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My climbing partners from Rainier last summer and I discovered we could manage to be in SLC all at the same time (two different trips... dumb luck!) and so I suggested we do it through Exum Utah. But one of my friends wanted to do it through a guy he knows from windsurfing/kiteboarding on Cape Cod. Thus we come to crazy coincidence number one: his kiteboarding friend Eric Gustafson works for Exum. So we decide to do the course with Eric, and in preperation for it, I found out he's a splitter. Not only is he a splitter, as far as Exum Utah goes, he's the splitter. AND he used to work for Voile. So, needless to say, over the two day Avy class, I learned almost as much about good splitting as I did about avalanches.

Hmm, strange place for this story, but if you're out in Wasangeles, and you're looking for a for-profit guide, Eric w/ Exum was a very cool guy, and I would recommend him.

Shep[/i]

went out this weekend at camel's hump...it's really warm, so the snow is pretty grabby out there. if you're headed out this week be sure to slather your boards with warm weather wax lest you end up with ginormous clumps of snow hanging on your base and messing with your turns.

and congrats on the huge cliff huck mentioned above!

huge props to drew, a big line for sure. would have loved to seen it happen. we were inbounds at jay wed 3/7 and it was bluebird and cold. bg jay looked SO RIPE, but we didn't hit the ridge. hung in east glades and the dipp, as north and west slopes were thick w/ wind drifts. a great day, tons of snow.

e-man rules, he's a good friend of mine and old touring partner from days in the wasatch and w/ voile. one of the best tour leaders you can find for splitting the tri-canyons, no doubt. also, if you're looking for a great rental for a fall hurricane surf week on the cape, would highly recommend his pad too. super chill, tons of mtn biking right out the door, kettle ponds for swimming and consistent surf (usually).

back to vt conditions...

what a change. up till saturday morning, we had a HUGE run with consistent cold temps and deep, dry snow for almost 5 weeks. tons of great lines and pow refreshers every few days.

on saturday afternoon 3/10 things warmed up to 34 degrees at 4000 feet on mansfield and the south winds picked up. even skinning up saturday morning on southern exposures was STICKY. had to use glob stopper to make it to the col and onto colder, drier snow on the northside. west aspects were rideable and fun, but i wouldn't have wanted to be skiing even w/ fatties. variable snow from top to bottom.

we hit chmp too and may have run into you ikkin. there were two other groups we saw w/ splitters, one with two splitters and a telehead, the other a tele and splitter. were you touring in group of 3?

still, the curtain has drawn and the show in the bc is on hold for a while. it's been cold at night and warmer during the past couple days. temps should hover around the same this week w/ poss mixed precip late in week. we'll see what happens.

the snowpack has settled considerably, barely hit 36" on top of ridgelines saturday afternoon, but lee slopes are still deep and hold the goods for spring.

now looking for new snow or a good corn cycle to come thru.

wed, thurs & fri this week look interesting w/ current forecasts.

stay tuned.

wed, thurs & fri this week look interesting w/ current forecasts.

stay tuned.

vtbackcountry,
The two splits and the tele head were us. ikkin and I on the splits, her guy on the teles. were you in the group of three splitters?

I'm hopeful for later this week, as I have a date to dance with Big Jay (first time!) this weekend, and I'm not quite ready for spring corn yet. When I checked NWS, it looked like the Jay area was still going to be above freezing during the day, but perhaps some altitude will tip the mercury in our favor?

Shep

yep, right on. good to see you up there. we should connect for another tour sometime this spring. other shots are around, drop me a private message.

About 10 years ago, i dropped the cliff on Big Jay... but not the biggest one... it was about 20-25ft drop on rider's left. I got BURIED in snow! Felt like the stuff you see in the movies... Snow was real deep and i sanked to my arm pits and rode on... Two bad we didn't have digital cameras back then... I was never able to repeat that because everytime i went there over the years, i was never able to get that much snow and first tracks...

Good to see lots of splitters on the east coast are enjoying the woods! I'll be back on the board in early-mid april... I'll probably try and hit Washington but i will need some advice... See my other post in the general section of this board:
http://talk.splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=3473

current snowpack data (changes daily) and forecast, fyi:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/ ... _today.jpg

LONG TERM /THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY/...
STILL LOOKING LIKE AN UNSETTLED PATTERN WITH PLENTY OF UNCERTAINTY
IN THE EXTENDED FORECAST. UPPER TROUGH BECOMES ESTABLISHED OVER THE
NORTHEAST DURING THE PERIOD AND THIS WILL BRING TEMPERATURES BACK TO
SEASONAL NORMALS OR SLIGHTLY BELOW. AS A RESULT...ANY PRECIPITATION
WOULD MAINLY BE IN THE FORM OF SNOW. QUESTION WILL BE IF SERIES OF
LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS TRACK UP THE COAST TO THE POINT WHERE THEY
WOULD IMPACT THE AREA. AT THIS TIME...SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WOULD BE
THE MOST FAVORABLE TIME PERIOD FOR ANY SNOW.

keep your fingers crossed.

Hey, all-

If you can handle one more in your group, shoot me a PM, too.

rain, heavy at times, last three days and warm. showers turned over to snow squalls this afternoon but no accumulation yet.

needing new snow or a good corn cycle, otherwise don't waste your time.

head south and east...

looking at poss. 10-20" tomorrow (friday) night thru saturday, heaviest accumulations expected on the eastern slopes.

giddy-up.