Saturday, 12/22/12 - Little Cottonwood Canyon, UT
Up at 5:30am, after not going to bed until around 3:30am due
to a late flight in and visiting with family I hadn’t seen for a year, my
brother, Andrew, and I met Spence and we got a pre-dawn start up from the “Our
Lady of Snow” church on our way up to Flagstaff Peak, just across the canyon
from Alta Ski Resort. Two days before the area had received about a foot of new
snow, which made it surprising to find a hard snow base. This must have been
from warm temperatures and high winds the day before. We took our time on the
way up due to me living at 0ft elevation and Andrew coming at it with limited
aerobic preparation. We topped out after about 2hrs of hiking and ended up skiing
on the north side down into what I think was the upper portion of the Mill D
drainage. Turns were incredibly variable, changing from rock hard to creamy
with an occasional section of the dreaded death crust reminding us all that we
aren’t pro rippers. Climbing back up the north side back to the ridge line was
a bit of a circus. When I got up to the cornice I ended up using my pole as an
ice axe to pull myself up, all the while keeping my skis on, preventing me from
being able to use my feet due to the rock hard conditions. It was ridiculous.
The ride down the south facing side back to the road offered some nice
wind-blown turns with pockets of soft snow. Good outing, however, the early
start and limited rest made it impossible to stay awake for the “Savior of the
World” show later that day on temple square.
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| Nerds below Flagstaff. |
Monday, 12/24/12 – Powder at the Beav!
Beaver reported 9” new in the last 12hrs when I woke
up. We made it to the Beav about 20min
before the first chair but still had to get my dad some rental skis and buy
passes. We had my Dad, two brothers,
Garrett and Andrew, and Danica along for the day. We spent the morning lapping
the South Face and Spring Road. The snow was awesome, nearly ideal for Beaver!
Due to the limited amount of steep terrain there if they get too much snow then
it makes it difficult to ski down the flat transition parts of the mountain. 9”
was perfect! We had a ball! At lunch
Andrew had to take off and the rest of the family came up. My mother and
sister, Amie, manned the lodge and brought lunch. Before the little kids, Jackson and Kennlyn,
got ready my dad got a run on Andrew’s fat skis and I think his eyes were
opened at the ease of skiing deep snow on wide skis. Hopefully it was enough to
encourage him to get some! I skied the rest of the day with Kimber. It was the
second time she had skied in deep snow on her fat skis that we bought back when
we lived in Salt Lake. She crushed it! We even did a few runs on the “Magic
Carpet” run with my little niece and nephew who were learning to ski. Kimber
and I think that little kids look kind of like little chickens when they are
learning to ski. It was a great day! Always a good time getting back to my home
hill and seeing all the familiar people and bombing the familiar runs! I can’t
even remember the last time I skied from first chair to last chair.
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| Andrew and Lindsay's little ripper, Titan. |
Wednesday, 12/26/12 – Morning Woodcamp Tour, Logan Canyon
Met up with Brody Hatch, a high school buddy who is
currently living in Fort Colllins CO, and slogged it up Woodcamp. We again got
a pre-dawn start. There was only about 1” of new snow so conditions were semi-stable.
The skin up reminded me of the amount of work that is needed to ski the
backcountry in Logan Canyon. The first ~1.5miles was on a gradual incline part way
up a trail and then off into a field of sage brush. After making it to the base
of the canyon we planned to ski, it was a long heinous skin up steep pine
covered slopes and along rock band infested ridge lines. It required two wallowing/climbing
sessions over un-skinable sections. After about 3.5hrs we topped out. The sky
was overcast and merky but visibility was decent and we decided to ski the
ridge that we could see to the south of us during our skin up. Turns on the way down were dreamy and creamy.
All of the effort and pain we experienced on the trip up were instantly
forgotten. We did notice a few deep sluffs that accumulated on the way down but
nothing of great concern. On the trip
out through the sea of sage brush I saw either an elk or deer that had a decent
sized rack. I couldn’t tell because it
was running away from me in the aspens. Beautiful morning! Thanks Brody!
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| Entering the "Sea of Sage Brush" |
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| Brody, almost to the steeps. |
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| The wallowing/climbing session. |
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| Turns!!! |
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| The exit. |
Thursday, 12/27/12 – Powder Search at Beaver
Decided to drop money on another pass at Beaver Mountain and
ski with my dad and brothers again. They only reported 1” in the last 24hrs
which wasn’t awesome but it was a better option than sleeping in, way better! We
spent the first part of the morning seeing what powder was left and riding the
crud. Andrew and I decided to risk the hitch-hiking ticket and take a hike out
to second peak and ski down to the highway. It was the right choice. The threat of the
hitch-hiking ticket is the best thing that happened to the backside because it dissuades
a lot of traffic. The backside of Beaver is a hidden gem! We timed it right so
that only one group of snowboarders had hiked it before us, packing out the trail.
The snow was lovely. We dropped a few fun little rocks and had a blast. Hitch
hiking back up once on the highway took a bit longer than I remembered but we
jumped in the back of a truck for another round. We skied a few runs down the
bumps and trees before taking another go at the second peak. My dad offered to
drive and pick us up on our way out of the canyon. We bombed about the same
route down, this time with Garrett tagging along as well. I was tempted by a nice cliff drop and ended
up putting the biggest core shot in my ski that
have ever seen. Totally worth it though. I always have the attitude that
gear is to use, and use hard. It was a great morning!
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| Boot pack to 2nd Peak. |
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| Yea, that is the foam core you see there. |
4 days skiing out of the 6 days in Utah isn’t bad. I had to
get my fix. But in reality, the “fix” just reminds me of how awesome skiing and
the mountains are and makes me miss them that much more. Going back to Oakland was
a little bit more painful than normal but we had a good attitude about it. All
for the greater good.
