Day 50: How to avoid dust on crust
It was a wild, wooly and wonderful weekend in the Wasatch complete with good times, good lines and good friends. Saturday was the first half.
The weekend was packed with visitors. Patrick, a good friend from Massachusetts with whom I haven't had the pleasure of skiing in years, was in town this week on business and extended his stay to ski through the weekend. Mira, the Serb whom Tony and I met a month ago at Snowbird, was back this weekend with her boyfriend Sima. Our visitors were joined by locals Marc_C, Pat, Dale, Amy, Tele Jon, Bob Dangerous, Skidog, my other half and yours truly (hope that I'm not forgetting anyone!).
Bob, however, left the group early, choosing to strike out into the backcountry into what he refers to as "FutureBird": Mary Ellen Gulch. With flat light and spotty snow falling I was anything but disappointed that I wouldn't be joining him. My wife was taking her time getting ready, and others chose to avail themselves of free demos from numerous manufacturer tents set up in the Wildcat base area. Trying to get everyone together for that first ride up Collins was akin to herding feral cats.
Eventually, though, we made it up, skiing a few fast groomers to open the day. The groomers were fabulous with a few inches of new snow atop a base that had been groomed before the snow started falling. The meager new snow from a storm that went bust wasn't enough to bring out the locals, however, and as tourist season is more or less done now the place was deserted.
We eventually made our way to the ungroomed, where certain aspects skied much better than others. Thirds, in particular was a delight with fluffy snow until we hit the suncrust on the flats in Greeley Bowl proper, forcing a hasty exit stage left to Greeley Slot and North Rustler. I alternated between runs on the groomed with my wife, enjoying spending time with her on the slopes for only the second time this year, and hard charging with the others.
We all gathered for lunch at Rustler Lodge, bumping into Liftlines user SoCal as we were all clicking out of our skis outside. SoCal, great to meet up in such a chance way! One of these days we have to actually ski a run together (see below).
As often happens at these lunch gatherings, afternoon plans were hatched. If there was any chance to get some steep and deep untracked, I figured that it would be on the north-facing aspects of Sunset Peak. It was the right exposure, the right altitude and comfortably beyond the ski area boundary. We all stuck together, though, as far as Catherine's Area. Jon didn't have his skins with him, and the only ones I could convince to come along were Mira, Sima and Patrick (ironic that it was three visitors and no locals!). SoCal stayed in-bounds with the rest of the crew, and it would be the last time that we'd see them all day.
We sidestepped and traversed our way over to Sunset Peak. By the time we got to the drop-in, Sima was looking a little haggard. Knowing that there would be a fairly substantial bootpack to return to Catherine's Pass, Mira asked if there was an easy exit for him. We pointed out that from where we stood one could traverse over to the top of Catherine's Pass relatively easily, but a bit of testosterone poisoning kicked in and Sima rejected any such notion. Figuring that we'd provided adequate warning, we skied the slope one at a time, practicing proper avalanche terrain protocol by skiing from one zone of safety to another.
Really, it was the best snow we saw all weekend. Wind-sifted snow blowing over the ridge overnight meant that the snow on the north side was absolutely bottomless untracked, albeit a bit heavy, with no crust whatsoever underneath. I stood at the bottom and watched each and every one of the visitors ski over the rollover onto the steep lower pitch above the lake and get tripped up by a path of avalanche debris. None of this, though, did anything to diminish the broad smiles on our visitors.
Mira and Sima pressed on ahead to begin their climb as Patrick and I each donned skins, and of course we quickly caught up to them. After a quick admonition to stay out of the established skin track poor Sima began floundering. He gave up on sidestepping and clicked out of his skis to begin setting a bootpack. He struggled against the deep snow, eventually dropping to all fours to try crawling. The aforementioned testosterone poisoning discounted numerous suggestions that we simply ski down to Brighton and catch the bus back around.
Once Patrick and I got a bit higher via relatively effortless skinning we were finally able to see an established boot ladder in the gully to our left, and some prodding got Sima back into his skis. Our two Serbian friends traversed over to the boot ladder and began climbing while Patrick and I finished our skin back to Catherine's Pass to chat with some other backcountry travelers skiing with Exum Guides. Ironwoman Mira was the first to appear over the edge at the top, and I asked her, "So, is Sima ready to kill me yet?"
"No," she replied. "I'm the one he's going to kill."
We paused for a few photos before returning inbounds to negotiate the crusty snow on the west-facing side of Catherine's Pass.
It was after 4:00 by the time we loaded Sugarloaf and traversed out to Baldy Shoulder for a run down Tombstone to end the day for Patrick and Sima. I caught one final chair at 4:29 with Ironwoman for an ill-conceived run down Max's, which was a bit crunchier than I would have liked, and a hitchhike back to Alta in the bed of a friendly local's pickup truck.
The evening was spent with a typically superb dinner at Lugano with my other half, Marc_C and his, Patrick, Amy, Mira, Sima and another Serbian friend of theirs who lives in SLC. Much wine, much conversation...as I said earlier, good times!
It was a wild, wooly and wonderful weekend in the Wasatch complete with good times, good lines and good friends. Saturday was the first half.
The weekend was packed with visitors. Patrick, a good friend from Massachusetts with whom I haven't had the pleasure of skiing in years, was in town this week on business and extended his stay to ski through the weekend. Mira, the Serb whom Tony and I met a month ago at Snowbird, was back this weekend with her boyfriend Sima. Our visitors were joined by locals Marc_C, Pat, Dale, Amy, Tele Jon, Bob Dangerous, Skidog, my other half and yours truly (hope that I'm not forgetting anyone!).
Bob, however, left the group early, choosing to strike out into the backcountry into what he refers to as "FutureBird": Mary Ellen Gulch. With flat light and spotty snow falling I was anything but disappointed that I wouldn't be joining him. My wife was taking her time getting ready, and others chose to avail themselves of free demos from numerous manufacturer tents set up in the Wildcat base area. Trying to get everyone together for that first ride up Collins was akin to herding feral cats.
Eventually, though, we made it up, skiing a few fast groomers to open the day. The groomers were fabulous with a few inches of new snow atop a base that had been groomed before the snow started falling. The meager new snow from a storm that went bust wasn't enough to bring out the locals, however, and as tourist season is more or less done now the place was deserted.
We eventually made our way to the ungroomed, where certain aspects skied much better than others. Thirds, in particular was a delight with fluffy snow until we hit the suncrust on the flats in Greeley Bowl proper, forcing a hasty exit stage left to Greeley Slot and North Rustler. I alternated between runs on the groomed with my wife, enjoying spending time with her on the slopes for only the second time this year, and hard charging with the others.
We all gathered for lunch at Rustler Lodge, bumping into Liftlines user SoCal as we were all clicking out of our skis outside. SoCal, great to meet up in such a chance way! One of these days we have to actually ski a run together (see below).
As often happens at these lunch gatherings, afternoon plans were hatched. If there was any chance to get some steep and deep untracked, I figured that it would be on the north-facing aspects of Sunset Peak. It was the right exposure, the right altitude and comfortably beyond the ski area boundary. We all stuck together, though, as far as Catherine's Area. Jon didn't have his skins with him, and the only ones I could convince to come along were Mira, Sima and Patrick (ironic that it was three visitors and no locals!). SoCal stayed in-bounds with the rest of the crew, and it would be the last time that we'd see them all day.
We sidestepped and traversed our way over to Sunset Peak. By the time we got to the drop-in, Sima was looking a little haggard. Knowing that there would be a fairly substantial bootpack to return to Catherine's Pass, Mira asked if there was an easy exit for him. We pointed out that from where we stood one could traverse over to the top of Catherine's Pass relatively easily, but a bit of testosterone poisoning kicked in and Sima rejected any such notion. Figuring that we'd provided adequate warning, we skied the slope one at a time, practicing proper avalanche terrain protocol by skiing from one zone of safety to another.
Really, it was the best snow we saw all weekend. Wind-sifted snow blowing over the ridge overnight meant that the snow on the north side was absolutely bottomless untracked, albeit a bit heavy, with no crust whatsoever underneath. I stood at the bottom and watched each and every one of the visitors ski over the rollover onto the steep lower pitch above the lake and get tripped up by a path of avalanche debris. None of this, though, did anything to diminish the broad smiles on our visitors.
Mira and Sima pressed on ahead to begin their climb as Patrick and I each donned skins, and of course we quickly caught up to them. After a quick admonition to stay out of the established skin track poor Sima began floundering. He gave up on sidestepping and clicked out of his skis to begin setting a bootpack. He struggled against the deep snow, eventually dropping to all fours to try crawling. The aforementioned testosterone poisoning discounted numerous suggestions that we simply ski down to Brighton and catch the bus back around.
Once Patrick and I got a bit higher via relatively effortless skinning we were finally able to see an established boot ladder in the gully to our left, and some prodding got Sima back into his skis. Our two Serbian friends traversed over to the boot ladder and began climbing while Patrick and I finished our skin back to Catherine's Pass to chat with some other backcountry travelers skiing with Exum Guides. Ironwoman Mira was the first to appear over the edge at the top, and I asked her, "So, is Sima ready to kill me yet?"
"No," she replied. "I'm the one he's going to kill."
We paused for a few photos before returning inbounds to negotiate the crusty snow on the west-facing side of Catherine's Pass.
It was after 4:00 by the time we loaded Sugarloaf and traversed out to Baldy Shoulder for a run down Tombstone to end the day for Patrick and Sima. I caught one final chair at 4:29 with Ironwoman for an ill-conceived run down Max's, which was a bit crunchier than I would have liked, and a hitchhike back to Alta in the bed of a friendly local's pickup truck.
The evening was spent with a typically superb dinner at Lugano with my other half, Marc_C and his, Patrick, Amy, Mira, Sima and another Serbian friend of theirs who lives in SLC. Much wine, much conversation...as I said earlier, good times!
Attachments
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08 alta patrick mira sima sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
07 alta sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
06 alta mira happy sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
05 alta mira debris sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
04 alta sima sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
03 alta patrick sunset pk 20080405.jpg -
02 alta jon thirds 20080405.jpg -
01 alta mira marc_c thirds 20080405.jpg
