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pics by bcrider, mmcpheet, diswasher dave, and dj barney

With 9000ft snow levels forecasted for the Tahoe region over the weekend it only made sense to look elsewhere for the cherry, cherry pow-pow. My season up to this point has consisted of day trips only so I was also itching to get into the mountains for a longer duration.

When you're a married, family man you learn little tricks to support the habit without rocking the boat too bad. Looking at the family calendar I had a trip to Utah planned in March for the annual SplitFest (splitboard festival). Knowing that I couldn't be gone for a 3 day weekend to close together I knew that the Mrs would long forget about this weekend by the time the SplitFest rolls around. The road trip idea was born late Wednesday night.

A couple different things lead me to choose Utah over the PNW or the Eastern Sierras. First, powder snow is just flat out dreamy, second rain was forecasted for most of the Sierras, third the bc access in UT is very easy, forth my Sacramento Kings were playing a road game in UT on Friday night. The location was chosen.

Next came finding partners for the long drive. I threw out a thread or two hear and there and rallied some homies. Dishwasher Dave and mmcpheet would be my accomplices in this mission. Now I gotta just get clearance from the Mrs. As expected, my good looks and chram were more than enough to do the trick. Honestly, I think she just wanted to get rid of me for the weekend. In any event, it was all systems go.

The plan was to leave Tahoe Thursday evening and drive through the night to UT. Mmcpheet and I met DD at his place in SLT at 9pm and quickly loaded up his gf's Subie (thanks BTW K!)

Organization is key with limited space.


We left SLT around 9:30pm and had a very uneventful drive to Reno where we got on the HWY 80 and headed east. We took turns driving through the night and tried to get a little sleep as well. It seemed to go by pretty quick and we rolled into SLC at 6:30am UT time. We stopped at some coffee place near BCC and the lady at the counter asked us if we were from “out of stateâ€Â

After a quick bite to eat we were off to the Kings/Jazz game. Not knowing our way around the city too much we lived up to the “out of stateâ€Â

We weren't the only ones.




random splitboarder


At the pass we dropped into our Mineral Fork exit.

Looking towards SLC.


Flat light conditions and avalanche debris made the conditions tricky but we made the most of it.

Dishwasher Dave riding on the bed surface.


We stopped at a rollover that looked to house some shelter snow. Dj barney went first and set off a small slab. It ran a hundred feet or so and reminded us that we weren't out of the woods just yet.

We took it one at a time and still set off our own little slabs. Nothing large but mmcpheet did manage to get swept off his feet. All was ok though.

Slab


Back on the road we put our thumbs to work.


Dishwasher Dave and mmcpheet


We headed back to dj barney's place and drooled over his splitboard quiver before heading out to dinner.


Being from “out of stateâ€Â

Now that's a good way to spend a weekend. Are those kinds of crowds normal in the UT BC?

Hey Now, thats one of the finer TR's I've ever seen, very nice.

Damn!

And while this splitboard mini-fest was going on I was touring on my split in the same area with a bunch of tele skiers . Why didn't I pay closer attention to splitboard.com prior to this? I'm an idiot.

Maybe next time.

Nice pics. Your timing was perfect.

The back side (north facing) was not near as crowded, we had Days Fork and Flagstaff to ourselves until about 1 on Sat. Lots of folks took the same apporach as BCR and gang and went for Superior since conditioins were stable enough. Even with all the ants marching there was more than enough snow to go around.

Oh yeah, just FYI Sunday afternoon in LCC was terrible, you didn't miss out on much, it just kept snowing and snowing

But now we are in high pressure for a week plus

UB

Nice TR write up BCR. I just wanted to add my thanks to you and mccpheet for not killing us all during the all night drive and for a fun trip. Wasangeles deserves the crowds, the terrain is worthy and the license plates are not too far off in terms of the snow.

And a massive thanks to DJ Barney for being such a generous guy with his floor space and local knowledge. Much appreciated!!

I haven't spent much time in the cottonwoods, but that ain't all Utah has to offer. I've never crossed a track that wasn't my own or someones I've known all season (and we've gotten more snow up north than the cottonwoods have most storms this season). I really can't believe that kinda scene. The best part about the backcountry for me is the solitude (not the resort, although...). Looks like ya'll had a great trip. Too bad about your team losing. Activities involving inflatable rubber/plastic objects are overrated anyway. Mind the tagline now.

damn! this is so sick!

thx for the pics!

Nice work boys! What to get on the road in search of the goods! Nice photos!

WOW. Truly killer. Kudos!

(i need to get into better shape!)

I know the Northern UT is less populated, but I am not sure I buy the more snow part. I know using Beaver Mountain as a means of measureing snow pack up north isn't the most accurate but they are not even close to the Cottonwoods, and lower elevation. Where is getting more snow than the Cottonwoods? Feel free to be a little vague, but if this is true I am due for a road trip up North.

The crowds in Wasangeles are only like that on weekends, and for the most part they stick to the front side/easy access stuff. But overall it is more crowded due to being right next to SLC.

UB

UB-Check out the tony grove snowtel site. (these can be accessed easily through the logan avalanche forecast center page via avalanche.org) Tony is a favorable microclimate for dropping precip around here, but that describes the cottonwood canyons as well. You guys are a little higher, and perhaps a little drier snow wise (more snow for water) but most storms we have picked up more water. The accuracy of my statement is perhaps a little dubious, depending on how you wanna look at it, but let me have my little brag ok? A guys gotta dream, right? Right now the bird claims 118" mid mountain, or about the elevation of this snotel site, which currently reports 121.7", but was up over 126 a day or two ago. Either way, we've all been having a great winter. I honestly can't believe the amount of traffic in those pictures though.
Crazy.