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

[snowaddict91]

I bet that today would have been one of those days the we wait for all season in the area of Gad II, Tiger Tail, Boundary Bowl, Red Lens etc.

I could really go for storm laps on Gad 2 till my legs fall off right now.

Speaking of happier times, here's one of whyturn at Alta exactly one year ago today.

[brutah]

BTW the new mediocre amateur video of Timp is a fun watch, although they make an 8k day seem like a casual stroll

Those guys are lame af in my opinion. Anyone that skis with guys that think parking your helicopter in wilderness areas or residential streets is cool can kiss my ass. There's nothing amateur about that, just disrespect.

in other news, the skiing was really good today. pretty touchy out there though, pulled out a few slabs, pretty manageable this morning but with a bit more of load it could get ugly. Inverted snow, weak bonding between old and new snow. Gotta love April face shots.

[Dshack89]

^ dont disagree about the heli stuff, the TC one was just dumb

A buddy just sent me this photo of hellgate control work this afternoon. Also, a bit hard to see but the Alta webcams look like some pretty large sluffs came out of Little Chute and the Dogleg.

[dfinn]

Shooting cracks and a lot of snow moving. Really nice turns on the lower angle stuff though, good day for the pow surfer.

[altacoup]

^ dont disagree about the heli stuff, the TC one was just dumb

A buddy just sent me this photo of hellgate control work this afternoon. Also, a bit hard to see but the Alta webcams look like some pretty large sluffs came out of Little Chute and the Dogleg.

Someone went for a ride in little chute. Another party got hit by an avalanche while skinning up Eddie’s. Slide on third’s. Close call on sugarloaf. Glad to see everyone is keeping it mellow.

[dfinn]

Back out for round 2. What a difference a few hours and the sun makes





Turns out powder boarding is really f’ing hard when it’s not powder.

[mall walker]

^ was anything spared?

[dfinn]

The top was pretty good actually. On skis I think it would have been fun top to bottom.

[mar123]

Turns out powder boarding is really f’ing hard when it’s not powder.

^true. good gettin out wit you guys earlier.... def gotta point it more and let it ride when bottom feeding.

[dfinn]

I definitely did that a few times tonight trying to keep the board under me. Maybe with a little less style.

[Fred Pabst]

How are you liking your Faction 3.0's? Very interested. Nice looking shape to those. Course they are good in the pow..how are they in the less than great snow, ie spring chunder or not ripe corn frozen crap? Deflected on that stuff or damp and quiet?

[tgapp]

okay so this probably isn't very stoke-worthy for most of you (as y'all are much better skiers with much more time in the wasatch), but i finally skied benson & hedges for the first time.. i've been eyeing that line for two years now, so i was stoked to finally get it!



on our way up chicken shit ridge


the views don't disappoint



snow was shitty, but i'm still stoked. did all of this as an after-work mission too, which was awesome.

[tBatt]

^All stoke is good stoked.

[brutah]

okay so this probably isn't very stoke-worthy for most of you (as y'all are much better skiers with much more time in the wasatch), but i finally skied benson & hedges for the first time.. i've been eyeing that line for two years now, so i was stoked to finally get it!

Fuck ya! That's a rad after work ski and I never grow tired of looking at photos of that beautiful couloir!

[mall walker]

^ Word. Nice tgapp! It's a beautiful line. Looks like UT is gonna start to reopen restaurants and such in the next week or two, bout time! This morning was one of the best days on skis maybe in my life, certainly of the year. It is 100% fucked by now, it was getting warm in the sun by 8am, but for a few spectacular hours it was untracked stable fast no-speed-limit hero snow everywhere, not another soul around, I had whole drainage to myself except for boissal a couple miles across the way. Absolutely perfect. Tomorrow it will almost certainly be a horrendous breakable crust everywhere except the spots that slid, where it'll be a horrendous supportable crust. Looking forward to firing up the grill! Cheers bitches

Some pics from some times:

[snowaddict91]

Dayum! I love this thread. Nice work boys.

[Boissal]

okay so this probably isn't very stoke-worthy for most of you (as y'all are much better skiers with much more time in the wasatch), but i finally skied benson & hedges for the first time.. i've been eyeing that line for two years now, so i was stoked to finally get it!

Nonsense. Old Growth is a classy line, high stoke levels are warranted even if it wasn't glorious. Way to get it after work, and if you made it down without falling on your face you're a good skier at the very least.
Btw, I didn't ski that line until I had been touring around here for 8 or 9 years and it took me at least another 2 or 3 to get it in good conditions. You're not exactly a late-bloomer!

In other news, the tally from yesterday settled at 31 human-triggered slides, 4 catch and carries, 1 blown knee, and apparently several instances of people dropping slides on others below them. The majority of these incidents appear to have taken place at the resorts, very impressive effort on a moderate day! I wonder if a mea-culpa will follow from the UAC, similar to what happened last year when everyone and their dogs got lanched on a green day. Not that I think it's warranted, red flags were all over and the majority of the reports from people who got worked make it pretty clear that their decision making process involved quickly glancing at the rose and its colors, ignoring all the writing that could inform them, and dealing with whatever the snowpack threw at them as best as they could. Yellow is the new green brah, it's the resort, it's all good! = = ?

Signs of naturals from yesterday were everywhere on steep E through N facing terrain but I saw 0 signs of instability on NW below 10k. Temps were preposterously low for mid-April, my fingers are still mad at me but at least the snow stayed perfect even in direct sun (not going to last past mid-afternoon though). I've said it before and I was called a heretic for it but 6 to 8" of mid-density on a spongy base is Ullr's way of showing that he loves us. He clearly inspired modern ski shapes so they can be driven at 100 mph down wide-open faces under blue skies, not so they can be wiggled in the trees while choking on and half-blinded by 3% fluff. Today was perfect for reaching terminal velocity on glorious carpet, definitely a top 5 day for the season. Possibly even top 3.









Just kidding, I didn't go...

except for boissal a couple miles across the way.

Mallwalker is the king of fake news.

I got fat from stress-eating while watching Netflix and/or crushing the Playstation. The above is all wishful thinking and the pics are from, uuuuh, February.

Stay safe out there y'all and keep the Wasatch dream alive, it's not over until the fat lady sings and right now she can't leave the house cause she got the covfefe-19 and ran out of TP

[Dshack89]

this thread delivers...love all the stoke

[Boissal]

In other news, today at Alta:



It's actually a vid of someone skinning along with their dog bouncing about. Fucks given: absolutely none.

And if anyone needs their blood pressure raised, I think reading today's obs from Kessler E couloir will do it.

[skifishbum]

okay so this probably isn't very stoke-worthy for most of you (as y'all are much better skiers with much more time in the wasatch), but i finally skied benson & hedges for the first time.. i've been eyeing that line for two years now, so i was stoked to finally get it!



on our way up chicken shit ridge


the views don't disappoint



snow was shitty, but i'm still stoked. did all of this as an after-work mission too, which was awesome.

fkna I got em but I aint smokin em at this time
thanks for smokin em for me and sharing
the uac is the "envy of every other avalaunche center in the world"
they have told me so
must be true

[jtran10]

Line down the castle yesterday AM. Great for 700 vert, then breakable crust to the lot at like 1030 am...dafuq!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[tBatt]

Line down the castle yesterday AM. Great for 700 vert, then breakable crust to the lot at like 1030 am...dafuq!

It was already getting hot by 2p the day before. I was pleasantly surprised how well it skied yesterday morning considering. Got high and stayed high yesterday. Started at the base of Collins, up and over Sugarloaf Peak into the Castle, back up to East Castle then So Long then N facing Patsy. So long was probably the worst skiing of it all and still pretty good.

[Dshack89]

S facing corn cycle is back! Dropped a little after 10 and it was a tiny bit undercooked up high and a tiny bit overcooked at the bottom.

[Boissal]

Oooooooooohh that's good news, I need me some Superior corn before the next temperature swing!

[brutah]

How are you liking your Faction 3.0's? Very interested. Nice looking shape to those. Course they are good in the pow..how are they in the less than great snow, ie spring chunder or not ripe corn frozen crap? Deflected on that stuff or damp and quiet?

I've been really digging the agent 3.0s. sort of like a perfect blend between the candides and primes from Faction. Not quite as surfy, smeary as the candides, but more forgiving than the primes. Hold an edge well on groomers, and seem to do well on less than ideal conditions. They charge through crud and feel very stable at speed.

**sorry i missed this originally