WASATCH STOKE, CONDITIONS, OBSERVATIONS and ASSORTED DRIVAL 19-20

[muted]

I hope it was the solo dawn patrol sledder you saw, because that made my day yesterday.

I would be impressed if that sledder was high up up Thomas Fork, or maybe it was Norths Fork where I saw the light, that's an extreme sledder!

[dfinn]

Only a handful of tracks in #2 this morning. Still skiing insanely well, deep and light.

[ASmileyFace]

Saw some bird patrollers working terrain skiers right of the sign/rope...fingers crossed!Attachment 313875

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You have to be the guy I did a lap in the Keyhole with yesterday, before people figured out it was the place to be. Those few laps were excellent stuff. Good riding the kitty and skiing with you, hope to see you around again in the future!

[rwalk]

Anyone on here part of the junk show this morning in Coalpit #4? Hit the trail at about 4:45, missed the entrance and finally made it into the chute around 6:00. Saw at least 12 headlamps behind us with a few of us in the front of the pack taking turns breaking trail in waist deep snow. Just about everyone turned around early, I assume due to work or getting tired of the wallowing, but we pushed on to the top for some of the best turns of the year for me.

[Dshack89]

Still two feet of absolutely blower, right-side-up cold smoke in mid elevation Millcreek as of this morning. Get after it before this next storm dumps a bunch of cement on top of all of this fluff here.

My dogs agree with you:

You have to be the guy I did a lap in the Keyhole with yesterday, before people figured out it was the place to be. Those few laps were excellent stuff. Good riding the kitty and skiing with you, hope to see you around again in the future!

Great couple laps in there with you!


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[Foggy_Goggles]

You guys are killing it! I hope to bring my lanyard and touring gear out your way soon.

[Boissal]

Anyone on here part of the junk show this morning in Coalpit #4? Hit the trail at about 4:45, missed the entrance and finally made it into the chute around 6:00. Saw at least 12 headlamps behind us with a few of us in the front of the pack taking turns breaking trail in waist deep snow. Just about everyone turned around early, I assume due to work or getting tired of the wallowing, but we pushed on to the top for some of the best turns of the year for me.

75 minutes to cross a filled-in creek and bushwack a quarter mile has got to be some kind of record. The joys of wandering around in the dark following tracks laid out by people who are as anxious not to be first on top as they are lost...
Props on making it to the top though! Mid-slope farmers need to stay in bed or get up even earlier. Hope you heckled the shit out of them.

[mall walker]

how's that #4 lower bit / exit shaping up? does it go the whole way finally?

[rwalk]

75 minutes to cross a filled-in creek and bushwack a quarter mile has got to be some kind of record. The joys of wandering around in the dark following tracks laid out by people who are as anxious not to be first on top as they are lost...
Props on making it to the top though! Mid-slope farmers need to stay in bed or get up even earlier. Hope you heckled the shit out of them.

Crossing the creek was easy, that quarter mile bushwack was the killer haha, we should have consulted the satellite map earlier as it was super obvious on there but we instead were fixated on the topo and thought we could just contour our way into the chute instead of going in from the bottom. Bad idea!!

how's that #4 lower bit / exit shaping up? does it go the whole way finally?

A couple rocks just barely poking through after seeing some traffic today, but easily goes all the way

[Boissal]

Crossing the creek was easy, that quarter mile bushwack was the killer haha, we should have consulted the satellite map earlier as it was super obvious on there but we instead were fixated on the topo and thought we could just contour our way into the chute instead of going in from the bottom. Bad idea!!

A couple rocks just barely poking through after seeing some traffic today, but easily goes all the way

Having put some pretty inventive skinners to the base of the Y because of darkness and a false sense of familiarity I can relate to your pain. Nothing worse than wasting time in the brush at o'dark in the morning when people are breathing down your neck... And the Coalpit#4 brush is pretty damn aggressive I'd say.

[rwalk]

Have to go back and follow up on this adventure from over the weekend too..

had a great, memorable day on Generator today. I've been trying to ski it for about 3 years, but either didn't attempt due to snowpack or got turned around with the gnarly bushwack and lack of time(last year). This time, plan was to go up powerhouse and go over to generator. Foolproof, right? Crew was rwalk and non-mag Willy T.

Advice/observations about the day:
1. While pre-existing vert tracks up creek gullies are likely more efficient, skinning up and over all those boulders is a lot of fun.

Taking your skis off is a clear sign of weakness.

2. Ali-Baba secret passage!

Pro tip: Maybe take the verts off before heading through this section.. Also, a smart person probably would have put on their helmet because it doesn't do a whole lot of good strapped to your backpack and for the reason below

it's worth mentioning that a rescue out of this place would be horrendous. Several large drops on complicated creek terrain. Managing a sled would be extremely difficult.

[tBatt]

Also, hwy 210 closed and alta interlodged with no estimated reopening time.

[Dshack89]

Rumors are going around that 210 is closed for the day. I'm up at GMD, beat the closure along with about 15 others. Could be an interesting day...hopefully Alta is able to open at some point and/or we can get an escort down canyon.

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[mall walker]

very sketchy this morning. remote triggering big cracks from the skinner well below 8k. kept it mellow. windy af up high. the most cracking I’ve ever seen maybe.

edit: to elaborate. ascended neffs/thomas fk again. while only 2-3" at ~7500', walking in the old skinner was enough to propagate cracks far above/in front of you. definitely not a nice zone to be above 30º in. tgapp and I had aborted our original objective (a steeper shot in upper thomas) before hitting the mid elevation forecast zone. I wouldn't have skinned beneath steep slopes today, everything was going from ~7k to ~8500. larger, somewhat less touchy wind slabs higher up (highest point gained just over 9600'), but all the red flags were out. We didn't trigger any actual avalanches, but only due to never going on any terrain steep enough. We triggered probably two dozen things that would've slid, if steep enough.

also upside-down snow + wind slabs, rime around 9k including on the snow surface. strange skiing conditions, not bad but highly variable.

another foot or two will make that zone pretty spooky in the short term, heads up. and while I wasn't there, seems like porter was similar from talking to some friends.

[muted]

Have to go back and follow up on this adventure from over the weekend too..



Pro tip: Maybe take the verts off before heading through this section.. Also, a smart person probably would have put on their helmet because it doesn't do a whole lot of good strapped to your backpack and for the reason below

I've only skied it twice, so I'm not familiar with this area every year, but I'll do pro-tips anyways:

-There's rocks up at the top that can get heated and set off a slide around spring time or any real warm day really
-skiing after it slides covers all the rocks in Ali-Baba passage, first time I skied it all the boulders below were gone too.
-It's rarely filled in unfortunately, for obvious elevation reasons. Also, I don't suggest to ski it on a bag smog day, my partner was not pleased to hike through the haze one day, ha. Stupid me.

I wanna ski generator now.

[tBatt]

Rumors are going around that 210 is closed for the day. I'm up at GMD, beat the closure along with about 15 others. Could be an interesting day...hopefully Alta is able to open at some point and/or we can get an escort down canyon.

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Reassessing at noon. Been keeping the cafe staff up to date. If we open, it's likely gonna be Wildcat only. Go say hi to Brent aka Lone Star for me.

[telefreewasatch]

Rumors are going around that 210 is closed for the day. I'm up at GMD, beat the closure along with about 15 others. Could be an interesting day...hopefully Alta is able to open at some point and/or we can get an escort down canyon.

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Pm me your # if stuck up here...

[altacoup]

Word is the ski resort will remain closed for the day


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[jtran10]

my buddy from growing up skiing in VT is flying in tonight for a 3 day weekend. Hoping this upside down snow settles out for him and tomorrow is a go

[tBatt]

Interlodge will not lift in LCC until sometime tomorrow.

[Dshack89]

From ToA: 2/6 Town of Alta Interlodge remains in effect. Stay inside. Avalanche Control work at 3pm. Short window for those to head down at estimated 4pm to 4:15pm (except Hellgate). Be ready to go, when we say with, well equipped vehicles only. Full interlodge back in effect immediately after. NO estimated opening time.

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[Skidog]

From ToA: 2/6 Town of Alta Interlodge remains in effect. Stay inside. Avalanche Control work at 3pm. Short window for those to head down at estimated 4pm to 4:15pm (except Hellgate). Be ready to go, when we say with, well equipped vehicles only. Full interlodge back in effect immediately after. NO estimated opening time.

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Wow...must be a wet one...

[happytimefunbox]

Holy Fuck 24 hour lockdown on LCC I don't think I've seen that in my 15 years here?
Yall be safe!

[Lone Star]

so far, 5 inches of 20% moisture content on top of 8 inches of 5%. fun!

[snowaddict91]

so far, 5 inches of 20% moisture content on top of 8 inches of 5%. fun!

Whoa. Stay safe out there y'all.