Wasatch Conditions 13/14

[Slaag Master]

today superior was skied out like a one hole whore house!!!!!

[happytimefunbox]

NE facing patsy shoulder @ 10000 ft. Dug my own pit didn't co opt any one else's data this time. 65 inch snowpack. Shovel shear gave a stubborn q2 to 3 break on the rain crust / storm snow interface about 2 feet down . Couldn't get anything to go on ct even the there was 10 inches of loose facets in the basement. Nice soft but settled pow from the top of the 29 degree slope until the exit above the houses. Yeah its not superior (admired yalls tracks this morn strong work) but its good enough for a solo tour. Mediocre is the new awesome. Damn fine weather get out there and enjoy...

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[happytimefunbox]

today superior was skied out like a one hole whore house!!!!!

Very discriptive slaaag....

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[Mark H]

I initially wasn't planning on skiing from the ridge for the exact reasons you mentioned above Christopher. My friends and I were just gonna do some laps on the apron. However we noticed that there was no significant wind transport going on up high on Superior that morning despite the raging winds elsewhere. I skinned up to within a few hundred feet of the ridge and found no evidence of wind drifts so I kept going, ready to turn around at the first sign of them. How could there not be significant drifts in that area after so many days of big winds? I'm guessing it's partly because the other side of the notch on the ridge where I topped out (a few hundred feet below the true summit) is mostly cliffs and therefore has little snow for transport. It may also be because Monte Cristo shields that portion of the ridge from the brunt of the northwest flow. There wasn't even a cornice in that spot. There was only a gentle breeze on the ridge at 9:30 A.M. I could have lit a candle.... It may have been a totally different story just a little further up. This was just a classic example of how LOCAL VARIATIONS ALWAYS OCCUR.

[Christopher3000]

I initially wasn't planning on skiing from the ridge for the exact reasons you mentioned above Christopher. My friends and I were just gonna do some laps on the apron. However we noticed that there was no significant wind transport going on up high on Superior that morning despite the raging winds elsewhere. I skinned up to within a few hundred feet of the ridge and found no evidence of wind drifts so I kept going, ready to turn around at the first sign of them. How could there not be significant drifts in that area after so many days of big winds? I'm guessing it's partly because the other side of the notch on the ridge where I topped out (a few hundred feet below the true summit) is mostly cliffs and therefore has little snow for transport. It may also be because Monte Cristo shields that portion of the ridge from the brunt of the northwest flow. There wasn't even a cornice in that spot. There was only a gentle breeze on the ridge at 9:30 A.M. I could have lit a candle.... It may have been a totally different story just a little further up. This was just a classic example of how LOCAL VARIATIONS ALWAYS OCCUR.

Serendipity strikes on Mt. Superior. What if you'd noticed wind transport and opted to stay on the aprons, and then myself and my five douchebag bros had dropped in above you (narrowly beating the other 30 people headed to Superior on a given powder day), or performed a cautionary ski cut like whatsisface on Mt Taylor in Idaho, only to release a class 4 slide (on a tracked-out SE facing slope) that overran a ski touring superhighway--or, in your case, a relatively small windslab that happened to smack you when you were making a transition at the top of your skintrack? I'm not necessarily saying anyone is right or wrong in the simple performance of one of these acts, but why take objective information about snow--there's lots of new snow, it may be complex, it is really windy in the Wasatch today, its really sunny in the Wasatch today, etc--and opt to go to a place where you are really not in control of much?

[oldskibum]

Well Mark, you obviously made a successful call, surprising many "experts" and getting some great skiing. Some of us are envious and remember when we might have gone for it ourselves, except now we "know better..." Snooze you lose more than ever in the Wasatch!

[Mark H]

Believe me I was watching the east ridge very closely for any sign of people heading up. My skinner was in a different drainage than the main shot which of course usually gets hit first. For anyone to come down on top of me they would have had to scrape their way down a few hundred feet of rocks on the south ridge.

So nobody raises an eyebrow anymore when they see a skinner put straight up Tanners, Little Pine, ect, but I'm just totally insane for putting a skinner straight up Superior? Bullshit. The only reason it doesn't happen more often is because the east ridge is such a convenient and awesome route.

[icelanticskier]

mark, did you have a pedometer on? that skinner must be like 10k

if ANYTHING had happened above you sympathetically, or otherwise, you weren't gonna escape anywhere fast. super nice to have it all to yerself tho. a rare treat

rog

[Christopher3000]

dThe E ridge is convienient, awesome, and on most days, much safer than going up the face. Other south facing shots in mid-LCC get skied a lot less, obviously because they aren't visible from alta/snowbird, but also because they lack a safe route. Would you have skied little pine on Tuesday? It looked like it had good enough coverage. Obviously I am more than a little jealous, of course.

Armchair quarterbacks should never assume they have all the information--obviously, you scored some great skiing, and sure enough, your skinner was still visible yesterday afternoon: clearly not a lot of transport going on up there.

I think Wasatch skiers--I am a primary defendent in this case--are often guilty of making a terrain selection, and tailoring a personal snow and avalanche forecast to that terrain. Like, "I want to ski Superior, but I don't want to go up the ridge, so I'll go to the apron and see if the winds are actually blowing on top." Such decision making is on one hand only possible for very intelligent, experienced people--one needs to have observed a fair amount of snow and weather in the Wasatch and then crunched a bunch of recent information about snow and weather--and to reap the good results is addicting. Perhaps, in other words, some of us let a bulk of positive experiences--personal forecast verifications--cloud a more sober acknowledgement of what could happen, or of what could be different from our expectations.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't "do it that way," but I had a very close call recently doing something much more lame than skiing superior, and it has caused me to realize that sometimes I let my desire to do one thing or another inform other aspects of my decision making routine, and read the objective forecast information in a light that makes my terrain choice seem more favorable. I'm also not saying you or anyone else needs to take a step back and think about that stuff, but I have more or less been forced to, and it makes me feel lucky.

[BlowerSnowBlower]

So nobody raises an eyebrow anymore when they see a skinner put straight up Tanners, Little Pine, ect, but I'm just totally insane for putting a skinner straight up Superior? Bullshit. The only reason it doesn't happen more often is because the east ridge is such a convenient and awesome route.

40"+ new snow. Many days of strong w nw wind. Poor snowpack structure. First sunny day.
Would you raise an eyebrow at a skinner up tanners, little pine, etc. I sure as hell would. I realize I'm a 1st post mmqbacking jong. But bad decisions with positive feedback will kill a guy if he's not careful. And I like you(we have met). So hopefully these eyebrows raised can be your negative feedback.

[brutah]

Many times its safer to skin/hike up what you plan to ski. why? you get to analyze the snow the whole way up. many of the major slide paths in the wasatch require one to hike directly up them to access them. In fact the east ridge route gives one very little opportunities to look at the snowpack on the way up to superior.

you know where the safest place to ski? In your office chair behind a keyboard..... most of you should stick to those slopes

[Christopher3000]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/0...edium=facebook

How timely!

[Christopher3000]

Many times its safer to skin/hike up what you plan to ski. why? you get to analyze the snow the whole way up. many of the major slide paths in the wasatch require one to hike directly up them to access them. In fact the east ridge route gives one very little opportunities to look at the snowpack on the way up to superior.

you know where the safest place to ski? In your office chair behind a keyboard..... most of you should stick to those slopes

I wouldn't know anything about offices. Hiking up the runout of a giant avalanche path that slides regularly doesn't tell you a damn thing about whats going on in the starting zone, unless you are hiking over fresh debris. Hiking up the east ridge, on the other hand, allows you to see what has gone on in the starting zones, which is where one is most likely to trigger an avalanche, before you enter one from any direction, and get a feel for surface snow conditions, which is most important on a lot of Superior days. This is why it is generally advisable to avoid large, leeward avalanche paths on days when snow and weather variables--tons of new snow, lots of wind, etc--should indicate a cautious approach. Kicked off pocket on the east side of LSB? Maybe--but of course not DEFINITELY--its not a great day to go to Superior, even if its bluebird and its going to be really good on the apron.

A few years ago there was a powder magazine peice about some bros in Chamonix who were really getting after it on the biggest lines on Mt. Blanc, in deep powder conditions, many of which were never considered an option with fresh snow until recently. Dave Rosenbarger said something to the effect of, "55 degrees feels a lot less steep when you're nipple deep." Andrew McLean made a comment in response, either on this site, telemarktips, his site, or somewhere else, that 55 degrees feels a lot more steep when you're riding down it in an avalanches than it does when you are making cautious turns on hard snow, so you better be damn sure of your forecast, and comfortable with the outcome of a blown forecast, to be going for the Tour Ronde with three feet of fresh, or something like that.

[icelanticskier]

Many times its safer to skin/hike up what you plan to ski. why? you get to analyze the snow the whole way up. many of the major slide paths in the wasatch require one to hike directly up them to access them. In fact the east ridge route gives one very little opportunities to look at the snowpack on the way up to superior.

Climb what you ski! Worked for romeo(rip) and countless others.

Rog

[spindrift65]

Pretty sure posers right about people not skiing down on him, who wants to ski through 10,000 kick turns.

[icelanticskier]

^^^^^^^. Truth!

Rog

[oldskibum]

Thanks Mark for precipitating this lively discussion, and thanks Chris for your thoughtful rebuttals, inspiring reflection for us all.
You weren't "totally" insane, Mark, just crazy enough, a common denominator for most of us here. Life is lived most fully, closest to the edge...wishing us safe travels, and safe arrivals!

[JTrue]

Pretty sure posers right about people not skiing down on him, who wants to ski through 10,000 kick turns.

^^^^ Write on!

[Slaag Master]

well put osb!!! post #3 and you're all bout tribe!!!!!

[xkgeorgex]

Luck or skill aside if you make that choice and get spit off you're going to look like a total douche. Especially if you get your friends killed along with you. I couldn't think of a more embarrassing way to go.

[PowerWhore7]

Wanted to thank Potatoeskillme and our non-mag friends for showing a couple of knuckle draggers from CA such a good time while in BCC this past week. Many-many faceshots, bowls and beers were shared, as well as traverses . Met so many helpful, friendly people in the skin track as well as the resorts that I am starting to think Utards aren’t all bad . Here is some stoke I put together of our trip, nothing special, just some resort skiing and super mellow meadow skipping out of Spruces. Hope you enjoy it.

What an unbelievable place...





















Iceman drives a Land Rover in jeans?

[claymond]

PowerWhore7, wrong thread. Utah doesn't just have different beer laws, they also use a different vocabulary. See, in the native tongue of Utardedan, "conditions" actually means "critique the fuck out of everything somebody else does on, near, or within view of a mountain". So nobody cares how the much fun you had, you failed to note the important info, such as if everyone was setting the skinner properly with the right number of kickturns.


Nicely done, best wishes for snow in the Sierra. I love those mountains.

[Slaag Master]

super stoke pow11!!!!!!!! your post certainly exceeds all the last few pages of cunt drizzle over some dood with balls doing superior!!!! visit again!!!

[StopMakingSense]

Lost a Hestra Guide Glove right hand brown leather touring up to Twin Lakes pass yesterday from Albion Basin lot, lemme know if any one sees it today, headed up now to check it out

[iceman]

Iceman drives a Land Rover in jeans?

wutinthehell? Not me, man.