Wasatch 08-09 Conditions

**tradygirl** · 03-17-2009, 07:46 AM

Definitely starting to feel a bit lonely out there these days. Is everyone biking or what?

Conditions were still pretty rad over the weekend, with north-facing butter and south-facing quasi-corn. I am starting to wonder what the cloud-covered warm nights have been doing to the pack though....anyone get out yesterday?

**Johnny Deep** · 03-17-2009, 08:13 AM

It's March...with 70 degree weather, weak minds are turning to golf and bicycling.

Are you sure you went where everyone else was at?

**Boissal** · 03-17-2009, 11:19 AM

Yeah it's hard to stay focused on what matters when Little is dry and there's so much rock to climb on.

Although after logging in my first epic of the season on my second day out climbing I think I'll stick to skiing a bit longer...

Wolverine on Sunday:

Top of Tuscarora, looking down at the Seagull:

Julie dropping in. She wanted to ski something mellow for her first tour this season...

Straightlining the apron was way easier than trying to make turns:

Slogging back to Brighton:

Questionable riding conditions, sugar on top and heinous sun crust down low. Feisty snow but fun nonetheless. Guess that's what you get when you're only willing to climb 1500'

If anyone wants to get out hit me up. Partners are loosing motivation fast and I want 20 more days on snow before spandex season.

**MultiVerse** · 03-17-2009, 12:04 PM

Got up early on Saturday and watched the Powderkeg race from the Patsy Marley / Twin Lakes Pass vantage point and the snow was still in pretty good shape on most aspects. On Sunday, hard crust turning to mank except on northerly faces which were still creamy along the south Silver Fork rim; and, there was kind of a closing weekend vibe going on.

Saw dudes skinning shirtless, another skinning with a beer in one hand… one pole in his pack, for example. Definitely fun, but given how quickly conditions deteriorated in one day, it’s a coin toss between taking the bike out and taking the skis out. Still, I’m hoping for many more days this season.

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-17-2009, 02:19 PM

We skied y-not couloir yesterday a.m. The booting was fast, one-kick snow and I was content with the decision to leave crampons in the car. Spots scraped to the dust storm layer were firmer. Wherever last week's snow has sluffed down the 'pons would be a good idea.

At around 10am we'd cleared the rappel but the snow was quicky turning to mank. The wet sluffs we kicked off below the rap ran to the apron and runneled the snow left behind. From the car we watched point releases coming down the Y couloir catchment. I'm glad we weren't an hour later getting to the anchors.

I think my opportunity to ski Lisa Falls has melted for the year.

The gully steepens up below the upper snowfield.

Down to the rap anchors. I'd bet that soft-but-supportable snow we booted is all at the bottom by this afternoon.

Below the rap the snow had gotten runneled and the skiing was "adventurous.'

Fresh debris on the apron.

**Johnny Deep** · 03-17-2009, 02:25 PM

Interesting view of Lisa Falls.

**Trackhead** · 03-17-2009, 07:07 PM

East faces started avalanche below 10k at 10am with earnest. Then temps cooled down up higher with safe conditions.

West faces were frozen at 3:30pm at the highest elevations, then a bit below that, a perfect corn harvest was farmed.

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-17-2009, 07:11 PM

Timp au cheval. Nice!

**otter** · 03-17-2009, 08:28 PM

nice trackhead! Lets see some more pics. I was thinking of going out there this week.

**Trackhead** · 03-19-2009, 06:12 PM

Chalky snow on high elevation NW aspects. No wind.

Corn down lower at around 9,500ft on west aspects at 3:00am.

**Lone Star** · 03-19-2009, 06:17 PM

^^^^nice moonlight shot

**Trackhead** · 03-19-2009, 06:25 PM

Ha! Yeah right.

**jepilot** · 03-19-2009, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

Ha! Yeah right.

BD Justice?

**otter** · 03-19-2009, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

Ha! Yeah right.

way to tilt the camera you s.o.b. Nice shots!

**Trackhead** · 03-19-2009, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by otter

way to tilt the camera you s.o.b. Nice shots!

No tilt Otter, we're just that uber rad.

You should have seen where it actually got steep.

**Xover** · 03-19-2009, 07:32 PM

.... that's ^ about how steep & intimidating it looked in my mind when I got my first glimpse of it (the final knife edge ridge) when I came around one of the sub-peaks and wanted to throw up in my own mouth a little

**under the radar** · 03-19-2009, 10:26 PM

nice photos, got to get down that way

**nieveparasiempre** · 03-22-2009, 02:10 PM

Skied the Sliver yesterday. The entrance has a pretty tight squeeze through the trees right now.

The clouds and wind kept things cool. We didn't see any ACTIVE activity but Thunder Ridge shed some skin in a major way over the last few days.

Perfect corn farming was had all the way out of Hogum at 1 p.m. Sorry for the low-res cell phone pics, point & shoot died early on.

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-23-2009, 02:46 PM

Went up LCC without any clear objective in mind, which was just as well, given the conditions. The new snow was dryer than I would have guessed and was easily transported by the wind.

We first abandoned the idea of skiing Days or Silver when we saw the drifts in the p-lot then changed our minds about skiing off the NW side of Cardiff when we found a fat wind slab perched just off the pass.

We'd stopped at Telephone Bowl the first lap to kick at the new snow without interesting results. An hour later we were back again to see our tracks had been refilled and the cornice replaced. This time we were able to trigger a soft slab which moved without needing much of a tap.

We'd just crossed paths with Liam Fitzgerald and spotted as he cut the top of the bowl sending perhaps a 100' wide slab down to the gully.

Liam, after skiing along the crown line. The pocket we kicked loose is just past him and above the two trees.

The snow was great, though not bottomless. 18" in the sheltered spots with hockey rink underneath. Good skiin', even faceshots if you find a drift, get low, or catch a gust of wind.

**MultiVerse** · 03-23-2009, 03:51 PM

Went up Patsy Marley first thing in the AM and then used the Silver Card for the first time since December.

^^^ It was definitely deep but not bottomless but some of the drifts could stop a person cold if you weren’t ready to blast through them. And, it was still snowing hard at 3:00 with moments of white-out conditions above 9K. Like the The Gnarwhale said, “the snow was great.”

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-23-2009, 04:28 PM

"An active pattern will continue across the area through much of the week. A cold Pacific storm system will move east of the area tonight. Another, weaker system will pass through the area Tuesday, ahead of a potent system Wednesday through Thursday."

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-24-2009, 09:45 PM

what, no one out today?

**Trackhead** · 03-24-2009, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by The Gnarwhale

what, no one out today?

Down yonder.....

Manana?

**The Gnarwhale** · 03-24-2009, 10:15 PM

LCC was closed until ~7:30, which was just as well because we didnt have our shit together before that anyhow.

I was really entertained by the folks who made it 5 min up the skinner and stopped for 'safety breaks'. It was a well-choreographed strategy that enables one to let someone else break trail to one's destination of choice.

We passed +15 people in the first minutes and I wasnt even wearing my fluro pink one piece CAMP rando suit.

Feeding frenzy.

Rock-paper-scissors and I was chosen by the fates to ski cut the first shot into Days. I was able to pop out two 20' x 15" soft slabs just below the ridge, neither of which ran far. Ryan pulls out a piece here:

It was the kind of skiing where the occasional look-back seemed prudent.

We did some chuting

Then over to

and out

The only time today I worried about my mortality. Passing multiple cars at a time and over the double yellow around the curves. Jesus man.