The Canyons, UT 1/9/08 with helmet cam video

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Day 22: Powder in the trees

I've been meaning to get up to The Canyons on a powder day to check out some stuff I've been looking at on less-than-stellar days. With a natural slide blocking LCC and BCC closed for avi control, today was the day. I phoned Acidchrist, a former Canyons patroller for beta and headed up for a few runs this morning.

What he sent me on was a thwack-fest through some of the thickest woods I've ever seen in Utah. Either I've lost my Eastern tree-skiing mojo or this stuff was damned tight! To Acidchrist's credit he couldn't point out precisely where particular lines were, such is the nature of trying to point someone to woods shots, and there's one line named Close Encounters that has to remain on my list for a while as the access was closed for avalanche control.

What I did find were acres and acres of moderately-pitched aspen trees in an area off Saddleback Express that I've looked at previously, named appropriately enough, The Aspens, and some amazingly open shots between scrub oak off the east side of Rendezvous Ridge. Both were filled with thigh-deep new untracked fluff, and on Rendezvous Ridge you could build up enough speed for face shots on every turn.

I was alone, so here's some helmet cam footage shot in The Aspens:

<embed src="http://www.skimovies.com/videoplayer/mediaplayer.swf" width="640" height="500" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="&displayheight=480&file=http://www.skimovies.com/flv/The_Canyons_helmet_cam_080109.avi.FLV&height=500&image=http://www.skimovies.com/flv/The_Canyons_helmet_cam_080109_thumb.jpg&width=640">
 
Nice stuff! I was there on monday. Pretty nice mountain. I remember seeing that area and wanting to see it. The problem with the caynons is that it so spread out, that once you leave an area it is tough to get back. Plus it was the one day I did not bring lunch and had to stop. I found there where only 2 places to eat. Some of the hike to terrian is really spectacular on a nice day after a storm. WE found some untracked tree runsd above Canis Lupis that where really fun a nd pretty tight in spots.
 
Nice Marc.

I skied that when I was there last. AC took us there and it was pretty sweet. Not much tighter than any eastern glades...but definitely tighter than the trees in LCC. Different terrain, but very sweet. Looks like nice powder there.

Can't wait to get there. It's lookin rather brown and dreary here. I may even not ski this weekend.
 
jasoncapecod":21y9x4x4 said:
=D> =D> =D>
1ST Helmet cam video that you can acuallly watch..
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Good call. Most helmet camera video is rather terrible. The camera was aimed well and the skier kept pretty well squared up so there was not much dipping action. I have seen a few good helmet cam vids but most are rather terrible. Nice work.
 
Can we get lots more just like this? I feel like I'm there. I'm grounded this year, so the only skiing I'll see is videos like this. Honestly, I would think resorts would pay for fantastic advertizing like this. Nice work. And please, lets see more. Lots more.
 
yeah Marc, keep'm coming

but you might want to work on your aerobic fitness...there's quite a lot of heavy breathing in the audio :lol:
 
Sharon":3qgrexsm said:
but you might want to work on your aerobic fitness...there's quite a lot of heavy breathing in the audio :lol:
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On my day with him last December at Alta, Marc smoked on the lift, but he still managed to leave me in the dust on the uphill traverses.

My excuse was that I was coming from sea level.
:roll:
 
gotta work on that lazy right pole plant... :)

Nice vids.

How about a screamingly scary steep groomer bomb? Of course, you'll have to overdub the audio.
 
Nice video. My legs got tired just watching it. The snow looks good. We're back to mud and green grass here in the Northeast after two bouts of "winter" already in December and early January. I'll be in PC in 5 weeks. I hope the snow keeps up.
 
jamesdeluxe":11xp5ukr said:
Sharon":11xp5ukr said:
but you might want to work on your aerobic fitness...there's quite a lot of heavy breathing in the audio :lol:
Click to expand...

On my day with him last December at Alta, Marc smoked on the lift, but he still managed to leave me in the dust on the uphill traverses.
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Same here. My excuse is that he has 10 years on me. I keep trying to tell him that smoking will probably kill him (suddenly) via heart problems rather than longer term lung problems, but it will be hard for him to ski carrying around that oxygen tank.

Over on one of the rock climbing forums there's a thread about a guy who had a plaque release at Snowbird the other day. The only reason the clot didn't kill him was that he was skiing with an ER nurse and a paramedic. He's a smoker, btw, and only 40.
 
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