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12/27/2010 Tour of Big Water and Soldier Fork with an exit off Reynolds...

There is still low density pow to be found in protected areas, mostly due north. SW through SE had a mishmash of zipper crust, hard sun crust and blown in powder... No instabilities were observed and no recent avalanche activity, sans those that ran during the storm cycle...
Slopes ridden 25 - 40°
Aspects N through SE
Elevations to 9500'

An aesthetic little line I've been thinking of since this past Thursday


Same line, wide shot


Looking NW across the fall line of my first shot of the day to my second shot on NE Soldier Fork (sorry flat light)


Alternate view of my second line into Soldier Fork (again, its hard to make it out in the flat light)


Pano: (L to R) Little Water through Alexander Basin


Folk art

damn UTAH that looks like a pretty stout line. sorry about the pack, what kind was it?

Snurfer, glad you went back and got that line in big water. nice job!

Good to hear this years snowpack is holding up. Looks like PJ, Nat and I will be heading east in mid-March--if the conditions are good we will likely end up in the Wasatch for a couple days.

Holy crap dude that is GNAR! Strong work!

need to get back to SLC....

Thanks guys trying to step my game up. It was a K2 pack Dan the year they bought out Dana Designs. I haven't seen anything as sick since, not that I've been looking.

Doug that first pic is BEAUTIFUL! Way to seek out the blank canvas and paint some great art. I didn't see any of that sun or untouched where I was on that day. Great work. P.S I hope your dialing in all the exits in that part of the Wasatch, I'm going to have you take me to school soon.

Thx Nic, you've definitely inspired me with some of the aesthetic lines you've put in. Looks like you are loving the RX. Super stoked for you. Wicked drop, but sorry about the pack.
I was lucky in terms of the sun. Some friends were over at Dead Tree/Dr Death area that day, and said it was pretty "weathery".
I've been entering/exiting from BCC mostly because in a best case scenario you need two cars on Wasatch Blvd (39th and BCC PnR). Worst case, one in MillCreek and one @ BCC PnR. According to Bob its darn near impossible to get a ride thumbing along Wasatch Blvd.
Either way, if you don't mind a ten mile 'out and back' we should get over there sometime. (just think of it as training for trail running, or the Powder Keg)

12/30/2010
Today was very cold and trail breaking was a challenge in the very low density snow... BUT the riding was incredible
Shots that have been un-ride-able in recent years were ripe! Wasatch Surf and I nailed an elusive, mile long, 1700' south facing road shot that was stellar... Sorry I took zero pics due to the stormy cold conditions...

NE through SE aspects
Up to 9300'
25-30°
Wind drifts on ridge tops were easily excitable, but no instabilities were noted on slopes ridden. E aspects seemed to be heavier snow, whereas S through W were light and powdery.

new years eve tour.

UTAH and i went up LCC for a half day tour. it was cold but not as cold as i thought, and the sun even made an appearance. A skin track was in place heading up towards west bowl so we took that. 2/3 of the way up a group of skiers dropped in right on top of us, things felt stable but still neither one of us were very happy with their decision. West bowl only had two or three tracks in it, and the skiers hadn't ridden the heart of the bowl so we took the opportunity to put our tracks down it. The snow was okay, but the pitch still needed to be a little steeper to enjoy. We skinned back up to the top where I made Nic wait the longest wait of his life, and I threw my snowboard tool all over the mountain. The south facing ride back down was deep, cold, snowy, and generally great. There was some sluffing and cracking along the ridgelines, but things are setting up fast. goodbye 2010.

UTAH in Silver Fork

Surfs Up

Had a few hours and needed to go do something today so decided to explore Parleys and see how coverage was. Went above little dell after deciding to keep it mellow because I was solo (took a look at Mt. Aire first). It was fun with the sun poking through towards the end. Snow was decent, a little punchy and a little shallow in some places but I only skimmed a rock or two along the way. Would have been more fun were it steeper, the whole ride was only 20-25 degrees but after picking up speed it was still a good time especially with a good view on the way down.

If anyone is getting out tomorrow or Sunday to kick off the new year and is willing to let me join please contact me! (kigen@yahoo.com) I'm in need of some steeper terrain but can't get my friends motivated.

We rode BCC northeast to southeast-facing, 8700 to 7200 elevation. There were 2 weaknesses evident within the new snow, not very responsive to ski cuts. Snow is deep, and somewhat slow. Cold. Happy New Year to all you boardshufflers out there.

12/31 had some work to do, got out later today.... sun was starting to peak through

Went out today and met up with some other splitboarders on the hike. I joined them and we toured from Alta to Cardiff then took Mineral Fork down to the road in BCC. I finally got some of the turns i've been itching for. It was cold but sunny, and the snow was nice and soft. Things felt a little slow for our whole group, we think it was from the cold. Everything we rode was between a W and NW aspect. Didn't observe any instabilities or see any activity. Some of the higher elevation stuff was a bit wind damaged.
Had a nice start to the new year.

My turns are the longer ones that come out to the right, I just wanted to go fast.


My friends for the day and our first pitch in the background (upper right)


Snapped this one just before dropping into mineral fork.