Wasatch Conditions 10-11

**tyfalk** · 01-06-2011, 07:12 PM

Another nice bluebird day in the Wasatch. Shady aspects up high still skiing great. South was getting baked by noon below 9k.

**Slaag Master** · 01-06-2011, 08:18 PM

i must be hittin up all the wrong places - all i ever see are dem ravens - no bluebirds

**Mark H** · 01-07-2011, 01:25 AM

Originally Posted by tyfalk

Another nice bluebird day in the Wasatch. Shady aspects up high still skiing great. South was getting baked by noon below 9k.

yea we saw your tracks from across the canyon

man I love the southern Wasatch

and how bout that monster slide in lower Bunnels?! The debris just kept going...

and going...

and going!

Sure made for a fun terrain park on the way down eh?

**tyfalk** · 01-07-2011, 12:31 PM

^ Mark, yes what a impressive slide indeed. Haha your right it was like a terrain park on the way out hopping and twisting around the chunder.

**Trackhead** · 01-07-2011, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by tyfalk

^ Mark, yes what a impressive slide indeed. Haha your right it was like a terrain park on the way out hopping and twisting around the chunder.

Timp had similar nuclear destructive carnage and gully carvers.

**Mark H** · 01-07-2011, 10:39 PM

Objective: that tasty looking chute on the north face of Lightning Peak

but it's easy to get distracted in these parts

Let the wandering begin! Endless 'loud powder' has me wondering how well the next layer will stick.

the powderbird terrorizing Windy Pass

Jake prefers the natural feel of sticks over poles

The descent: finger lickin' good! My favorite of the season so far.

To the Girl Scouts: Thanks for letting us slide through your compound with only a warning. Can't see the 'No Trespassing' signs when they're buried in sick pow!

**Trackhead** · 01-08-2011, 06:44 AM

They let you go with a warning because they clearly felt sorry for Jake with his steezy nature poles

Did you guys go up from South Fork? If so, it's not trespassing to get to Lightning if you take the forest service summer trail.

Nice work down yonder.

**ski_adk** · 01-08-2011, 09:20 AM

Anyone catch today's Avy report? Apparently, you need to watch for high-marking snowmobiles in Cardiff fork...

http://utahavalanchecenter.org/obser...mineral_172011

As they got further up the drainage they saw my party ascending below cardiac ridge and in an obvious attempt to intimidate, one of them put his sights on us and drove his sled directly towards us and highmarked one member of our group.

**Mark H** · 01-08-2011, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by Trackhead

They let you go with a warning because they clearly felt sorry for Jake with his steezy nature poles

Did you guys go up from South Fork? If so, it's not trespassing to get to Lightning if you take the forest service summer trail.

Nice work down yonder.

Yes we started in South Fork and essentially followed the Great Western Trail to gain the summit ridge. On the way down we felt too lazy to climb up and around the Ranch. Now that our 'Get Out of Jail Free' card has been used we'll have to go around next time

It also didn't help that we were passing through right when all the girls were arriving for the weekend. However they seemed fascinated by my AT rig. I thought I heard one little girl say something like "Wow those dynafits look so light and efficient! They make fritschis look like shit!"

**Trackhead** · 01-08-2011, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Mark H

However they seemed fascinated by my AT rig. I thought I heard one little girl say something like "Wow those dynafits look so light and efficient! They make fritschis look like shit!"

Hhahahah, teach 'em the path to righteousness young!

**Alx88** · 01-08-2011, 03:11 PM

Went up Box Elder yesterday, gobs of hoar on most aspects in the lower elevations (6500'-8500'). I didn't observe much hoar on slopes steeper than 30 degrees though...

Anywho, we skied the wind-jacked NW face. The top 500' was quite bullet proof but the lower elevations gave way to some pretty decent turning conditions. After the face was skied we continued the way out with that beautiful hoar underneath our feet for quite awhile. Oh yeah, you can ski all the way back to the parking lot at this point in the season (what's the date again?)

Here's some photos.

**tyfalk** · 01-08-2011, 03:58 PM

Still some good skiing to be had out there. Hope these don't cause too many problems...

**uac** · 01-08-2011, 07:25 PM

Tyfalk - very good. Appreciate the eye for style and detail.
Hardesty

**sfotex** · 01-08-2011, 09:20 PM

Helped pull a guy out of Cardiff tonight that was having some pretty bad medical problems. His buddies were younger (vs. the noodle crowd

) and on bluehouse skis, hope it's not anybody on here.

++Vibes++

**ectreeskier11** · 01-08-2011, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by sfotex

Helped pull a guy out of Cardiff tonight that was having some pretty bad medical problems. His buddies were younger and on bluehouse skis, hope it's not anybody on here.

++Vibes++

damn, either of the kids on BH's have a purple helmet or denim style outerwear? also, just heard from a buddy that was up in white pine a couple days ago that some highmarks had been left in there also, apparently coming over from maryellen.

**sfotex** · 01-10-2011, 08:50 AM

Went in from BCC and skied some shots off the Park City Ridgeline. It skied surprisingly good. A little chilly in the wind, but it was a great day to be out. We're in need of a refresher though. Didn't see any signs of instability.

**zion zig zag** · 01-10-2011, 08:23 PM

Skied up north today from 5500 to 9500, the lower elevations skied surprisingly well. A few movable soft slabs from recent wind transport on the lee side of ridges and large sluffs in the uber steep tree terrain. Both were easy to control/avoid/ski through. Various crusts and wind damage up high and out of the trees.

**The Gnarwhale** · 01-10-2011, 10:15 PM

We went down south where the Utah Lake effect had left a foot of fluff to cover the loud powder and windslabs.

The slopes had sluffed in long-running avalanches on steep, upper elevation slopes. The storm snow had not yet settled into a slab over the recently buried facets but that seems almost inevitable with a little more time and weather. In the mean time, turning conditions were really fun.

**Mark H** · 01-11-2011, 12:00 AM

^^^^^^
and here is my report from the same trip:

A bear was here

Zach turned into an icicle

The Gnarwhale is still chasing the white whale

and Chris had fun

**Trackhead** · 01-11-2011, 06:59 AM

This one puts the viewer there. Dig it......

Edit:Is that the cover of Wasatch Tours 3? Sure looks like it.

**marauders** · 01-11-2011, 10:56 AM

Observation Jan. 10th
Very little snow accumulation in the Cascade area. Surface hoar prevelant on W, N, and E. Moderate sun crust on S. Skiing on N aspects was phenomenal. Moderate sluffing on steep N facing, but manageable. The south wasatch has stunning coverage for this time of year

**dfinn** · 01-11-2011, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by ski_adk

Anyone catch today's Avy report? Apparently, you need to watch for high-marking snowmobiles in Cardiff fork...

http://utahavalanchecenter.org/obser...mineral_172011

As they got further up the drainage they saw my party ascending below cardiac ridge and in an obvious attempt to intimidate, one of them put his sights on us and drove his sled directly towards us and highmarked one member of our group.

Isn't this area only allowed sled access by the people that own cabins in there? Other than that, how else would you get a sled in there? Either way, that's pretty f'ing stupid.

**sfotex** · 01-11-2011, 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by dfinn

Isn't this area only allowed sled access by the people that own cabins in there? Other than that, how else would you get a sled in there? Either way, that's pretty f'ing stupid.

You can ride from from BCC up pretty high on the old road back there without much trouble. No gates, etc along the way. We followed the tracks in from the previous day on Saturday on sleds and got pretty high up.

**TeleThor** · 01-11-2011, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by dfinn

Isn't this area only allowed sled access by the people that own cabins in there? Other than that, how else would you get a sled in there? Either way, that's pretty f'ing stupid.

Yup. Pretty sure sled access is limited to property owners. They can use the road for access. But once they get up there, they're only supposed to be sledding on their private land. They were up pretty high in Cardiac one time I was up there. Pretty sure it was FS land.

Highmarking directly at/over/under skiers is really f'ed up though. Lucky the avy conditions were stable enough or that dude could have been in serious trouble. The bilers in Cardiff are morons.