Snowbird, UT 6/15/2008

[Admin]

Day 65: More of the same

Take yesterday, add four more people, and you have today.

Same weather. Same snow. Same lineup of runs:

1. Skier's left Hyena Ridge
2. Chamonix I to lower Chamonix Chutes
3. Skier's right Hyena Ridge
4. Jaws (although lower down I followed the others into Surprise Gully this time)

For the last run, this time I again followed the others to do what they did yesterday and I didn't: hike to the summit of Mount Baldy to ski Little Chute into Alta, then back to Snowbird via The Keyhole.

Bobby Danger, Skidog, Marc_C, Tele Jon, Amy, Dale, Pat and yours truly finished the day in style in the Baldy Chutes. If this turns out to be the last run of the season, I'm OK with that 8) .

Here's some video:

[flv]http://www.skimovies.com/flv/2008-06-14_15_Snowbird.flv[/flv]

and some photos:

 

[Tony Crocker]

Little Chute on June 15 ....

And I haven't managed to get that one in March.

 

[Harvey]

Cool late season feel to the video. Music goes well with it.

Hey I think I could ski with telejon. In tight spots, he bails and Pturns on the same side as me.

Good stuff.

 

[Admin]

Cool late season feel to the video. Music goes well with it.

Thanks! That was kind of my objective with the selection -- it may well be the last video of the year, so I wanted it to have a reflective feel to it. Of course, minds may differ -- my 17 year-old's comment was, "Good video, but the music sucks...you should've picked a different tune."

What frightens me more were his suggestions. :roll:

Hey I think I could ski with telejon. In tight spots, he bails and Pturns on the same side as me.

You know, it's funny...I never noticed that before I was putting the video together last night. Always to the right. To his credit, though, those spots were seriously hairball. Jaws has gotten exceedingly narrow and was still frozen in the shaded spots (Tele Jon, 1:11). Jon was the first crash test dummy through the choke. Notice how at 3:22 in the film Bob goes to great pains to avoid the frozen spots. You can also see Jaws as the camera zooms in from the Tram at 0:51 -- right before the scene changes you can make out a skier in Jaws for a sense of scale.

Little Chute is hideously steep and tight with about 1,000 vertical feet of exposure -- I skied like crap through the upper choke, and the trick was to stay ahead of the river of sloughing wet snow that grew with each turn (you can see that behind Bobby as he bangs his first couple of turns after sliding in at 2:44). It was very shallow, of course, but so heavy and wet that it could easily take your skis out from under you.

Below the choke we were trying to avoid the larger of the chocolate chips in the snow, some of which were actually just the tips of buried boulders that could be knocked loose by a ski (Tele Jon, 3:35). The conversation between Bobby and Skidog near the end (4:09) is discussing a bowling ball-sized rock that Bobby kicked off in there on Saturday and sent hurtling down the hill. Despite his yelling "Rock!" Skidog, who was below him, never heard him and the rock actually bounced off one of Skidog's skis. On Sunday, I was the last man down and kicked off an only slightly smaller one near the top that ran the whole length of the chute, I kid you not. Lessons learned on Saturday meant that we skied Little Chute on Sunday one at a time, and the other three were in a protected spot midway down as they watched my rock rocket past them.

At the top, we all looked down Little Chute and Marc_C, Amy, Dale and Pat all begged out and opted for Main Chute instead. As we watched them finish Main Chute from below (2:37) we had to duck for cover as they kicked loose yet another rock and sent it hurtling down past us.

 

[icelanticskier]

skiing one at a time is a good lesson for anyone in any exposed or any bc terrain for that matter. it's just proper etiquette to ski one at a time and makes for a much better experience. i gave a guy some serious crap in the ravine on wednesday that came out of the side into left gully as i came down from the top and as soon as i went by he he jumped right in behind me and all i could hear for the bottom 2/3rds of my run was him hootin and scrapin corn behind me. after my lecture he left all pissed off. maybe it was when i told him to get a friggin clue. many accidents happen when folks piggy back narrow, steep bc runs.
rog

 

[Bobby Danger]

now how bout that commontator ?

 

[Admin]

skiing one at a time is a good lesson for anyone in any exposed or any bc terrain for that matter. it's just proper etiquette to ski one at a time and makes for a much better experience.

We're not talking about being right behind one another here. That rock had enough time to get up a full head of steam first, several hundred vertical feet's worth -- far enough that Skidog didn't hear Bob yelling down to him about the rock.

Skiing one at a time from protected zone to protected zone is, of course, proper travel protocol in avalanche terrain. Snow stability was not a concern, so we weren't traveling with ultra caution in that manner, but I don't think they gave kicking off rocks any thought on Saturday.

 

[Harvey]

I've seen enough ski photography to know that if it LOOKS steep and tight in a picture, it's REALLY intimidating in real life. I remember one time we took some pictures at Squaw of this "cliff" we were going off...needless to say the pictures made it look pretty tame.

Not to speak for Ice, but I don't think he was saying that you guys were close together. From the video it looks like you were spread out.

With regard to what happened to Ice in the gully on Weds....that would really piss me off. Having someone on your back at a resort is bad enough. Having earned those turns by climbing all morning, and being so far from help if there was a problem, coupled with the fact that I highly doubt the "crowds" were a factor up there. I'd be cranky too.

 

[Bobby Danger]

both chutes are littered with rocks the size of baseballs up to about a watermelon. anything smaller sticks in the snow when it falls from the perch it's had for the last 1000 years. anything larger usually gains enough momentum that it will tumble clear of both chutes evidence the really big ones in the ballroom. more often than not the majority are about the size of a potatoe.ski dog had to have been 6 or 7 hundred vert. feet below me. i kicked mine off about the same place as admin just above the throat or in the throat seems to be a collection point there for some reason don't know why there's plenty of pitch. sunday after skiing little with everyone they departed i skied a couple in snowbird then went back up baldy shoulder and skied main chute.

 

[Admin]

sunday after skiing little with everyone they departed i skied a couple in snowbird then went back up baldy shoulder and skied main chute.

You animal! I could barely walk.

 

[Skidog]

We really didnt give the rocks a thought, aside from to do our best to avoid them, on Saturday. As Bobby mentioned i was about 700 vert below them very close to the edge of a protected zone when I stopped, but while the were screaming I was below still skiing. The combination of me skiing and the distance I was below uphill party made for a situation where there was no way to hear their calls. Luckily that rock took a bounce of my ski and not my head.

Sunday we skied Little chute MUCH differently...1 at a time all the way to the apron.

good times. As Admin mentioned if that happens to be my last run of this season im way happy....i doubt it will be though...plenty of snow to walk to...who knows...maybe 12 months in a row...??? :shock:

M

 

[Admin]

plenty of snow to walk to...who knows...maybe 12 months in a row...??? :shock:

Noob. :roll: I did that my first year here, but I've since gotten over it.

 

[Patrick]

who knows...maybe 12 months in a row...???

:roll: :lol:

Nice video Marc. Looked like fun. For music, I thought that the mix between pictures and music was better with that vid with Feist.

 

[Skidog]

plenty of snow to walk to...who knows...maybe 12 months in a row...??? :shock:

Noob. :roll: I did that my first year here, but I've since gotten over it.

Nothing to do with Noob....you're already done...you gave up weeks ago... :roll: GIRLIE MAN!!!!
ill ski til its gone....and ill do it year in year out if time allows.....maybe I can be like Icelantics buddy...233 in a row....since the babies coming I have to shoot for something more along those lines....i wont be getting an 80 day season next year!!! I need something to keep my sanity!!!!

M

 

[jamesdeluxe]

since the babies coming I have to shoot for something more along those lines....

So what's your game plan? If you don't throw some money (au pair) or relatives at the situation, eh... you'll see. Within a few months, the wife will give you the "I tend to the baby 24 hours a day and you're going skiing with your f-ing friends!!" rap.
:lol:

 

[Skidog]

since the babies coming I have to shoot for something more along those lines....

So what's your game plan? If you don't throw some money (au pair) or relatives at the situation, eh... you'll see. Within a few months, the wife will give you the "I tend to the baby 24 hours a day and you're going skiing with your f-ing friends!!" rap.
:lol:

We've already agreed to one weekend day for me...I have some flexibility with work so I can take mid week days...

I have no doubt though that id get at LEAST 1 day a month..

And she aint tending to a baby 24 a day...she'll be working man....we'll be sharing that responsibility.

That and I handle crap VERY well.

M

 

[jasoncapecod]

the babies coming

does this imply your having twins :shock:

if so, god bless .. YOUR IN DEEP Sh*@!
the only snow your going to be playing with is Ivory Snow. While your washing baby clothes. :wink:

 

[Skidog]

the babies coming

does this imply your having twins :shock:

if so, god bless .. YOUR IN DEEP Sh*@!
the only snow your going to be playing with is Ivory Snow. While your washing baby clothes. :wink:

naaa thankfully this time only one...crazy though...my mother in law is a twin, her twin sister had twins, and 2 of her kids had twins...we were worried for a bit there....

M

 

[jamesdeluxe]

We both worked full-time after our son was born. It ain't easy when you have no family in the area.

Good on you for piling on the ski days before the big event. The first winter with him on the scene, I got in a whole 15 days -- seven of which came from a trip to Austria (we brought him along :roll -- and I felt lucky.

 

[Harvey]

We've already agreed to one weekend day for me...I have some flexibility with work so I can take mid week days...

I have no doubt though that id get at LEAST 1 day a month..

James - maybe we should give a class on this.

I got 25 days in the year CB was pregnant, 31 the first year and 28 the second year (this year.) That's with one EASY kid.

Skidog...what is the game plan in terms of total number of children? If it's more than one...you should stop in over at the apocalypse.

:lol: