Step Uphill

 November 11, '21 Ah steep skiing. So much fun. And when you combine steep skiing with weekday crowds, powder, (decent) stability, adventure, a BOOTER, good friends (Ben), and new friends (A), it's even more fun. As humble government employees, Ben and I had Veterans Day off. It had snowed the day before and we had done our standard weekday 4k, but we still wanted to stay out all day, even if that meant lapping something ten times. Ben and I met up at a mild 8 AM and headed up. The plan was for A, less quick on the draw in the mornings, to meet us up at Alta and join for a few hours. Ben and I had been in the Supreme area last week and it was pretty bare, but we thought that with 8-10 more inches of medium density on the ground, it'd be good to go. Ben ascending Fun, surfy halfpipe Halfway down our third lap, we spotted A making his way up the skintrack and pulled over. He ripped skins and half-lapped and at the bottom we regrouped. Clearly ruing the idea of skiing surfy, e...

Nov 2, '21  Ben and I are pretty new to BC touring. I started last year, and Ben started the year before but was mostly going alone until I pulled him out of the darkness. So despite getting into the BC pretty often (most days of the season), we haven't skied a lot of the classic areas/lines in the Wasatch yet. That included Main Chute off of Mount Baldy. We went up to Alta on a weekday expecting to lap off the high traverse or down the groomer like normal, but as we were booting up in the parking lot, local crusher AB rolled in and waved. After some brief confusion, during which I apparently gave him a dirty look after not recognizing him through the windshield, conversation ensued, mostly consisting of moaning about the LCC parking debacle. ASL, TOA, USFS, UDOT, UTA, normies... no one was safe.  We got on the snow and decided to ski main chute. I was testing some skis that I was flipping (Dynafit Speed 76) but didn't think it'd be very challenging from what I'd he...

 Late Oct '21 Photo dump from the second half of October! This October was apparently the wettest since 2006 or so. However, it still being October, most of the good, safe skiing was only in upper LCC. For the most part, for me, that meant exploring Alta which, while fun, got a bit stale after a few weeks. Gonna blame some of this on Ben, who resisted calls to leave Alta. Mental note that next time, we're going to the bird, upper BCC (>8.5k), and White Pine next to the Bird boundary. But beggars can't be choosers, and writing this while visiting family in the Midwest over Thanksgiving, I'm chomping at the bit to get back to skinning groomers if that's what it takes. Precip this fall has ranged from 2" dusting to proper 12" storms. For the most part, anything NE or sheltered has held up well. Most people seem to go straight to Baldy shoulder, but I have found great, less-tracked snow in the upper half of Collins. Some photos: Local crusher AB airs it out...