Wasatch 08-09 Conditions

[skifishbum]

Headed up to Butler Aspens for dp with the ponds of powder.
Total shit show must a been at least a dozen peeps up there.
Galina

Powder P


After a few laps in stabile bottomless except on the SE nose exit I headed
up to sillytude A bunch of photogs hopped up cafine induced powder junkies, bloggers, and traverse monkeys had tracked up the goods
so I hooked up with my slackcountry crew and some old friends in town for some untracked silly fork goodness.
Shitty light but damn good snow. Pit off ridge on nose of davenport, which slid big post xmass, went from good in a 5' snow pack to dicey (ct 5) to ground on 8" of facets over a 4' rock section no rain crust evident. At least 12" more new snow vrs Butler. Surface sluffing of new snow on steeper aspects but over all good stability.

Toph


Packy

Splitter Susie in Flanigans

Damn good wasatch shit

[PROVO]

those pics are awesome, what shutter speed did you use?

Thanks! These are screen grabs from HD video, but the shutter speed was around 1/50 of a second

[Xover]

no obs here; 'cept to say those photos are Saaaaaahick!!!! Thanx for sharing Proho

another classic pow day in the wasatch. Gotta love this place!

[gramps]

Huh, I guess we were the only ones that thought Cardiff would be good skiing today, we had the whole drainage to ourselves. Trailbreaking was hip deep however, due to a casual start in the morning we didn't make it back out Cardiff pass until dark. Ski runs were days - hallway - Cardiac X2 - cardiff pass. We did see some people in Days, but that was about it. Another best day of the year, hard to describe how perfect the snow was.

[Johnny Deep]

The luv that theme: 'Just another best day of the year'




f'ndeep it was.

[Trackhead]

Travel was up West Porter with an exit out Neffs.

Not much to say, just tons of good skiing, some small sluffs, and one soft slab that didn't want to go anywhere.

Showed 3Z some new terrain.

[sfotex]

Went up Days this morning and found some awesome turns on some north facing stuff.
Small sluffs were noted, but great turns. Best snow of the year?

[J-Izzo]

Skied S. facing early this AM on LCC/ BCC ridgeline. Light winds and flurries with "decent" viz. Sloughing was prevalent w/ slope angle > 35 deg. Otherwise, no other instabilities to note within new snow. Skiing was excellent - wish I could have poked around on W, N, E facing.

Also, lost (left) a camera on the way up to Sup - DOH. Small Canon point n' shoot in red/ black camera case. If anyone happens to pick it up, please PM me. Gracias.

[skifishbum]

The east face of Kessler and the catchers mitt both sucked sucked, best stick to the Argenta slide path

[zion zig zag]

Travel today was in the 7k to 10k + range with criscam and monte. According to Mr. Suunto we skied 8000 ft and climbed 7500ft. Aspects from west to north, stability was good, only some very minor sluffing. Temps were around 20, skies blue, wind was 0-5mph with some gusting on the highest ridgelines. In other words, it don't get much better.

[zion zig zag]

And another:

[SkiBumOfVT]

did two laps up pink pine today, no instabilities whatsoever. Just good skiing

[sfotex]

Holy schite - today was incredible. Rulestherock and I lapped the Argenta headwall and couple of times and found thigh deep blower everywhere.
It started dumping when we got there and didn't let up until the end.
Stuff was sluffing in a major way but it was manageable if you paid attention.
Best day of the year!!

[RTR]

^That's one handsome skier, in those pictures... Definitely the best day of the year, for me. This was my 2009 maiden voyage into the Wasatch... looking forward to more of the same great snow.

Sfotex, showing this Idaho Potato Boy how to climb a steep wasatch skin track...


Sfotex, providing evidence of the depth at which we were "in the ho."


Tracked powder, you say? Yes, because those tracks were ours from our first lap.


My point-and-shoot's autofocus: suck. The snow quality: no suck.


More suckage.


Snow was extremely light, fluffy, and sluffy above 7000 feet. Snow was mixed and variable below this level. We did notice some wind-loading, but not extremely significant. Wind gusts along the ridge were maybe up to 20 miles per hour from the south. Not too bad.

[criscam]

Holy schite - today was incredible. Rulestherock and I lapped the Argenta headwall and couple of times and found thigh deep blower everywhere.
It started dumping when we got there and didn't let up until the end.
Stuff was sluffing in a major way but it was manageable if you paid attention.
Best day of the year!!

how were the winds off the ridges? see much loading?

[mph]

Was up in White Pine today...The snow was waist deep in places! There was major sluffing around 1-2 in the afternoon when the snow rate picked up. Sluffing was happening on many aspects facing northeast...Nothing too major but one had to pay attention. Skiied aspects in the 34-45 degree range. Slope cutting work very effectively.

Keep you eyes open and the skiing is ridiculous!!!! Definitely the White Room today!

[sfotex]

how were the winds off the ridges? see much loading?

The winds were pretty light in Argenta proper. There was some wind on the ridge but it wasn't moving much snow over the ridge.

[smuggs]

dont know if anyone posted that yet, but jeremy jones showing us all how whimpy we are. (and checking the stability on high east faces)

[smuggs]

and yea conditions havent been unacceptable

[Trackhead]

Impressive. That's a pretty steep line with high consequences. Looks like he rallied the crux and finished it in high style.

[Trackhead]

Travel was from 4,900ft to 8,000ft.


Frame grabs.

Strong SW wind on the ridges, loading snow hundreds of feet down our chosen line.


Good skiing in sheltered areas.


No sluffing, no sliding, just fun.


Just in time for church.

[UtahOutside]

Skied Mount Aire and boy the powder was sweet! Not much sluffing like others have experienced lately, just creamy snow on both north and east faces.

Very pleasant skin up to the top.

Very very very pleasant ski down the north side.

So far I'd say this season has been among the best for the backcountry in recent memory.

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

[MultiVerse]

^^^^ BWAH; that Examiner link, again! Dude, I preferred the full disclosure method you were using before rather than the submarine link you are using now. Not the end of the world, by any means, and I’m happy to help a mag out but misdirection to increase your page count for commercial purposes is not cool. From the, “Write For Us” page on the Examiner website:

On top of the unlimited exposure, the wide-spread promotion, the valuable training and the credibility associated with being an Examiner for Examiner.com, Examiners can earn money! Our rate of pay is competitive and very much in your control, based on the size of your audience.

Edit: I’m not one to harsh another person’s gig and since I rarely carry a camera (I do hit the BC 2-3 times/week throughout the season) I’m hardly qualified to weigh in on this thread, but this is one of the premiere sources of Wasatch Beta and I’d rather not see it start down the slope to being pimped out. Just sayin.

Even so, the pictures are pretty good this time. You might also want to mention to your readers that Mount Aire sees a lot of traffic on the weekends and that the bobsled run on the way out can be treacherous for uphill travelers.

[sfotex]

Stuck my head into twin lake pass today.
Can you say wind loading?
Lot's of snow being moved around. Big wind pillows on Patsy and
Super 8's.

There was windslab forming on top of the fresh snow, it was easy to break thru and it didn't want to move very far, but if the wind keeps up it could be touchy tomorrow.

[smuggs]

skied monte cristo

on the way up we saw someone drop on the dome on superior,high steep ene? face, looked nice with minor sluffing aside from him thorwing a tomahawk on the bottom






winds begun to howl on the ridge to the top of real superior and they were some funky cornices, all seemed to be pretty stable if handled correctly we dropped the idea of skiing the edge and opted to drop straight into the chute. which faces south






mid chute action, conditions were ummm good no slough no cracks, no broken cornices. then the winds really started to howl.... notice flume from the ridge






lower chute was much like the above section, epic, no slough no action. sexy skiing





3000+ vert on a south face with all perfect snow conditions.