Fun in February.
On February 9th, after another extended period without snowfall in the Central Wasatch, we were again blessed with that beautiful white, fluffy, powdery stuff. On 2/10/13 the local homie Logan invited me to join him on an attempt of an east facing couloir we'd both been eyeing.
Ridge Travel.
Big rocks.
Sketchy exposed skin track, or sketchy exposed bootpack? Here we choose the latter, but eventually did a little of both.
Summit Stoke
We had seen a group of people on the summit before us, and assumed our line had been ripped up. Upon getting to the top we realized our line was still untracked. Time to TURN UPPP
The snow was deep and BLOWER. Easily one of the best runs of my life. Below are some pictures I took of Logan shredding down. You can't see him in the first pic unless you know where he is...
Beauty.
We hit some cliff zones on the way out. (Photo: Logan Julian)
The following day Drew and I met up with our Alta snowblader homies to search for some pow and cliff drops.
Touring in downtown Was Angelas.
Mateo sendin' it. (Photo: Drew VanNice)
Mo Meezzy. (Photo: Drew VanNice)
Mo G. (Photo: Drew VanNice)
Different cliffs, more powder.
Mateo mid back-flopper.
Drew's knee was feelin' sore so he opted out of hitting cliffs. I don't think he had any fun...
Bootin up 3000' isn't too bad when you are surrounded with aesthetic rock faces.
The top portion of the couloir is an avalanche chute through some steep trees.
After 4 1/2 hours of hiking, our persistence payed off. Seconds before dropping down another RAD line in the Wasatch.
Drew rippin' it up. The snow did not disappoint.
Mo rockin' it. (Photo: Drew VanNice)
Method?
Unstrap and down climb the final rocky crux or launch 10' drop to unknown landing? We'll take our chances. Drew goin' for it.
Awesome day, topped off with a rope swing at the creek crossing. Could you ask for more?
Rope swing levatation gap to creek log back lip grinder....
Drew is talented.
Drew and I have been making an effort to explore the different areas of the Wasatch Mountains in our time here. We had heard good things about the Maybird Fork and decided to go check it out.
Big mountains.
Drew and the Pfeifferhorn.
Morgan with the 'hypodermic needle' in the background.
The day before this tour the winds were gusting high and moving snow. The line we had planned to ride had an obvious wind deposit in the start zone. We did not feel comfortable with our options to intentionally trigger the slab, and instead rode down a neighboring chute whose wind deposit had released the previous day.
The crown of the released wind slab varied from 8" to 4' deep.
After spending the weekend riding at B-right-on with our Montana homies, Drew wanted to take a day off, to rest and fish the Provo. Not having a fishing pole with me, I decided to sleep in and take a mellow hike to gather beta on some couloirs I'd been schemin' on. I left the trap house at 1:45 and was hiking out of the trailhead at 2:00pm. By 3:00, I had already skinned up the apron of a couloir and was contemplating what to do next. I thought to myself, "I hadn't planned on riding any lines today, but with daylight until 6:30, there is no reason why I shouldn't hike up and see where it takes me."
An hour and a half later, I was stoked to be standing on top of this bad boy.
Shredded.
2/21/13 Drew and I went to check out this BCC classic.
We got rocked out on coming up the NE ridge, this was the high point.
Didn't get any good pictures on the fun part of the slope but got these at the bottom.
On 2/22/13, Drew and I decided to go after a chute that had eluded us twice in the previous 2 weeks. The homie Clay told us about the line, so it only seemed appropriate we all ripped it for the first time together.
Touring in sunshine, surrounded by clouds.
After pointing through a shallow rocky entrance and totally wiping out.... I was greeted to this.
Drew gettin' some.
Clay shreddin'
Fun.
Drew snurfin' hippie jump, oh yeahhh.
2/24/13 with considerable avy danger the homie Nic and I checked out a glade'd tree zone.
Powder turds were out in full force.
After kicking off some decent size cornices and nothing moving we decided the slope was safe and dropped into West Monitor.
Mo shreddin'. (Photo: Nic Van Dyken)
(Photo: Nic Van Dyken)
On 2/25/13, Drew and I decided to check out a local couloir. Fresh snow and blue skies.
I know people skin up this thing, I thought that was crazy(waste'n the pow), until we booted up 2/3's of it. The more I boot up steep powdery slopes, the more I think about getting verts.
Stoked to be done swimming up the boot pack.
Oquirrhs lookin' sick.
Drew cool-er shreddin'.
Godly.
On 2/26/13, with snowy weather Drew and I went to the resort. After a half day of turns, we were over it. Seeing that this line was untracked we went to check it out. The main concern regarding stability, was wind loading. It was not wind loaded, we shredded it, and the pow was good.
Mo tracks.
Drew.
3 chute or Seagull?
2/27/13, Drew and I met the homie Matt to go shred some steeps. This was a very fun day, but I lost my dads camera in the backcountry. After looking for it and having no luck I accepted it as gone. These photos are taken by Matt Hundhammer.
(Photo: Matt Hundhammer)
Scoping.
(Photo: Matt Hundhammer)
Shredded.
(Photo: Matt Hundhammer)
2/28/13, Drew and I had to clean our apartment and turn in the keys, as our lease was up. We packed up, and drove to Bozeman to visit the homie Carson. Bring on the Montana powder.
Great pictures! Serious shredding.
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