Wasatch 22/23 - Gondolas, grooming highboy, and other comical anecdotes

[D-Roc]

Great Trip to the Valley, it really is something there... its a place of inspiration that motivates and humbles in the same breath...

Went in through Tioga and climbed Wet American Dream, what a great route, super old school and the 100 foot slab run out finish even had me a little rattled. Then did a classic on the FIFI called COTU and that was just mega. We all know why I was there! EL CAPPPPPPP!

Day 0 prepped and shuttled gear to the base, its a bit of ass kicker approach given the amount of 3/4 class terrain + all the weight. Kind of cool I ran into Tommy and Alex near Moby Dick and chatted with them, asked if Alex was getting his record back ... 'Maybe next year' lol



Day 1 we cast off, hauling was something, pretty much had to use a 2 - 1 system for the first 4/5 pitches due to water and weight, made the going SLOW. Heres me aiding through the window pane flake, trust me it MOVES and the crack running down the back ensured ginger moves. Given the 50 ft pendulum at the top I aided through so my second had no gear to clean and could do an easy let out.



Day 2 was shitty. Made a big push to hit a bench mark pitch to start Day 3, upon the end of the day, a party bailing down our route rapped over our portaledge and due to the amount of weight and angle on the wall, kinked my portaledge and snapped it like a twig, casting us off it, this is at like 11 pm mind you. After several attempts to piece it together and we gave up and started ideation workarounds. We rigged the remainder of the ledge into a hammock for my partner, and i pulled the haulbag out from the wall, unclipped the leader strap and sat atop the bag with my chest against the wall. Envision sleeping 1200 ft off the deck on a bar stool. Sleeping is generous, the temps dropped and consistently had to friction my legs to stay warm.



Day 3 upon waking up pre dawnish, I had a flurry of thoughts - I had enough water, had enough food, skill was totally there, just no ledge. To me - thats fucking push through and do it (3/4 is greenlight to me). We made a MEGA push to the next natural ledge system and hauled to it just as the sun set. FUCKING STOKED.



Day 4 lets wrap this bitch up! Yet again a shitty nights sleep on a meh ledge, we could summit in a big push (6+ pitches to go). Hauling was easier 1 to 1 at this point. Heres rounding the corner towards the big ledge.



Last pitch... views were ok...



Jugging final slabs to the summit



Then we dropped everything after passing all the shittyness that is the el cap top out, funny how all the documentaries skip on the suffer section lol

Woke up to this sunrise. Prepped and hiked / rappelled down east ledges - then STRAIGHT to Curry Village Pizza. 2 Beers / 3 Vita Cocos / 1 Salad / 5 Slices later, i felt ok. hahahaa

[mst1228]

Great Trip to the Valley, it really is something there... its a place of inspiration that motivates and humbles in the same breath...

Went in through Tioga and climbed Wet American Dream, what a great route, super old school and the 100 foot slab run out finish even had me a little rattled. Then did a classic on the FIFI called COTU and that was just mega. We all know why I was there! EL CAPPPPPPP!

Day 0 prepped and shuttled gear to the base, its a bit of ass kicker approach given the amount of 3/4 class terrain + all the weight. Kind of cool I ran into Tommy and Alex near Moby Dick and chatted with them, asked if Alex was getting his record back ... 'Maybe next year' lol



Day 1 we cast off, hauling was something, pretty much had to use a 2 - 1 system for the first 4/5 pitches due to water and weight, made the going SLOW. Heres me aiding through the window pane flake, trust me it MOVES and the crack running down the back ensured ginger moves. Given the 50 ft pendulum at the top I aided through so my second had no gear to clean and could do an easy let out.



Day 2 was shitty. Made a big push to hit a bench mark pitch to start Day 3, upon the end of the day, a party bailing down our route rapped over our portaledge and due to the amount of weight and angle on the wall, kinked my portaledge and snapped it like a twig, casting us off it, this is at like 11 pm mind you. After several attempts to piece it together and we gave up and started ideation workarounds. We rigged the remainder of the ledge into a hammock for my partner, and i pulled the haulbag out from the wall, unclipped the leader strap and sat atop the bag with my chest against the wall. Envision sleeping 1200 ft off the deck on a bar stool. Sleeping is generous, the temps dropped and consistently had to friction my legs to stay warm.



Day 3 upon waking up pre dawnish, I had a flurry of thoughts - I had enough water, had enough food, skill was totally there, just no ledge. To me - thats fucking push through and do it (3/4 is greenlight to me). We made a MEGA push to the next natural ledge system and hauled to it just as the sun set. FUCKING STOKED.



Day 4 lets wrap this bitch up! Yet again a shitty nights sleep on a meh ledge, we could summit in a big push (6+ pitches to go). Hauling was easier 1 to 1 at this point. Heres rounding the corner towards the big ledge.



Last pitch... views were ok...



Jugging final slabs to the summit



Then we dropped everything after passing all the shittyness that is the el cap top out, funny how all the documentaries skip on the suffer section lol

Woke up to this sunrise. Prepped and hiked / rappelled down east ledges - then STRAIGHT to Curry Village Pizza. 2 Beers / 3 Vita Cocos / 1 Salad / 5 Slices later, i felt ok. hahahaa

Incredible adventure, well done!!


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[criscam]

^^^ seconded!!!

[zion zig zag]

^^^ seconded!!!

Thirded! Bad ass-ery for sure. Pushing through after the bad sleep and broken gear….solid.

[crankplank]

Mags, I need to get my old rear wheel drive car home to SLC from Laramie over Friday and Saturday. I have a low tolerance for slick roads and salt in this car. I'm thinking the safest route is down 25 to Santa Fe and then up from there on day two, anyone have a better low elevation route?

[telefreewasatch]

crankplank what's yer hurry?
That's a long way around unless one can't wait for better weather.
Which is always around the corner this time of year...

DRoc: Yer absence is excused from this year's get together.
Yer tr excused the absence. Nice work. Great weather.
Put a smile on many faces...

[crankplank]

I'm trying to wrap up a road trip to NY in time to start a new job on Monday. Still in Missouri right now.

[thebirdhunter]

Laramie to salt lake via Santa Fe New Mexico. What a fan-fucking-tastic idea. You should totally do it.

In other shitty news. Rip to chef Bruce at the bird. An icon. Lost his battle with cancer. One hell of a great guy. He introduced me to ice fishing over 30 years ago. Spent many days with him sitting on buckets on a frozen Strawberry reservoir.
Fish on Bruce!!

[crankplank]

You could have been quiet but you chose to be a dick, birdhunter, thanks. I knew the forum was missing something. I am aware this is a suboptimal route, but here I am on one side of the continental divide, needing to get across in a sports car with a storm knocking all the same.

I'm giving up on seeing friends in Laramie and just going from KC straight to NM.

Sorry about your friend.

[CS]

Great Trip to the Valley, it really is something there... its a place of inspiration that motivates and humbles in the same breath...

[Lot's of baddassery]

Yeah dude! Solid work

And can confirm, Yosemite is like no other place. And, the descent off El Cap is the suck.

[brutah]

Love the stoke d-roc! You’re a stud!

In other news, looks like this is the last year of free parking in the cottonwoods

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE...prd1144032.pdf

I guess the good news is $60 season pass beats the town of Alta’s $25 daily fee

[Phall]

And, if I’m reading things correctly, the America the Beautiful/annual pass you’d purchase at mirror lake is valid as that $60/year pass.


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[Benneke10]

And, if I’m reading things correctly, the America the Beautiful/annual pass you’d purchase at mirror lake is valid as that $60/year pass.

That is correct. This is saying that the cottonwoods will be managed like American Fork and Mirror Lake Highway, display your annual pass in your vehicle. I imagine implementing this in SLC will be a shitshow. Currently they only hand out warnings for violations, definitely would not expect any tickets at first.

[brutah]

Honestly, I think the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is long overdue for its own annual pass like the NW Forest Pass in WA and OR. But I'm not complaining the America the Beautiful/National Park annual pass will be accepted.

[altacoup]

As a pnw transplant I’ve been saying they needed this for the last 20 years. And a winter time sno-park permit system that collects money for more winter road maintenance works be another thing I’d add on.

[One (+) Sentence]

Love the stoke d-roc! You’re a stud!

In other news, looks like this is the last year of free parking in the cottonwoods

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE...prd1144032.pdf

I guess the good news is $60 season pass beats the town of Alta’s $25 daily fee

I didn't read the link, but my first thought is that the $60 pass will be required in addition to Alta's parking fee.

Parking is basically free for season pass holders anyways...

[wasatchgravityresearch]

Regarding the new FS parking, what is the definition of “per multi-day” though? Does that mean you only pay if it’s an overnighter? I would think the vast majority of trailhead visits in the Wasatch are not overnights. Or does “per multi-day” just mean “per day” and I’m thick.

[romeo tango]

always looking for stoke in the climbing threads

.

[Yukonrider]

Skied a shoulder lap yesterday. Sharks abound but plenty of good turns available up high

[Dantheman]

Love the stoke d-roc! You’re a stud!

In other news, looks like this is the last year of free parking in the cottonwoods

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE...prd1144032.pdf

I guess the good news is $60 season pass beats the town of Alta’s $25 daily fee

Looks like it's just few select THs, though, not a blanket canyon mouth entry fee like AF or Millcreek?

[Benneke10]

Regarding the new FS parking, what is the definition of “per multi-day” though? Does that mean you only pay if it’s an overnighter? I would think the vast majority of trailhead visits in the Wasatch are not overnights. Or does “per multi-day” just mean “per day” and I’m thick.

The lowest level fee covers 3 days (or something like that)

[brutah]

Looks like it's just few select THs, though, not a blanket canyon mouth entry fee like AF or Millcreek?

yes, not a blanket canyon mouth entry fee, but looks like most THs were covered with the exception of those with only on-street parking. But this coupled with (soon to be) Brighton and Alta charging for on-street parking within their city boundaries basically covers 75% of the canyon.

Honestly, they should just do a blanket entry fee if they go ahead with this plan as it is going to be very confusing for many to figure out which parking fee covers what area and I'm sure the tourist complaints will only increase. Plus it will likely push more people to parking on the street (which I'm sure will increase closures for snow removal) and to those THs that don't have fees, which will be a bummer as it pushes people into more remote areas. Who knows? I can only assure one thing, it's going to be a mess.

[Dantheman]

Alta and Brighton have not announced any plans to charge for parking in the summer though, right? I've gravitated back towards being a mostly bus-riding resort skier the last few years so for now I'm more interested in how this will affect summer activities. I already usually road park at the proposed fee THs to avoid the parking mess and I don't mind walking/pedaling an extra few hundred yards.

Definitely a guaranteed junk show when it kicks in.

[Dshack89]

Went out this morning for a lap up Collins to stretch my legs. Not surprisingly, it's thin. I stayed on the groomer/road and still got some extra base structure. Snow guns were blazing so hopefully they can get down a bit of a base and move it around and groom it. There's something fun about the early season excitement to get back on skis, even if it is picking your way down a boring groomer.

Also watched several people tiptoe down Main Chute. No thanks!

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[tgapp]

Went out this morning for a lap up Collins to stretch my legs. Not surprisingly, it's thin. I stayed on the groomer/road and still got some extra base structure. Snow guns were blazing so hopefully they can get down a bit of a base and move it around and groom it. There's something fun about the early season excitement to get back on skis, even if it is picking your way down a boring groomer.

Also watched several people tiptoe down Main Chute. No thanks!

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I was one of those people

New 23/24 season thread felt appropriate after skiing main chute:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...tgapp-s-fartba

The chute itself had slid from and coverage in it was honestly excellent, but the entrance was spicy

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