Day 45: Little Chute
After skiing groomers all morning it was time to finally bag the most difficult of the Baldy Chutes.
Bob Dangerous, Tele Jon, Skidog and yours truly met up wth rfarren and his father Rich, who are out visiting, and two Ogden-area acquaintances of Skidog's. Rich is into (scratch that, very into) speeding down groomers, which is just as well because this morning was a groomer morning. Ungroomed was very, uh..."stiff," proven by a couple of ill-advised forays onto Cabin Hill and into Fred's Trees. We therefore tore up groomers off Supreme, Sugarloaf, Collins and Wildcat all morning. I was shocked at how empty the place was today. I'd expected large holiday crowds, especially with such an early Easter this year. Instead we had the place relatively to ourselves for a Sunday.
Bob, Tele Jon and Skidog shot over to Snowbird for few runs, and somehow I lost track of Skidog's Ogden friends. Skidog went home at lunch to continue moving into his new house (priorities, priorities :roll: ) and Bob and Jon joined us for lunch at the Rustler.
All morning we looked up at Little Chute, tempted by what appeared to be soft, chalky snow. I've been waiting this winter for the right day, and with cloudless skies, moderate temperatures, no wind and what looked to be good snow, today was as good as any. We broke from the lunch table on a mission.
Bob went back to Snowbird, Rich went back to the groomers, and Jon, rfarren and myself started up the Baldy bootpack from Sugarloaf Pass. I was reminded of why I prefer the hike from Snowbird as I climbed on all fours through much of the steep initial 25% of the ascent. We paused to watch some others drop into Perla's, then made the final assault on the summit.
Views today stretched from the Uintas to the east to the Stansburys to the west, from the Ogden-area mountains to the north to Timpanogos and beyond to the south. It was as close as I'll get to God on this Easter Sunday. We of course relaxed a bit in the sun on top before setting off to complete our mission.
Sliding up to the edge of Little Chute, the initial drop-in makes one weak at the knees. The main drop was very rock-choked, so we exercised common sense and followed the route of others onto The Lawn for a couple of turns to drop in skier's left. I stopped on the wind lip lining the narrow gully to shoot photos of Jon and rfarren before following myself.
The snow was precisely as predicted: smooth, soft chalk that broke away and tumbled down the hill at a much faster pace than we did. We banged off a few turns to the choke point 20% of the way down, where it narrows to less than 200 cm in width before opening up again for the remainder of the chute. A fall in the crux would be a critical mistake, as the fall line would send the victim tumbling over the 40-footer that separates Little Chute from Dogleg. Unscathed, we finished the chute in rubber-legged style before emerging, exhilerated, onto Ballroom.
We celebrated our victory with a beer on the GMD deck, where we again found Skidog's Ogden friends. Another great day in the Wasatch!
I'll really hand it to rfarren, Little Chute had to be a real experience for him, yet he handled it with style! =D> It was great meeting and skiing with you folks today.
After skiing groomers all morning it was time to finally bag the most difficult of the Baldy Chutes.
Bob Dangerous, Tele Jon, Skidog and yours truly met up wth rfarren and his father Rich, who are out visiting, and two Ogden-area acquaintances of Skidog's. Rich is into (scratch that, very into) speeding down groomers, which is just as well because this morning was a groomer morning. Ungroomed was very, uh..."stiff," proven by a couple of ill-advised forays onto Cabin Hill and into Fred's Trees. We therefore tore up groomers off Supreme, Sugarloaf, Collins and Wildcat all morning. I was shocked at how empty the place was today. I'd expected large holiday crowds, especially with such an early Easter this year. Instead we had the place relatively to ourselves for a Sunday.
Bob, Tele Jon and Skidog shot over to Snowbird for few runs, and somehow I lost track of Skidog's Ogden friends. Skidog went home at lunch to continue moving into his new house (priorities, priorities :roll: ) and Bob and Jon joined us for lunch at the Rustler.
All morning we looked up at Little Chute, tempted by what appeared to be soft, chalky snow. I've been waiting this winter for the right day, and with cloudless skies, moderate temperatures, no wind and what looked to be good snow, today was as good as any. We broke from the lunch table on a mission.
Bob went back to Snowbird, Rich went back to the groomers, and Jon, rfarren and myself started up the Baldy bootpack from Sugarloaf Pass. I was reminded of why I prefer the hike from Snowbird as I climbed on all fours through much of the steep initial 25% of the ascent. We paused to watch some others drop into Perla's, then made the final assault on the summit.
Views today stretched from the Uintas to the east to the Stansburys to the west, from the Ogden-area mountains to the north to Timpanogos and beyond to the south. It was as close as I'll get to God on this Easter Sunday. We of course relaxed a bit in the sun on top before setting off to complete our mission.
Sliding up to the edge of Little Chute, the initial drop-in makes one weak at the knees. The main drop was very rock-choked, so we exercised common sense and followed the route of others onto The Lawn for a couple of turns to drop in skier's left. I stopped on the wind lip lining the narrow gully to shoot photos of Jon and rfarren before following myself.
The snow was precisely as predicted: smooth, soft chalk that broke away and tumbled down the hill at a much faster pace than we did. We banged off a few turns to the choke point 20% of the way down, where it narrows to less than 200 cm in width before opening up again for the remainder of the chute. A fall in the crux would be a critical mistake, as the fall line would send the victim tumbling over the 40-footer that separates Little Chute from Dogleg. Unscathed, we finished the chute in rubber-legged style before emerging, exhilerated, onto Ballroom.
We celebrated our victory with a beer on the GMD deck, where we again found Skidog's Ogden friends. Another great day in the Wasatch!
I'll really hand it to rfarren, Little Chute had to be a real experience for him, yet he handled it with style! =D> It was great meeting and skiing with you folks today.
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01 alta little chute 080323.jpg
