

[Woodsy]

drool & damn im lazy/scared.

nice action TH