STOKED! good snow all over the hill. 90" base upon arrival.
i forgot my camera, but my buddy's didn't. pics are below.
Day 1:
drove down there over the pass. got to town, turned around. back up the pass. tore apart the car to gather all our backcountry gear and suit up to hike up Glory. bootpacked the highway up. the hike was a little tiring, but once you get up there and look around, that all goes away. WAY too many options up there! talk about being spoiled..... we headed down towards what is called Little Tuckermans. first we dug a pit on a norheast aspect. i dug 6' down and noticed no significant layers. however, the tap test demonstrated Quality 2 shears at 2' and about 4' from the surface. the avi rating for this day was CONSIDERABLE. we found a sick steep chute the funnelled out into a big open field. 43 degrees. there were four of us. first buddy dropped in and sent a good about of sluff down with him. we all took one or two turns and B-lined it out. sick line. then down towards little tucks. trees, pillows, cliffs, gullies, and of course the steep and deep. this line was about as fun as B-lining that chute. good stuff and we all made it down alive. hitched back up the hill and went to the resort to get our passes and check in to the condo. beer 30!
Day 2:
this was the first day at the resort for a couple of the group members. we just did the regular gondola to thunder to sublete bomber cruiser lines. from sublete we went to the south hobacks. slightly chopped up powder and a few rocks to pop off of. legs are starting to burn now, and this is just the first run. JH always seems to put you in your place. this hill is BIG. there was no new snow so we opted to do some hiking. back to the car to get our avi gear. 3 car tram wait and over to Cody Bowl. while in the tram line we heard about a girl who got caught in an avi and died up on the pass the previous day on a larger more exposed slope with the same aspect as what we rode. yikes! :shock:
anyways, we rode over to the start of the hike up Cody. haha. don't slip! a couple of people opted to hit Puker Face and me and another guy went further up to check out No Shadows and Four Shadows. Pucker Face is a consistent 45-50 degree slope with some skippers and cliff ban in the middle. the two who hit it said it was good. me and my other buddy decided to drop in on No Shadows. a nice little mandatory cornice drop-in onto about a 40-45 degree slope. more steep and deep. face shots. the works. at teh end of the run we noticed a car sized chunk of cornice that had broken off. you don't want to hit that at top speed coming out of a big bowl. the run out of Rock Springs was real tracked, moguled and bumpy as all he11. i forget what we did after this, but probably just some sick groomers. the groomed runs all over the hill held up real nice the entire time we were there. Ampitheater kicks a$$!
Day 3:
second day on the hill and no new snow. lots of sick groomers, but my powder snob friends weren't satisfied. a couple of them went up to the pass and one other dude did some hiking. i did one of the hikes with him before i went to session the pipe for a bit. we headed over to the crags for a lap down Sheridan Ridge and into Raymer Ridge and Shot 2. real nice snow in here and this was 3 days after any new snow. you can see them from the Apres Vous chair up to the left. hike starts way over in Tensleep bowl though. it's a long slog, but well worth it. my buddy went back to hit that up again. i decided to hit the superpipe for a bit.
SIDE STORY: earlier in the day i ducked the rope to go talk to the folks in the pipe to see when they were going to open it. the walls in the pipe were spraypainted and the tow rope was running along side of the pipe. it looked ready to go, so i wanted to see what was up. they didin't like the fact that i came in under the rope. i was calm about it, and they still wanted to take my pass. i rode down the outside of the pipe and got stopped again by another older patroller. he gave me even more $hit. i just wanted to know when the pipe was going to be open. he almost took my pass too. i thought they were going to pull out the shotgun. get the stick out of your a$$! what dicks. i felt like i was at BB. anyways, the pipe was fun, but hard and icey. blue ice.
Day 4:
powder day! not a good day to be hung over...... we arrived at the hill about 7:45am. tram wait was already about a 4-5 car wait. first tram leaves at 9am. we went over to the gondola to head over to thunder and then sublette. to the Alta chutes we go.... back up sublette and over to south hobacks again. yep. still good and more fresh waiting for us. we also hit the north trees for a lap. well, lets go hike some more. we headed over to the crags for a lap. i dropped in on what i think is Greybull and into Casper Bowl. first person through that chute and i had a hard time seeing with all that powder in my face. nice steep shot and down towards some more rock drops and more powder. we went back up to the Crags and did a lap in there. of course, it was good. many pillows rollers, rock poppers, and deep white stuff to choke on. then the mellow trees coming out of the crags that always seemed untouched. lunch time was coming up and i needed to take a break. my buddies kept hiking. i ended up doing some gondola laps. moran traverse into moran woods. good stuff and slowly poked around some other woods to find some fresh and light chopped up powder. i got lucky in the Nez Perce woods. a few laps there and it was time for a Buck a Beer. waited for friends and got a pitcher. more tomorrow.......
Day 5:
only ~5" of new reported. we were there earlier enough to get in line for first tram, so that's what we did. first run, check out Corbets. ok, lets drop it. 7-8' mandadory drop in on the left and into a packed down solid bank turn that spit me out like a potato gun. the turns in the couloir were beautiful. 3 people had hit it before us and there was about 8-10" just waiting for us. wind helps too. nice way to start the day! over to tensleep bowl to keep it rolling with a nice long hike over to the Crags again. still good and a little more snow fell up here. what can i say. same sh*t different pile........more steep and deep pow with some rock poppers thrown in for good measure. and of course a little speed whenever possible. then we did a gondola, thunder, sublette run and over to south hobacks again. a little more tracked, but still nice. time to grab the avi gear again and go hike Cody. 3 car tram wait and up to the top of Pucker Face. there were 2 tracks on this entire face. it was calling us, so we went up to get a better look at it and make a decision. Pucker Face is a really exposed face as oppossed to No Shadows which is much more protected. this explains all the tracks in No Shadows and Four Shadows. well, we saw a couple more people drop in on Pucker Face and decided this was it. about 2' of fresh down a consistent steep and wide open exposed face. it was fun, but i think i liked No Shadows a little better. Four Shadows looked even better, but goddang is that gnar.
TIRED now, but stilll STOKED.
i forgot my camera, but my buddy's didn't. pics are below.
Day 1:
drove down there over the pass. got to town, turned around. back up the pass. tore apart the car to gather all our backcountry gear and suit up to hike up Glory. bootpacked the highway up. the hike was a little tiring, but once you get up there and look around, that all goes away. WAY too many options up there! talk about being spoiled..... we headed down towards what is called Little Tuckermans. first we dug a pit on a norheast aspect. i dug 6' down and noticed no significant layers. however, the tap test demonstrated Quality 2 shears at 2' and about 4' from the surface. the avi rating for this day was CONSIDERABLE. we found a sick steep chute the funnelled out into a big open field. 43 degrees. there were four of us. first buddy dropped in and sent a good about of sluff down with him. we all took one or two turns and B-lined it out. sick line. then down towards little tucks. trees, pillows, cliffs, gullies, and of course the steep and deep. this line was about as fun as B-lining that chute. good stuff and we all made it down alive. hitched back up the hill and went to the resort to get our passes and check in to the condo. beer 30!
Day 2:
this was the first day at the resort for a couple of the group members. we just did the regular gondola to thunder to sublete bomber cruiser lines. from sublete we went to the south hobacks. slightly chopped up powder and a few rocks to pop off of. legs are starting to burn now, and this is just the first run. JH always seems to put you in your place. this hill is BIG. there was no new snow so we opted to do some hiking. back to the car to get our avi gear. 3 car tram wait and over to Cody Bowl. while in the tram line we heard about a girl who got caught in an avi and died up on the pass the previous day on a larger more exposed slope with the same aspect as what we rode. yikes! :shock:
anyways, we rode over to the start of the hike up Cody. haha. don't slip! a couple of people opted to hit Puker Face and me and another guy went further up to check out No Shadows and Four Shadows. Pucker Face is a consistent 45-50 degree slope with some skippers and cliff ban in the middle. the two who hit it said it was good. me and my other buddy decided to drop in on No Shadows. a nice little mandatory cornice drop-in onto about a 40-45 degree slope. more steep and deep. face shots. the works. at teh end of the run we noticed a car sized chunk of cornice that had broken off. you don't want to hit that at top speed coming out of a big bowl. the run out of Rock Springs was real tracked, moguled and bumpy as all he11. i forget what we did after this, but probably just some sick groomers. the groomed runs all over the hill held up real nice the entire time we were there. Ampitheater kicks a$$!
Day 3:
second day on the hill and no new snow. lots of sick groomers, but my powder snob friends weren't satisfied. a couple of them went up to the pass and one other dude did some hiking. i did one of the hikes with him before i went to session the pipe for a bit. we headed over to the crags for a lap down Sheridan Ridge and into Raymer Ridge and Shot 2. real nice snow in here and this was 3 days after any new snow. you can see them from the Apres Vous chair up to the left. hike starts way over in Tensleep bowl though. it's a long slog, but well worth it. my buddy went back to hit that up again. i decided to hit the superpipe for a bit.
SIDE STORY: earlier in the day i ducked the rope to go talk to the folks in the pipe to see when they were going to open it. the walls in the pipe were spraypainted and the tow rope was running along side of the pipe. it looked ready to go, so i wanted to see what was up. they didin't like the fact that i came in under the rope. i was calm about it, and they still wanted to take my pass. i rode down the outside of the pipe and got stopped again by another older patroller. he gave me even more $hit. i just wanted to know when the pipe was going to be open. he almost took my pass too. i thought they were going to pull out the shotgun. get the stick out of your a$$! what dicks. i felt like i was at BB. anyways, the pipe was fun, but hard and icey. blue ice.
Day 4:
powder day! not a good day to be hung over...... we arrived at the hill about 7:45am. tram wait was already about a 4-5 car wait. first tram leaves at 9am. we went over to the gondola to head over to thunder and then sublette. to the Alta chutes we go.... back up sublette and over to south hobacks again. yep. still good and more fresh waiting for us. we also hit the north trees for a lap. well, lets go hike some more. we headed over to the crags for a lap. i dropped in on what i think is Greybull and into Casper Bowl. first person through that chute and i had a hard time seeing with all that powder in my face. nice steep shot and down towards some more rock drops and more powder. we went back up to the Crags and did a lap in there. of course, it was good. many pillows rollers, rock poppers, and deep white stuff to choke on. then the mellow trees coming out of the crags that always seemed untouched. lunch time was coming up and i needed to take a break. my buddies kept hiking. i ended up doing some gondola laps. moran traverse into moran woods. good stuff and slowly poked around some other woods to find some fresh and light chopped up powder. i got lucky in the Nez Perce woods. a few laps there and it was time for a Buck a Beer. waited for friends and got a pitcher. more tomorrow.......
Day 5:
only ~5" of new reported. we were there earlier enough to get in line for first tram, so that's what we did. first run, check out Corbets. ok, lets drop it. 7-8' mandadory drop in on the left and into a packed down solid bank turn that spit me out like a potato gun. the turns in the couloir were beautiful. 3 people had hit it before us and there was about 8-10" just waiting for us. wind helps too. nice way to start the day! over to tensleep bowl to keep it rolling with a nice long hike over to the Crags again. still good and a little more snow fell up here. what can i say. same sh*t different pile........more steep and deep pow with some rock poppers thrown in for good measure. and of course a little speed whenever possible. then we did a gondola, thunder, sublette run and over to south hobacks again. a little more tracked, but still nice. time to grab the avi gear again and go hike Cody. 3 car tram wait and up to the top of Pucker Face. there were 2 tracks on this entire face. it was calling us, so we went up to get a better look at it and make a decision. Pucker Face is a really exposed face as oppossed to No Shadows which is much more protected. this explains all the tracks in No Shadows and Four Shadows. well, we saw a couple more people drop in on Pucker Face and decided this was it. about 2' of fresh down a consistent steep and wide open exposed face. it was fun, but i think i liked No Shadows a little better. Four Shadows looked even better, but goddang is that gnar.
TIRED now, but stilll STOKED.
... i'm just tired reading about it. Sounds like fun!!! 
keep 'em coming.
