WASATCH STOKE, CONDITIONS, OBSERVATIONS, AND ASSORTED DRIVAL 18-19

[lhitchner]

Today's Utah Avalanche Center report (Sat. March 16) states,

"The switch flipped, and spring is here - yesterday’s high-angle sun destroyed the powder on all but the steeper, shady upper elevation slopes, above about 9,000’."

Here are 2 photos of where I found pretty good Spring powder on steeper, shady upper elevation slopes, above about 9,000' yesterday.

To see a photo gallery of 37 of my photos taken last Friday click on this link https://lhitchner.smugmug.com/Skiing...March-15-2019/.

[mc_roon]

so we took the long way to Superior. the really long way, from Porter via Dog Lake

i had to read that a few times to fully comprehend. That is a really really really long way.

[Boissal]

^^^ Talk about a supertour. Having down Alta to Summit Park which is mostly downhill I get queasy at the the thought of basically reversing and lengthening that beatdown. Proud work. The GT is going to bore you at this point...

Had my first loss of inspiration for the season after getting skunked Thursday and decided to skip the Saturday crowd pleaser in favor or riding bikes and getting started on the garden.
After a violent FOMO attack I was back at it for a pow-finding mission on Sunday. Looks like "a few" people headed into Cardiff/Sup over the past few days, it was odd to find the Alta lots and Pole Pass skinner fully deserted.



You can see mallwalker way the fuck out there, on his way to this exact spot:



Hello gorgeous:



POS line award goes to this thing. Even the novelty factor doesn't redeem it, I'd skip it even in stellar conditions. It gets you places fast at least:



Steep trenching, steep skiing:





Traversed over to Mineral after the excruciating experience of skinning down MillB last Thursday. No tracks whatsoever on the ridge which gave us hope for a classic Santiago exit. Turns out the fucking bird landed a group of people right on top of it, as well as pretty much every other line in the drainage. Room of Doom looked like High Boy a week after a storm. Oh well, these flying idiots couldn't ski themselves out of a paper bag and left the centerpunch alone. Good snow all the way to the flats. Insane coverage on the road, the aspen tunnel is getting seriously cramped.

One more pano for the road:



It's going to take some high-level imagination to find a fresh line on Scotties:

[mall walker]

^ hell yeah. some of those look steep

[brutah]

Great weekend! Props to the dibs household for hosting a great event, it was rad to meet so many mags! I was bummed I wasn't able to ski with everyone but hopefully some of us can still get out before all the snow melts in July(?).....

Had a great weekend skiing.... Saturday started with a visit to big ben











^^^How many ogdens does this get?^^^

Sunday skied some groomers for a few hours at solitude, but had to leave to work before the mass mag gathering

this morning, decided to hit the stairmaster

[dfinn]

snow holding up ok in those steep shady areas?

[tBatt]

Skied a N facing Patsy this AM and the snow as still dry. A slight change in aspect can bring on a crust quickly.

I went back up in the afternoon to check the harvest. SW at 1:30p had some supportable corn.

[baron]

OMG some beautiful pics this last few days/ gg mags




The Snow was about perfect for High Speed Cruising Today - was at Soli
on Evel Knievels

challenger was as fast enough to eat snow off your turns

[nest]

we took the long way to Superior. the really long way, from Porter via Dog Lake

.

WTF?!

[mall walker]

WTF?!

wanted to do ~30 miles, gearing up for a big trip... can't really say I recommend it. but to quote your sig, "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough."





still finding some soft turns out there at protected north mid elevation this morning, but the juice may not be worth the squeeze... corn or steeps might be the better call

[Boissal]

still finding some soft turns out there at protected north mid elevation this morning, but the juice may not be worth the squeeze... corn or steeps might be the better call

Couloir weeks and corn harvests, what's not to love?
Sub-par frame grab from Sunday video, I'd post the actual footy but my mouth breathing obscures the awesome sound of the sluffs cascading over the cliff...

[brutah]

That's a rad shot with the cascading snow, but at least tilt the camera so it looks like all the photos from other angles

Did this again today





missed a turned, skied a little way into coalpit drainage, far enough to loosen yer fillings from ze chatter. then turned it around and caught some soft snow in da steep trees.

[gnarbro365]

Skied the drool today. Thanks Utah.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[mall walker]

with Boissal, can't let BRUTAH have all the fun up there. the light show was 5-star, the snow, well...

those late january rocky cruxes are a thing of the past, skiing wide as a highway right now

[Boissal]

That's a rad shot with the cascading snow, but at least tilt the camera so it looks like all the photos from other angles

If I make it look like a milk run people will ignore it!!
But really, it's a weird shot with a super devious fall line. It looks completely unskiable right now if you're looking from above. From below it looks more like a big boring low angle traverse. Once you're in it it alternates between long mellow right turns gripping straight-down-the-fall-line-and-over-the-cliff left turns.
The one above it is much steeper and skis better.

More of the morning light show:



MW climbing out of the freezer, ready for a thigh-busting teeth-loosening shredfest:



The crux of every LCC couloir mission. I swear some of these rocks are coated in transparent slime.

[snowaddict91]

Nice!

[snowaddict91]

Nice work! Those sunrise pics are awesome.

[MultiVerse]

the light show was 5-star, the snow, well...

MW climbing out of the freezer, ready for a thigh-busting teeth-loosening shredfest:

Great shots. Conditions in the vicinity last Friday, the light wasn't as good:

Attachment 275165

[mall walker]

amazing pics you’ve been showing us from the lbcc

thanks man! this winter just keeps on giving

[TG]

that UD backpack is the tits.
did you know that STP has it on closeout for 49.00?
I bought a spare.

[mall walker]

^ that is an insane deal. might get myself a backup too. the old 18 is a rad spring pack also...

[Boissal]

Great shots. Conditions in the vicinity last Friday, the light wasn't as good:

Attachment 275165

Looks like the snow sucked a lot less though... My thighs are still roasting.

Which pack are you guys talking about? My Salomon 30L is too big for this kind of light day, unless I'm hauling skins + rope/harness and crampons it's mostly empty and doesn't carry all that well...

[mall walker]

^ UD skimo 28, https://www.sierra.com/ultimate-dire...-vest~p~569px/

[getoutside]

^^ beautiful. chased some settled pow yesterday. found some in n facing sheltered areas but everything else effected by the sun. skin track was slick AF and character building. saw 2-3” at solitude early today so travel should be more manageable moving forward...

[whyturn]

Anybody headed to Alta tomorrow for scraps?