tahoe-to-utalorado - a road trip tr

[powdork]

for the complete tr with lots more pics and video, click here
http://www.powdork.com/2014/utalorad...rock-and-snow/

after tahoe has suffered through one of the worst starts to a season in, well, forever, a few of us decided to hop in the car and head east. armed with our various passes which included days at vail resorts we headed in search of whiter pastures at the canyons in utah, as well as a-basin, vail pass, and beaver creek in colorado. we threw in an awesome day on the rock on the way back to break up the drive.

our first stop was the canyons, and after one run inbounds we headed for sidecountry. we got a late start due to problems with my ski pass. not too many pictures as i left the camera in the car. hutchski had hers though.
this is one of the few shots of chris, who came down with the flu as this pic was taken. he was immediately quarantined for the rest of the trip.


first sidecountry run at the canyons and my first decent air of the season.


the next day we hit a-basin. again our start was delayed to to problems with my pass, which turned out to only be good in tahoe. who knew? no pictures and i'm not sure why. we skied powder. we skied steeps. but we didn't ski steep powder.

partly due to my pass issues, but mostly because we wanted to, wednesday we toured at vail pass, which seemed to offer a bit more safety than some other areas. there were large slides all around but they were mostly 3-4 days old and the advisory had dropped from considerable to moderate overnight.
hutchski enjoys a awkward moment on the up


we took a group shot up top. tahoetrash was not impressed


he was impressed on the down though


hutchski too




then it was time to skin back up to the flank for some beautifully spaced trees we had spied on our original ascent.
ashley with our tracks off the peak above right


hey that's me - (click here for high res pano)


and then it was time to ski those beautifully spaced trees



friday we hit beaver creek. i can't pay $129 for a ticket, but i could scrape up $55
thanks ashley (different ashley) for the voucher


we didn't take many pictures, but
we skied pow


and we jumped off of things


the next day we were planning to climb ancient art spire in the fisher towers area of eastern utah. the temperature was in the single digits as we approached


but it was apparent on the frigid approach that our route was in the sun


that's our huckleberry there


atop the fortress of doom


and apparently guarded by e.t.


the first group was starting up as the route came into view


hutchski led the first pitch. here she is placing her second piece of pro


which soon became her first piece


the crux of the first pitch offers a bolt ladder to pull on through


the second pitch was a fun lead at a relatively easy 5.8 with a fun roof and a fun chimney along the way. did i mention it was fun?


hutchski was following up when folks from the first group rappelled down the chimney. most people know it takes two ropes to rappel down from the top of the second pitch to the ground. apparently not everyone knows the reason for this is to avoid rappelling down the route


the third pitch is a short sport route


hells yeah


hutchski said she was nervous. but not too nervous to instagram something


even pulling on the quick draw here i found this to be the crux of the route. the exposure is awesome


still hells yeah


doing the reverse beached whale to get off the diving board


starting the rap down. that's our tarp at the base between my legs


hutchski rapping down on the face keeping out of the route in case other climbers head up


i couldn't help feeling like we won

[Slaag Master]

winnah!!!!!! love the chica with the hot pocket!!!!

[Ted Striker]

Incredible. Making lemonade from a lemon of a winter!

[joetron]

Yes!

12345

[LightRanger]

Nice dude. Bravo.

[Meathelmet]

That country, americuh, has a bit of everything. Doesnt it?

Damn.

[freshie247]

Looking good Billy Ray!

[Name Redacted]

Nice work! Looks like a good trip.

[snapt]

Good stuff, thanks!

[tuco]

beaver creek $129 ticket

WTF?

Nice pics and TR

[Tye 1on]

BOOM!!!!

[TacocaT]

[Grizzled]

Winning!

Great photos.

[brutah]

so awesome! great tr! thanks for sharing!

[The Gnarwhale]

mutisport TR! I like it!
-jim

[skifishbum]

page 1 quality
thanks for contributing stoke

[strawjack]

Schweeet!!!

Nice pics mon!

[jmedslc]

wow, nice work. i enjoyed the stoke, thanks...

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Cool trip.

[powdork]

Thanks for all the kind words and just happy to bring some of the bounty back to Tahoe

[mtnbiker/boarder]

thanks for sharing .. awesome..

[::: :::]

missed this yesterday...all kinds of awesome! nice photos!

[SchralphMacchio]

awesome road trip!

[PowerWhore7]

FTMFW!!!

hells yeah

[Ottime]

Thanks for bringing the snow back with ya. I had fun yesterday.