Sunday, February 11, 2018

Beartrap Fork, BCC, February 9, 2018

A warm (50's) and windy (20-30mph on ridges) day in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I went for a look up Beartrap Fork which I have never seen from the bottom up. Previous ski days up here were from Powder Park via Mill B North, so it was high time that I saw the whole thing. The lower drainage is tight and steep-ish, which was not a big deal on the ascent but kind of tricky when descending, clipping trees and rocks. In a normal snow year I'd guess the descent is easier with more the logs and rocks covered. The skiing kind of sucked. I didn't find much "creamy powder" as I was hoping. Most of it was sloppy spring snow and grippy. Skiing the aspens in upper Beartrap nearly resulted in face- planting 24-inch diameter (40-foot tall) aspens which could've been ugly (to me, not the aspens) but luckily I pulled out the near misses. Maybe it's best not to ski tight trees alone when the snow is 6-inches of mashed potatoes? 

From lower Beartrap, view south of Reynolds Peak and Dromedary  Peak (rounded peak on left).

From mid Beartrap looking up the drainage (North). 

View east and the Beartrap Glades.

Tight skiing in sloppy wet snow.




This was the only dry-ish snow found all day, on the sub=peak of 9990 (just above Desolation Lake. But it was short lived. 30 feet down-slope it turned to mashed potatoes.


View west towards the Salt Lake valley.

Mt. Raymond and Gobblers Nob from just above Desolation Peak on West Desolation Ridge.

Desolation Lake from the small peak just south of Peak 9990.

Desolation Lake and Powder Park beyond, from West Desolation Ridge (view north).

Thin snow pack made the descent kind of tricky. This was as wide open as it got.

My truck parked on the Big Cottonwood Highway. 

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 23, 2018 at 10:33 PM

    Nice pictures! I had a tough outing too. Just today, while it snowed, I skinned up N. Canyon trail to Rudy's Flat. I plowed powder the whole way. It was exhausting. It took so long to get to the flat, that I had to turn back right away. I had some anxiety about whether I would be able to get down the trail. The powder offered a lot of resistance, which I think both helped and hindered a bit. It helped me not go too fast in some places, but also prevented me from getting enough speed to make it up a few inclines. Only crashed once on the steep left turn near the end of the trail a mile up from the pavement. Sure would be cool to go up there with someone who knew what they were doing. :)

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    1. OMRFebruary 24, 2018 at 4:34 PM

      Thanks Spencer! The Beartrap pictures make it look better than it was. It was grabby and I shouldn't have been skiing tight trees in those conditions, but old habits rarely die.

      Good job on hitting N. Canyon! BC skiing is hard work, something that is often forgotten when looking at trip reports and photos, but I still like the up as much as the down. Keep at it, it'll get easier. It sounds like you're in great shape so the hard part is most likely just the learning curve on skinning and hiking in deep snow. I've met Central Wasatch skiers who have never broken trail (unbelieveable!) and I think they are really missing a key element of BC skiing. One can learn as much about avalanche conditions from breaking trail as from digging a pit, maybe more.
      We should get together a sometime. I work a lot this time of year but I still try to ski a day or two each week. Sometimes it means a half day in the afternoon and coming out in the dark, but those 'dusk-patrols' are some of my favorite ski memories.

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    2. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2018 at 6:25 PM

      Funny you should say “dusk patrol.” That’s just what happened. The sun went down on me, but I was saved by moonlight and the clouds dispersing. It was just enough light to make out the trail. Yes, I did pay attention to the shooting cracks in the snow while breaking trail. Didn’t hear any whumping noises. I could see slabby breaks. I like the uphill too. It’s the downhill I struggle with. I’ve been skiing once a week faithfully to try to get better. Off-piste is my biggest weakness, though; powder specifically. There is one picture on your blog I want to find in the mountains. It looks awesome and maybe something I could ski. I know first hand that groomy conditions can be found up there.

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