Wasatch Conditions 10-11

[Buzzworthy]

Derek, wow, glad all is ok with everyone. Humbe pie for sure.
Please be careful out there buddy.

[tyfalk]

Wow Trackhead sounds sketchy. Glad to hear everyone is alright. North facing mid elevation still skied deep and without much of a bottom today.

[sqikunst]

^^ OH my lord....

SOOO SICK.

ENVY x10

[zion zig zag]

The avy report said a very experienced party was in a slide on Little Sup, did you see those guys,TH?

Skied Days today, the wind affected snow seemed to be hit or miss. East faces got a little sun this morning and may stiffen tonight. There was a enough sun on the south facing exit this morning to make it wet, and then crust it with the afternoon clouds.

[The Gnarwhale]

[Trackhead]

The avy report said a very experienced party was in a slide on Little Sup, did you see those guys,TH?

Yeah, what a buncha wanker retarded gapers. I here one of 'em even nordic skis.

[icelanticskier]

tells the tale^^^^^^^^^^

glad everyone is ok. good lesson for all. that slice o pie can be hard to swallow, but can/will save lives.

nice report.

p.s. just reading this now. been off skiing for a couple of days out of intertoob access.

rog

[Trackhead]

tells the tale^^^^^^^^^^

In that photo, those are clouds mostly, not wind blowing snow.

[lynchdogger]

Is this why they call it Utarded? Wow!

[Shredgar]

Is this why they call it Utarded? Wow!

We call it Tuesday.

[JTrue]

Looking good!

[tyfalk]

Great shot Jim! Upper north in Days was skiing alright today a little wind jacked and not as creamy as some lower elevation terrain.

[Trackhead]

Good skating up Millcreek, if you're into that sort of thing.

Bart, enjoying his first day back skiing after having his back leg amputated over the summer.
[ame="http://vimeo.com/17382742"]Tripawd Skier on Vimeo[/ame]

[Buzzworthy]

YEAH BART!!!!!

He is not missing a stride. Glad for you D!

[Skidog]

Good skating up Millcreek, if you're into that sort of thing.

Bart, enjoying his first day back skiing after having his back leg amputated over the summer.
Tripawd Skier on Vimeo

Dogs are sooo awesome and resilient....doggie looks like he's doing just fine and enjoying life...you're a good "dad"....glad you escaped unscathed the other day and he still has his best friend.

[truth]

Go Bart!

[JTrue]

Fuck yeah Bart!

[Alx88]

Got up to some pretty high elevation stuff today, once we passed 9500' the slopes got increasingly wind effected (went up some sorta pine ridge, who knows which one, red, pink, white... Eh, it was west facing across from Lake Peak). A hundred feet from the top the risk outweighed the reward so I decided to call it good just below the ridge, still good snow just had to do a tad bit of searching... In the upper reaches there was definitely some riming on across most of the face. Twas moist today.

Saw a couple of dudes (skier and a snowboarder) on the top of Lake Peak circa noon, looked like they missed prime light conditions by 20 minutes or so, looked fun regardless. Here's a picture of them at the top of the line.

[Christopher3000]

^^^Looks like you were in the tri-chutes, on Redtop peak.

[Alx88]

Thanks

[brutah]

good buttery smooth conditions were found this morning from deep within the pig pen.......... S-SW skied very nice, some riming/snow on the hike up. starting to feel quite wintery up in LCC

[criscam]

a quick ob from up north (ben lomond area) for any interested: pretty thin below 8k. needs at least another 3' to make it worthwhile.

[BirdosRider]

@Trackhead

Glad everyone was alright, cheers for escaping the grasp of the Death Gully. I am a little curious as to your route selection though. What kept you off of the established route up the ridge? I see the rocks, but there's surely a better route up to LSB than going across the starting zone. Maybe I've been up here in the "sheep pen" for too long, but skiing across a shallow snowpack that's wind loaded (a good percentage of the time) doesn't appear to be the most advantageous of decisions. Not to be a dick, but what was the thought process behind that decision?

[Trackhead]

@Trackhead

Glad everyone was alright, cheers for escaping the grasp of the Death Gully. I am a little curious as to your route selection though. What kept you off of the established route up the ridge? I see the rocks, but there's surely a better route up to LSB than going across the starting zone. Maybe I've been up here in the "sheep pen" for too long, but skiing across a shallow snowpack that's wind loaded (a good percentage of the time) doesn't appear to be the most advantageous of decisions. Not to be a dick, but what was the thought process behind that decision?

I've been up Sup countless times over the years, and typically always stay on the ridge in that area. If you read my report, you would have read that we decided to go back to the ridge, but turned around a little too late, obviously. The normal route in a preseason snowpack is where we went, but cuts back to the base of the ridge where it first gets steep, then typically boots up that section when it's rocky, or does the "sketchy skin" as it's always wind blown through there.

As you know, we in the Wasatch hate booting, it's undignified and ungraceful. So we often get lured into skinning even when it might be faster or safer to boot up a short section. This being a preseason snowpack, not a mid-winter snowpack, we were staying on snow, which up to that point, had no avy danger. This was an isolated wind pocket, we were delayed in our decision to turn around by 15ft, literally. Had the first person in the group turned around sooner, when we first discussed it, I wouldn't be typing this.

The question is always, what lead the party of skiers to make the decisions they made? That's the million dollar question, and with the complex human mind, there are always a million variables every second that lead to either being smart, or being stupid.

We made a mistake, and got lucky with the payment for that mistake. Up to that day, I've had a pretty reasonable safety record. In part due to luck, but I'd like to think for the most part, due to good judgment.

This is fatalistic, but anyone who skis enough in avy terrain, will at one time or another find themselves involved in an avalanche event. Hopefully the event will not end in injury or fatality.

[Johnny Deep]

^^^

True dat. twice for me so far.