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Got a lap in this morning before work, went up Beartrap
About 3″ at the trailhead and about 10″ in the upper bowls…winds were nuking from the south/west. Exposed areas were becoming scoured. Old tracks and rime were covered enough that turns were acceptable 🙂 In sheltered areas it rode deep, with occasionally feeling the rime layer depending how the winds were moving the snow.
Coverage for the exit out of Beartrap is good, few rocks down lower that can be avoided with some caution.
Guessing we could see a major avy cycle with all these winds and heavy snow coming our way???..be safe!
Checked out some terrain down in Provo yesterday, went to scout some safe low angle stuff…was mostly interested in the north facing shots off of Powerhouse mountain, def has some potential but needs more snow prob could’ve skinned up there and made some turns but a little too brushy still….so I opted to continue up Squaw Peak road and got a look up into some of the upper bowls…looks like there are some nice low angle 1200 ft shots. Didnt make any turns so kind of a bust, but everything was wind jacked anyways. Some big slides on the south facing bowls just south of Corral Mountain. Also got a glimpse at the slides off of Cascade and Timp on the drive home, massive.
Tried to drive up Squaw Peak road to the upper gate but got stuck, spent a half hour digging myself out and had to reverse out a quarter mile…then parking is a PITA had to park a half mile down LF Hobble Creek rd in fornt of some ranch where there was a shoulder off the road, didnt see any no parking signs…my car was there when I got back…It was Christmas Eve though 🙂
a look up into some of the low angle bowls. (split mode tracks, exiting out)
Today was a different story, headed up BCC and it was as good as good gets in non avy terrain. Couldn’t really tell how much new snow fell overnight maybe 10″+? There was zero wind effect in terrain traveled, couldnt feel any wind buff under new snow…rode deep, bottomless.
solo…breaking
peace…laps
going up to the ridge
pit …BCC 9K Northerly aspect..right side up except at the bottom…with all the naturals, and ripping to the ground on the facets still not trusting…facets seemed like they are gaining strength but not entirely sure, going to need more time…this storm cycle has been epic…can you spot the rime crust layer?
3 laps on the upper half….fantastic coverage down to road
thanks to mej for sharing this zone, I learn something new everytime I visit, lots of good memories here!! Merry Christmas!!
Checked out a zone in the Oquirrh range today
Headed up to the upper bowl in the photo
The main trail is sitting fat, trail breaking would’ve destroyed me if it wasn’t for the sleds compacting the trail…exit out was fast, good coverage to the parking lot
Endless terrain
Hello Wasatch
Upper Bowl lap
Fantastic turns back down to main trail
No melt freeze crusts, aspects were dry with south becoming damp on the skin up…Didnt observe any wet sluffing/rollerballing on south aspects. Upper elevation had some wind effect but snow was still soft in the upper bowl with a slight density inversion from blowing snow, turns down lower were still dry uneffected powder.
West facing was still dry on the exit out but may have a zipper crust by tomorrow and south facing having a stout crust. No instabilities, did observe 2 small pocket naturals that slid during the storm but only ran maybe 50 ft?
This area prob has better ski conditions now then it did all last year.
Couple laps in the popper zone and one in the cirque via bombay. Most aspects got tested, busy day out there with lot’s of interesting line choices.
Snow quality was still good on E through N facing aspects. Didn’t get on any W through S facing aspects. Take care.Just a couple beater jongs kicking it around the hood.
Dropping
Couple other jongs snaked our exit line.
Kinda toured from one avalanched slope to another avoiding any suspicious slopes. Snow quality was still good on most aspects. Take care.It’s been pretty damn good here in the Wasatch to end 2015. Here is a smattering of photos from the past 2-3 weeks.
Skimo Racing at Brighton. More split boarders should come out to this. It’s a great time.
Cross Country Splitboarding in Idaho
Foothills
Bluebird Pow with James who takes way better photos (see below)
Instagram Celebrity
The walls came down
Alpine climbing blows
It’s been really cold
Nice work Dan, awesome photos!!
Went back to the Oqrs today…hit up this nice sheltered tree chute today…cant see the bottom half but its a 2500 ft halfpipe run, pretty sick, snow was still pow pow!!
going to post a bunch of pics, figure will give some beta on the area…skinning up
looking across the aspens to a bunch of nice shots off the ridge…would like to come back and lap these…need a earlier start and perhaps a sled
looking across in the opposite direction some nice mellow aspen lines
looking down the main line…
almost to the top of the ridge…mix bag of windbuff and soft snow, there was a sweet spot just along the trees
topping out looking over the ridge south…whole lot of nice terrain that you wont find sprayed all over social media
still blower….
Winds were gusting out of the east, most exposed and upper elevation slopes were getting scoured and developing some wind slabs…found some slabs that were about 8″ thick. Sheltered snow was settled powder to blower powder.
Cardiff_Days_Cardiff
Great turns today, Maybe a foot+/- of new from recent storms, right side up, mostly rode bottomless with a few scruffy turns in good snow. No wind effect, calm winds should be good tomorrow too.
lots of action in upper Cardiff …Bold skinners going up to ridge not in the usual spot but hazard seemed low today so…
into Days…
back into Cardiff
some sluffing with new snow
Good stability in the steeps, washy skinning at times but overall not bad
^looks like a fun trip but prob wouldn’t be able to make it happen
Headed up to Georges Bowl to sample the new snow, made a couple of laps, it was good. Visibility wasn’t the greatest but not too bad with trees in sight…Id imagine open bowls would cause some vertigo today.
Winds were gusting from the west and north on the ridges some swirling winds down lower…some graupel falling as well if this persists could make for a slight density inversion on the new snow….wouldnt be suprised to find some sensitive slabs at upper elevations on east facing
Dang anyone splitboard anymore? Where ya’ll at? anyone been getting after it, its been good!
Today, Twin Lakes Huck Jam…
mar
UTAH
light snow falling since early morning, started nuking around noon. winds from the west off the ridges, no instabilities on routes traveled. Snow quality and turns were great…The high density layer didnt really take much away from the quality of turns, thought it rode good.
Dang anyone splitboard anymore? Where ya’ll at? anyone been getting after it, its been good!
Nope @mar123, I just sit and think about it while staring at your art…
Actually, I don’t post much because most of my pictures aren’t very cool. And lots happen in the dark. For example, I went for a tour at 9pm on Saturday night with a high powered headlamp to test out my new hardboot setup. It was absolutely puking outside so I was almost completely snowblind. I probably looked like an absolute gomer cause I skinned up with skis, and then threw them on my back for the splitboard ride down. Cause I don’t have the “tour mode” part of the hardboot setup yet. Probably would have been a funny picture though.
Maybe I should chime in to the MTN Approach vs Splitboard debate and piss everyone off by adding a new variable. Skin up with full length skis and ride down on a splitboard. 🙂
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