Wasatch 08-09 Conditions

[UtahOutside]

The Alta backcountry is really skied out.

Went to the top of Superior but too late to ski the south face. Lots o' wet slide activity so we descended north side into Cardiff. Very skied out until the apron where there was a bit of powder left.



Some good turns on sheltered west and east facing powder on the ridge that splits the middle of Cardiff.

The run back down to the car at Alta was . . . character building. Zipper crust all the way down despite some soft turns on the east facing shady slopes.

Full trip report with a short video here.

I usually don't go here after it hasn't snowed for a while but was on call at work so had to stay in cell phone range. This day was a stark reminder why I don't ski here often. Should have ditched the phone and gone to Argenta.

[Solesides]

It seems that you're getting after it quite a bit, RustyHoot, and that's great. It's just the tone of all your posts..they're so whiny. Do you tour by yourself a lot?

[UtahOutside]

Yea, you wouldn't want to tour with me. I constantly complain about my fingers being cold.

[happytimefunbox]

Did Bowman Fork to Gobbler/Raymond saddle with a late start. No pics, dead battery in camera. No instabilities noted except West/SW facing stuff was rollerballing a bit. N-NE aspects in the shadows were $$$. I love the sound of those 2 inch surface hoar crystals as you ride through them, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

Lots of people/dogs in the Porter Fork skatepark down to the car. Good times. Sleepy at work now, must stay awake.....

[marauders]

Maurauders: powder euphoria, indeed! Where/when did we run into you? I was sliding around with those guys from MT..Tuesday shocked our brains

It was Tuesday afternoon, topping out of Days Fork. The powder in the area was unreal.

[marauders]

Thinking about doing a one nighter in the Wasatch with a few friends at some point this season. Just wondering if anyone had any good ideas on a route that would be good for a two day tour with one night of camping. Nothing insane.

Been reading about White Pine to Bells tour that sounds pretty interesting and big (although possibly insane), would involve shuttling a car though. 5,000'+ is pretty tough to beat, anyone done it?

My 2 cents would be to try some of the "super tours" in the South Wasatch. There is some incredible terrain in Mt. Timpanogos, Cascade Mtn., Provo Peak, Santaquin Peak, and Mt. Nebo, and it's highly likely you won't see another soul. My recommendation would be the east aspect of Cascade Mountain. You could spend 2-3 days getting east and north facing shots in big mountain terrain without a skin track in sight.

[Trackhead]

Skied the east face of Raymond today. Untracked goodness on the edges of the ramps in the sky. Creamy dreamy on the lower face.

Lots of cool surface hoar growing like mad.

[SPREAD EAGLE]

TH - what was your approach to Raymond? Mill-D then along the ridges or Butler or??? Beta request and recommendations if the line between BCC and MC are looking good

[Trackhead]

TH - what was your approach to Raymond? Mill-D then along the ridges or Butler or??? Beta request and recommendations if the line between BCC and MC are looking good

Butler-Circle Awl-skinner up right side of ESE face-up east ridge.

Yes, the line you speak of is ripe and ready for plucking.

[UtahOutside]

Mason and I wanted to ski the Argenta Couloir but after checking out the snow there from below (west facing), we decided it would be best to ski the hoar frost in the east facing trees on the west ridge. Good decision. The frost is still yummy and the crystals are getting huge! Lots of fun turns there and still untracked lines. The west ridge is a good alternative if the couloirs on Kessler are skanky.

As usual, I posted a full trip report with a short video here.

Looks like some new snow may be coming on Friday . . .

[sfotex]

Q: What's better then watching someone run there WRX off the road at 70mph
after they nearly rear end someone turning into the BCC park and ride?



A:When they get out and they have a Brighton staff cap on and an XXL puffy down to there knees

Quotes:
Ahh man, I just got this thing repaired last week.

I gots all wheel drive, I should be able to drive out of here.

[smuggs]

hahahaha dumbass!

[Trackhead]

Q: What's better then watching someone run there WRX off the road at 70mph
after they nearly rear end someone turning into the BCC park and ride?



A:When they get out and they have a Brighton staff cap on and an XXL puffy down to there knees

Another "in a big hurry to ski hardpack" jackass.

[powski3]

Hello Wasatch nation. If you had a free Southwest voucher to use, would it be worth it to come down to Utah this weekend (ski Sat and Sun)? Looks like things are tracked out now and the snow predicted for the next few days looks to be warm and light accumulations. Sounds like it's mostly hardpack right now, which believe me I've gotten my fill of up here lately. Looks like early next week is looking good, but unfortunately we're only talking this weekend.

Might be better to wait for another weekend, but the thing is this might be my best chance at a last minute trip from a work-schedule angle. Basically how are things now and can you please predict the future and make my decisions for me? Thanks.

[happytimefunbox]

Went out the white pine touring gate and traversed boundary to Scotties. Once in the bowl snow was creamy vanilla frosting until the gully . Some tracks in the bowl but not hard to find your own line in the trees. No instabilities but stayed back from the cornices when booting just in case.

Looking forward to some new snow...

[under the radar]

Q: What's better then watching someone run there WRX off the road at 70mph
after they nearly rear end someone turning into the BCC park and ride?



A:When they get out and they have a Brighton staff cap on and an XXL puffy down to there knees

Quotes:
Ahh man, I just got this thing repaired last week.

I gots all wheel drive, I should be able to drive out of here.

Sfotex - I knew you looked familiar, just couldn't place it. Anyway, I was the passenger in the car that almost got hit. Definitely a close call, I'm guessing it was a narrow miss. I think he got away with pretty minimal damage and a lesson learned.

Conditions - skied NE chute off twin peaks. Recrystalized powder down low in trees, crusty in the middle elevations, blasting wind and consolidated powder up high.

[sfotex]

Sfotex - I knew you looked familiar, just couldn't place it. Anyway, I was the passenger in the car that almost got hit. Definitely a close call, I'm guessing it was a narrow miss. I think he got away with pretty minimal damage and a lesson learned.

Conditions - skied NE chute off twin peaks. Recrystalized powder down low in trees, crusty in the middle elevations, blasting wind and consolidated powder up high.

Glad you guys got away ok,
I need to get out with Elliot and company, the impending birth of Sfotex Jr.
is keeping me to up/down to the car terrain.

Skied some north facing stuff in Days Fork, nice recrystallized powder, nice hero turns...
The surface hoar made to cruddy skining in spots, some of it is getting pretty stout and burly looking.

[SLAYER]

Booted/skinned up Coalpit yesterday. Headwall was wind hammered but got plenty of good turns in down lower almost all the way to the waterfall. Trees were really fun higher up. Good day to be out.

[zion zig zag]

About 4 to 10" of new, elevation dependant, heavy and dense. This on top of the recycled pow made upside down layers, made for fun trail breaking and interesting skiing. I actually thought the best skiing was on the southerly aspects where there had been a smooth hard surface before.

Lots of cracking in the new snow in wind loaded areas but no movement.

[SkiBumOfVT]

Who was in the white pine parking lot yesterday talking to my roommate from vermont?

[mph]

Was up in BCC at USA bowl...Nice snow...Settled depth was around 12 inches...stayed away from the southern exposed slopes. A hard sun crust underneath. Worked the ridgeline back to the Canyons. A few cornice drops produced some nice sluff slides on the Monitors. But, the snow was stable and nice...Saw very few people out and about...Get after it

[marauders]

Fantastic day out west in the Oquirrhs. Skied NE with 8" of new snow. Good skiing, but the new snow was bonding very poorly with the underlying crust. Snow would slide easily, but not in cohesive slabs. Then skied W and SW with 4" of new snow. Baked into a creamy surface of unbelievably good skiing. No instabilities on these aspects.

We started under blue skies . . .


But ran into the clouds higher up . . .


Above 10,000 it looked like this . . .


Below 10,000 was another story . . .


Mind blowing scenery and superb skiing.


Some posted signs at the town hall near the trailhead. Good advice for all you unruly mountain folk.

[happytimefunbox]

Fantastic day out west in the Oquirrhs.

Strong Work

[UtahOutside]

Sweet, never really considered skiing them mountains to the west. Looks awesome!



As for myself, I went to Alexander Basin with my dog. West facing slope off the side of Gobbler's Knob was variable and fast. The skiing in Alexander was very good. New snow was nice but not quite enough to keep the skis from sinking down to the crust underneath. Overall it was quality. And my dog had a blast trying to keep up!

TR and vid here.

[MultiVerse]

Sweet, never really considered skiing them mountains to the west. Looks awesome!

As for myself, I went to Alexander Basin with my dog. West facing slope off the side of Gobbler's Knob was variable and fast. The skiing in Alexander was very good. New snow was nice but not quite enough to keep the skis from sinking down to the crust underneath. Overall it was quality. And my dog had a blast trying to keep up!

I’ve been up there (Alexander Basin) a few times in the past few weeks and the protected areas are pretty good even without new snow. Now, if only there was some way, other than a fresh snow restart, to keep the snowmobile(s) off the skin-track on the road. Deseret Peak also has easily accessible good skiing if you want to head west with the dog.