Day 46: What a day!!
First off, our most sincere apologies to OHski. We were supposed to call him once we got there this morning and got settled in, but I thought that I'd have at least some cell service there. I was dead wrong. Tony Crocker's phone, too, couldn't grab a signal. OHski, if you had half as much fun as we did today you had a terrific day.
Tony Crocker, Bob Dangerous, The Kid and I were heading over Trapper's Loop Road near Snowbasin when The Kid leaned forward from the back seat. "Marc...I forgot my ski boots."
"Yeah, right," I replied. "Sure you did." I'd heard that one before. He started laughing. "Just kidding," he confirmed.
But at that moment, Tony started looking sheepish. "I forgot mine," he said quietly. "And I'm not kidding."
The Kid's joke made Tony realize that they were still sitting on the boot dryers downstairs at my house. #-o So after stopping at Valley Market in Eden for a couple of discount lift ticket vouchers, upon arrival at Powder Mountain Tony went in for some rental boots while the rest of us stood in line for lift tickets. I picked up four Lightning Ridge cat skiing vouchers, too, for the wonderful price of $8 each.
It became readily apparent that today would be the busiest that I've ever seen Powder Mountain. The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. Ticketing took 15 minutes. Yet our only liftline of the day more than 90 seconds was to ride the Sunrise poma, and that was 10 minutes. Slopes were wonderfully devoid of traffic, for it takes an awful lot of people to fill 5,500 acres of terrain.
Tony emerged from the rental shop and realized that he'd left his poles in the truck. It was gonna be one of those days. :roll:
Eventually, somewhere around 9:30 am or so, we headed down the green groomer that led to the Timberline chair. Up Timberline, we headed straight for Hidden Lake Express to access Powder Country.
Now, for the uninformed, allow me to explain Powder Country. Powder Mountain is an upside-down ski area. You approach from the south, park at the top, and the ski lifts all drop down the north side. Yet, that leaves hundreds of acres on the south side that lead back down to the access road, and yep, PowMow runs a school bus up and down the access road to pick up those who decide to ski the "back side."
Carving screaming arcs through completely untracked low-angle alpine meadows in Powder Country was one of the highlights of the day. About the only thing that could've made it better would have been if the snow was lighter. It fell wet this week, then the wind whipped it ferociously, then it set up in the overnight cold. The result was some incredibly dense stuff, slightly wind crusted, that still skied remarkably well if you carried speed, stayed in the fall line, and sat ever-so-slightly aft of center. And that's precisely what we did.
We caught the bus back up, and got off at Sunset. Sunset is the first parking lot you come to as you ascend the access road. It's Powder Mountain's night-skiing area and teaching area. It's also the lift to access the pickup point for the Lightning Ridge snowcats.
Again, it was busy today, which meant we had a two-cat wait despite the fact that this new passenger snowcat of theirs carries a whopping 18 passengers. No big deal, for it was warm and sunny outside, and we conversed with others in line and snapped photos while we awaited our turn.
When our turn came, I rode in the cab with the driver to shoot stills and video. And to the jackass who spent the ride in the back badmouthing me, you're wrong -- I live here. Props to The Kid for speaking up in my defense. =D> I only wish that I was back there to hear it.
We got out of the cat and immediately started up the boot ladder to James Peak. The sun beat down on us, making the climbing more difficult, but I owe a beer to whoever set that immaculate boot ladder. Even though there were only a couple of tracks at that point on the obvious lemming line down James Peak, Bob had other ideas.
We traversed out. And out. And out. Eventually we arrived at his destination, a bowl that...I swear to God...didn't have a single track in it. None. Nada. An entire bowl to ourselves!! \
/
(It was only at lunch later that I realized that we were actually out of bounds, and on a "considerable" avalanche day no less. :shock: I'm sure glad that I didn't know that at the time.)
That run went on...and on...and on. Not a single track for vertical feet - I kid you not! At the bottom we negotiated an open stream and climbed out no more than 10 vertical feet to board the Paradise lift. Great route finding, Bob! =D>
By now The Kid was whining rather intensely about lunch, so we headed to the Powderkeg Pub via Paradise and Timberline for a quick burger, hot dog and beer. It was 1:30 pm by the time we got there (that was one long trek out Lightning Ridge!) , and we spent lunch hatching the afternoon plans. The Kid headed to the Terrain Park on Sunset, while Bob, Tony and I mulled our options. Another Lightning Ridge run was considered, but Tony wanted to see more of the area, so we went with Tony's plans.
Once again down to Timberline, then some wonderful aspen trees under Hidden Lake Express led us down to that chair, and back up. We followed the road over to the Sunrise Poma, where we had our only true liftline of the holiday weekend Saturday (again, only 10 minutes), and we headed way out into Cobabe Canyon, again scoring untracked through beautifully-spaced low angle trees.
It was now 3:15, so we headed back up Paradise and Hidden Lake, for we had other plans. Tony headed back to the rental shop to return his boots. Bob and I went down to Sunset to pick up The Kid. Our plans were ready.
Tony was to drive the truck down the access road to the gate just above the Wolf Creek Resort in Eden. We were going to ski down 2,700 vertical feet of the south side of the mountain into the canyon formed by the North Fork of Wolf Creek. This technically starts in the Powder Country area west of the access road, but instead of staying within Powder Country on the east side of the ridge, you drop off the west side of the ridge into the next drainage over.
Our odyssey, however, would have to wait. The Kid was bragging about landing a "Bio 5" off the small jump in the Sunset terrain park, so he led us down to show us. Harummmph. All I got to see him do was smear the landing zone with his forehead. :lol:
One more ride up Sunset and we headed out. It was a gorgeous afternoon as the ground fell away below us into the Eden Valley, and in the distance the expanse of the Great Salt Lake was visible in the late day sun through North Ogden Canyon. We had one last 150-vert hike to ascend before clicking back in and heading down into Wolf Creek drainage.
We gradually worked our way left after each successive untracked powder shot. The skiing on these northwest-facing shots was quite good in spite of the heavy snow that got progressively heavier as we got lower. Eventually at 6400 feet we met the 4x4 road that would lead us out.
We had planned to ski out, but the warm weather over the past week and today's brilliant sunshine had other plans. The road winds around folds in the hillside a couple of hundred feet above the creek, and on each successive south-facing hillside the snow cover became less and less until, still three quarters of a mile from the access road where the North Fork and South Fork join, we ran out of snow. No matter, it was a beautiful day for a hike, and Bob and The Kid shouldered their skis while I strapped mine to my pack, and we hoofed it out the last short distance to Tony waiting in the truck. We arrived at 5 pm, a wonderful way to cap off a wonderful day.
Edit Feb. 18, 2007 5:15 pm MST: I was really unhappy with the way that YouTube overly compressed the videos, so I've uploaded them to Photobucket and added one more with much better results. Here they are:
First off, our most sincere apologies to OHski. We were supposed to call him once we got there this morning and got settled in, but I thought that I'd have at least some cell service there. I was dead wrong. Tony Crocker's phone, too, couldn't grab a signal. OHski, if you had half as much fun as we did today you had a terrific day.
Tony Crocker, Bob Dangerous, The Kid and I were heading over Trapper's Loop Road near Snowbasin when The Kid leaned forward from the back seat. "Marc...I forgot my ski boots."
"Yeah, right," I replied. "Sure you did." I'd heard that one before. He started laughing. "Just kidding," he confirmed.
But at that moment, Tony started looking sheepish. "I forgot mine," he said quietly. "And I'm not kidding."
The Kid's joke made Tony realize that they were still sitting on the boot dryers downstairs at my house. #-o So after stopping at Valley Market in Eden for a couple of discount lift ticket vouchers, upon arrival at Powder Mountain Tony went in for some rental boots while the rest of us stood in line for lift tickets. I picked up four Lightning Ridge cat skiing vouchers, too, for the wonderful price of $8 each.
It became readily apparent that today would be the busiest that I've ever seen Powder Mountain. The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived. Ticketing took 15 minutes. Yet our only liftline of the day more than 90 seconds was to ride the Sunrise poma, and that was 10 minutes. Slopes were wonderfully devoid of traffic, for it takes an awful lot of people to fill 5,500 acres of terrain.
Tony emerged from the rental shop and realized that he'd left his poles in the truck. It was gonna be one of those days. :roll:
Eventually, somewhere around 9:30 am or so, we headed down the green groomer that led to the Timberline chair. Up Timberline, we headed straight for Hidden Lake Express to access Powder Country.
Now, for the uninformed, allow me to explain Powder Country. Powder Mountain is an upside-down ski area. You approach from the south, park at the top, and the ski lifts all drop down the north side. Yet, that leaves hundreds of acres on the south side that lead back down to the access road, and yep, PowMow runs a school bus up and down the access road to pick up those who decide to ski the "back side."
Carving screaming arcs through completely untracked low-angle alpine meadows in Powder Country was one of the highlights of the day. About the only thing that could've made it better would have been if the snow was lighter. It fell wet this week, then the wind whipped it ferociously, then it set up in the overnight cold. The result was some incredibly dense stuff, slightly wind crusted, that still skied remarkably well if you carried speed, stayed in the fall line, and sat ever-so-slightly aft of center. And that's precisely what we did.
We caught the bus back up, and got off at Sunset. Sunset is the first parking lot you come to as you ascend the access road. It's Powder Mountain's night-skiing area and teaching area. It's also the lift to access the pickup point for the Lightning Ridge snowcats.
Again, it was busy today, which meant we had a two-cat wait despite the fact that this new passenger snowcat of theirs carries a whopping 18 passengers. No big deal, for it was warm and sunny outside, and we conversed with others in line and snapped photos while we awaited our turn.
When our turn came, I rode in the cab with the driver to shoot stills and video. And to the jackass who spent the ride in the back badmouthing me, you're wrong -- I live here. Props to The Kid for speaking up in my defense. =D> I only wish that I was back there to hear it.
We got out of the cat and immediately started up the boot ladder to James Peak. The sun beat down on us, making the climbing more difficult, but I owe a beer to whoever set that immaculate boot ladder. Even though there were only a couple of tracks at that point on the obvious lemming line down James Peak, Bob had other ideas.
We traversed out. And out. And out. Eventually we arrived at his destination, a bowl that...I swear to God...didn't have a single track in it. None. Nada. An entire bowl to ourselves!! \
/ (It was only at lunch later that I realized that we were actually out of bounds, and on a "considerable" avalanche day no less. :shock: I'm sure glad that I didn't know that at the time.)
That run went on...and on...and on. Not a single track for vertical feet - I kid you not! At the bottom we negotiated an open stream and climbed out no more than 10 vertical feet to board the Paradise lift. Great route finding, Bob! =D>
By now The Kid was whining rather intensely about lunch, so we headed to the Powderkeg Pub via Paradise and Timberline for a quick burger, hot dog and beer. It was 1:30 pm by the time we got there (that was one long trek out Lightning Ridge!) , and we spent lunch hatching the afternoon plans. The Kid headed to the Terrain Park on Sunset, while Bob, Tony and I mulled our options. Another Lightning Ridge run was considered, but Tony wanted to see more of the area, so we went with Tony's plans.
Once again down to Timberline, then some wonderful aspen trees under Hidden Lake Express led us down to that chair, and back up. We followed the road over to the Sunrise Poma, where we had our only true liftline of the holiday weekend Saturday (again, only 10 minutes), and we headed way out into Cobabe Canyon, again scoring untracked through beautifully-spaced low angle trees.
It was now 3:15, so we headed back up Paradise and Hidden Lake, for we had other plans. Tony headed back to the rental shop to return his boots. Bob and I went down to Sunset to pick up The Kid. Our plans were ready.
Tony was to drive the truck down the access road to the gate just above the Wolf Creek Resort in Eden. We were going to ski down 2,700 vertical feet of the south side of the mountain into the canyon formed by the North Fork of Wolf Creek. This technically starts in the Powder Country area west of the access road, but instead of staying within Powder Country on the east side of the ridge, you drop off the west side of the ridge into the next drainage over.
Our odyssey, however, would have to wait. The Kid was bragging about landing a "Bio 5" off the small jump in the Sunset terrain park, so he led us down to show us. Harummmph. All I got to see him do was smear the landing zone with his forehead. :lol:
One more ride up Sunset and we headed out. It was a gorgeous afternoon as the ground fell away below us into the Eden Valley, and in the distance the expanse of the Great Salt Lake was visible in the late day sun through North Ogden Canyon. We had one last 150-vert hike to ascend before clicking back in and heading down into Wolf Creek drainage.
We gradually worked our way left after each successive untracked powder shot. The skiing on these northwest-facing shots was quite good in spite of the heavy snow that got progressively heavier as we got lower. Eventually at 6400 feet we met the 4x4 road that would lead us out.
We had planned to ski out, but the warm weather over the past week and today's brilliant sunshine had other plans. The road winds around folds in the hillside a couple of hundred feet above the creek, and on each successive south-facing hillside the snow cover became less and less until, still three quarters of a mile from the access road where the North Fork and South Fork join, we ran out of snow. No matter, it was a beautiful day for a hike, and Bob and The Kid shouldered their skis while I strapped mine to my pack, and we hoofed it out the last short distance to Tony waiting in the truck. We arrived at 5 pm, a wonderful way to cap off a wonderful day.
Edit Feb. 18, 2007 5:15 pm MST: I was really unhappy with the way that YouTube overly compressed the videos, so I've uploaded them to Photobucket and added one more with much better results. Here they are:
Attachments
-
00 suunto s6 data powdermt 070217.jpg -
11 powdermt our catskiing bowl 070217.jpg -
10 powdermt returning to paradise 070217.jpg -
09 powdermt admin arcs 070217.jpg -
08 powdermt no tracks 070217.jpg -
07 powdermt bowl 070217.jpg -
06 powdermt james pk terrain 070217.jpg -
05 powdermt hiking james pk 070217.jpg -
04 powdermt snowcat lightning ridge 070217.jpg -
03 powdermt loading cat 070217.jpg -
02 powdermt powder country 070217.jpg -
01 powdermt tony michael bob 070217.jpg
Fortunately we didn't pay any kind of price for our foolishness.
. Fantastic! The second and third time out we got in over our heads. Nothing dangerous, but I can't say narrow double blacks in heavy snow is our cup of tea. Some kind soul took pity on us while waiting for the bus and showed us a nice line for our fourth run of the day. What a great bunch.