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

[telefreewasatch]

edit: when it's a great day it's a buzzkill to see people who were here today be pissed off. don't need to further kill their buzz.

^^^
This

[telefreewasatch]

Attachment 273936

shit there's visitors in town, be stoked! this morning was sick!

^^^
And this.
Welcome mags.
World class terrain and snow.
International airport.
Third world delivery.
Despite our transportation woes we're still world class.
Welcome.
Don't pay no mind to the traffic; we'll be dealing with it plenty in the future for you...

[SJG]

Or they KNOW THE ANSWER, so by pretending to be stupid they don't ask the proper question which would reveal it.

I don't think they can give a solid number due to loss of ticket sales due to Ikon visitors who would normally be buying day tickets. They'd have guess what the ticket sales should be without Ikon, which would be an increase of sales from last year due to a great year. Then subtract Ikon visits + total ticket sales from that guessed amount, and then get 3%? Not saying that 3% is right or wrong, but isn't that what they are doing?

I'm out of my league here, and and top of that I don't know if I explained that right...

[Skidog]

edit: when it's a great day it's a buzzkill to see people who were here today be pissed off. don't need to further kill their buzz.

Yeah but the point is don't they maybe have a reason to be a little pissy? I mean you been round a while man. You have to have seen the changes. You paint more of a marketing picture it seems. Maybe you really are a glass half full guy, but..

[mall walker]

an old friend's first time skiing the wasatch



one of those "remember to come up for air" kind of mornings

hope everyone gets some

[jtran10]

Yeah but the point is don't they maybe have a reason to be a little pissy? I mean you been round a while man. You have to have seen the changes. You paint more of a marketing picture it seems. Maybe you really are a glass half full guy, but..

someone had to say it

was told this AM that there has "never" been staging on 94th. So ducked the cops for an hour or so, and was in the wildcat lot at 850. Great skiing.

[brutah]

edit: when it's a great day it's a buzzkill to see people who were here today be pissed off. don't need to further kill their buzz.

ya but that's not the spirit of TGR!









Splash! Great morning, hope the out of town mags enjoyed some of Utah's finest low percentage powder. I heard yesterday the legislature will be increasing water content to 4.8% so enjoy that light stuff while you can

[Boissal]

Bro, do you even trench?

[telefreewasatch]

Bro, do you even trench?

Been a while since we've seen a bunch of 4% and no wind, eh?

These high density / windy storms. We are seeing more of them. Becoming the norm. Are they a sign of global warming and climate change?

Feel like I've been observing things 'round here long enough to post an observation.

You shoulda seen the trenching done 'round here on skinnier skis and low density "back in the day".

Coulda used more help on the front end with fellas like you...

[Phall]

Flagstaff was getting sun affected around 5pm. 2dogs was $$$$$$$$ but the ski down flag face was....dense. Going to be some movement on the S faces this weekens


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[tBatt]

Skied the resort this morning with phenomenal results. Headed for a S face Superior around 12:30p and dropped in around 3:15. We waited for a while for the sun to pop but the best we got was mediocre visibility. Top 2/3 skied really well. Wasn't quite the 5% we had in the morning. had to straight line the lower apron and that wasn't even enough to keep your tips up. Looking forward to seeing the string of Christmas lights from across the road tomorrow am.

[telefreewasatch]

Looking forward to seeing the string of Christmas lights from across the road tomorrow am.

?
X mas lights are a big deal. Any time of year.
Feel like I should know...
What am I forgetting, bud?

[dfinn]

Think he’s referring to all the people heading up with headlamps on tomorrow am which I was planning on being a part of until reading what phall said.

[skifishbum]

Attachment 273936

shit there's visitors in town, be stoked! this morning was sick!

im pretty sure they were all solistoked






todays stoke and bbi supporter spansered by

ski yas mannana

[Boissal]

Flagstaff was getting sun affected around 5pm. 2dogs was $$$$$$$$ but the ski down flag face was....dense. Going to be some movement on the S faces this weekens
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E facing between 8.5 and 9.5k took a beating during the hour-ish of full sun it saw this morning. It went fast, within a half hour there was a very noticeable change in density in the upper 3" and rapid settlement. Tons of sluffs were coming off the cliff bands within the first 15 minutes of exposure. The greenhousing in the following hours wasn't enough to ruin things up high but below 9.5k on due E facing the 4% blower definitely changed to 15% light cream. I'd munch on that all day but it was a bit too abrupt a change for my taste.
On the exit you could feel a very light crust on NE faces below 8.5k and we basically had to break trail down the MillB trail which is more or less NW facing.
Based on this I can't imagine the beating S faces took and the carnage we're about to witness when the temps ramp up something like 30 degrees in the next few days...

Been a while since we've seen a bunch of 4% and no wind, eh?

These high density / windy storms. We are seeing more of them. Becoming the norm. Are they a sign of global warming and climate change?

Feel like I've been observing things 'round here long enough to post an observation.

You shoulda seen the trenching done 'round here on skinnier skis and low density "back in the day".

Coulda used more help on the front end with fellas like you...

Indeed it has! Return of the dearly missed UT champagne!
This season definitely has been about winds and dense snow. Considering things have stabilized shockingly fast after the frequent dumps and the wind slabs have been reasonably tame we can't really complain though. And as blasphemous as it sounds I like dense spring pow the best because you can treat it like a groomer and rail super-G turns down everything... Today's turns were kinda slower and smaller, you'd sink to your waist at every turn, bounce off the spongy base and pop straight out without a drop in speed, definitely a different game. Better for wiggling than flying but it kept a giant shit-eating grin on my face all day and I very much enjoyed the change of pace!
I can't imagine the depths you'd sink if you were breaking on skinny sticks in light snow. Today I was on 115 underfoot taking turns breaking with a splitboarder and it was a soul-crushing wallowfest for the both of us. Knee deep from the parking lot and thigh deep from the beaver pond. Never took so long to get up there before, even in my 1st year of touring on alpine gear!

[mall walker]

still cold this morning, but it doesn't sound like that's gonna last...

[skiATL]

Well, observations from the morning:
Arrived at superior before Sunrise; it already looked like snowbird at 10am.

Getting over to MC wasn't too bad. Glad to lead the way and not follow.

Edge of the World was money, almost too low angle for the thigh deep pow. Through the gut was good.
We hopped over to hit MC gully, might have dropped in too high. I cut off a massive 30" deep storm slab (SW ~10200') below me traversing to the saddle (this is also above the big ass cliffs). It broke off when I was almost on the ridge, almost on flat ground. It was lethargic and reluctant to pull out. Vid to come later. Scary after the fact.
Made it through a cliff band for added spiciness and had pow all the way to the road (aside from the last 300')

[Boissal]

Well, observations from the morning:
Arrived at superior before Sunrise; it already looked like snowbird at 10am.

Getting over to MC wasn't too bad. Glad to lead the way and not follow.

Edge of the World was money, almost too low angle for the thigh deep pow. Through the gut was good.
We hopped over to hit MC gully, might have dropped in too high. I cut off a massive 30" deep storm slab (SW ~10200') below me traversing to the saddle (this is also above the big ass cliffs). It broke off when I was almost on the ridge, almost on flat ground. It was lethargic and reluctant to pull out. Vid to come later. Scary after the fact.
Made it through a cliff band for added spiciness and had pow all the way to the road (aside from the last 300')

I did the higher traverse into the MC gully earlier this year, probably the same line you took. For some reason I thought the sneak was the first skiable ramp to the left instead of the last which is barely above the main cliff. Definitely some sporty stuff in there, we had to huck into and out of it, the upper drop was small but the lower one was a 15' section of low angle rocks that was a bit unnerving to navigate. I wonder how much more filled in it is now and I strongly doubt it would go in anything but a fat year. There are some rad looking mini-chutes terminating in 10' ice falls that drain into that gully, it would be a fun place to explore!
The ramp traverse to get there is definitely a prime spot to get lanched, glad the slab didn't grab you, riding over that big cliff in a slide would ruin your day...

[rwalk]

I did the higher traverse into the MC gully earlier this year, probably the same line you took. For some reason I thought the sneak was the first skiable ramp to the left instead of the last which is barely above the main cliff. Definitely some sporty stuff in there, we had to huck into and out of it, the upper drop was small but the lower one was a 15' section of low angle rocks that was a bit unnerving to navigate. I wonder how much more filled in it is now and I strongly doubt it would go in anything but a fat year. There are some rad looking mini-chutes terminating in 10' ice falls that drain into that gully, it would be a fun place to explore!
The ramp traverse to get there is definitely a prime spot to get lanched, glad the slab didn't grab you, riding over that big cliff in a slide would ruin your day...

Approximately this filled in

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[Boissal]

Approximately this filled in

Wait, no hucking the ice? But that's the best #instaspray opportunity!!!

In case you're wondering, I didn't either. I scratched my way down that same ramp which doesn't look much more skiable than it did 3 weeks ago. Unless you decide to air over the sharks that is:

I've made the opposite mistake by missing the last exit and had to scratch and claw my way out while hanging onto to old tatty anchors.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit. I'll take my fuckup over yours anytime!
I skied the "directissimo" back in the day when I thought ticking the more techy lines in the chuting gallery was a must. Getting to the rap anchor in firm conditions took years off my life. I hear there's an upper anchor that allows you to safely make it to the main drop but we didn't see it and ended up scraping down blue ice to get to 2 miserable nuts holding a lose flake in place. I can't imagine having to climb back from the edge of the cliff, I'd probably shit myself twice and never ski that run again.

As a side note, I don't mind dealing with a mandatory rap but this line is heinously contrived considering you can ski a better line right around the corner and get back into the main gully directly below the cliff. It's like a rap-bolted and runout climb: not worth it. Almost as dumb as skiing the GWI.

[tBatt]

He's got it.

Think he’s referring to all the people heading up with headlamps on tomorrow am which I was planning on being a part of until reading what phall said.

?
X mas lights are a big deal. Any time of year.
Feel like I should know...
What am I forgetting, bud?

Saw lights in Lisa Falls, Maybird, Tanners, White Pine...

We were the third party up the Hypodermic Needle. 4:30 Start in White Pine up Red Pine Trees, over Small pass, up the lower portion of the Needle and across the hanging snowfield to the Coalpit headwall ridge. We were passed by two parties on the last hour. 9:30 at the top. Skins on the whole time except the last bit of the ridge. Damn it was good.

Wet activity on the S Face of Superior by 1p.

[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.

[Dshack89]

Skiied the Y for the first time ever this morning, it did not disappoint

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[mall walker]

buddy in town, had to do a big day to gear up for a trip in a couple weeks. he had never been, so we took the long way to Superior. the really long way, from Porter via Dog Lake





it was all wasangelesed out but still soft and skiing good. the sun was fucking strong, the last hike up the Raymond shoulder really hurt



this didn't. still powder on protected north.

but all this wandering got me looking forward to some high pressure days in the alpine...

[claymond]

Mall walker figuring out new ways to beat cottonwoods traffic! That's some true will power dude.

Fuck yeah tbatt on Coalpit.

Short, fun, and surprisingly untracked chute this morning: