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| The best kind of skin track . . . . |
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| As you will see, today was the day of dead trees. I picked up my Dad's bad habit of taking way too many pictures of dead trees. |
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Crows Foot Couloir (Jonah's) in the North Fork of City Creek. A great line that is much higher quality than it might appear. So, now that I posted a picture, there will be a rush of 'Joey's' skiing it. Just be warned, this is a classic terrain trap. Ski it only in welded conditions. . . . plus if you ski the full line you're in for a bit of a bush-whack getting out, assum ing you are smart enbough to NOT skin back up a terrain trap.
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| Day of dead trees (cont) . . . |
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| This one still alive but the sun glow is striking. |
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| Warm and wet in the sun, still cold enough for icicles in the shade . . . |
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| And roller balls on the south. |
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| Due to instabilities and two avalanche deaths last week in Idaho, I billy-goated the Crescent/Mark Ghost Divide. |
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Hairy legs. Cyclists make fun of guys like this, but would you really trust anyone who would pay $400 for a carbon-fiber, S-WORKS water bottle holder? All just to have an eighth oz. of weight? I know cyclists that mortgage their kids every other year for the latest $12K rig.
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| More dead trees. |
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| Skin track up the Crescent/Mark's Ghost Divide (aka Crescent Ridge). |
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| Black's Peak and another dead tree. |
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| Session's Mountain, Rocky Basin in the middle. Spencer skied the big line on lookers right a week after this photo was taken. That's a big effort and big exit. |
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| Rocky Basin just left of the Grand Monarch of the Crescent Ridge (aka Crescent/Mark's Ghost Divide). |
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Rocky Basin with some small slides. I have an old USGS map that lists the upper part of this basin as 'Rocky Basin' and the lower drainage as 'Willey Hollow.' When I was a kid my Dad and older brothers always referred to it as Rocky Basin, so that's what it will always be in my mind.
Spencer skied the big line just out of frame on lookers right a week after this photo was taken. Good job Spencer! From Bountiful Ridge I've watched Wasatch Powederbird Guides (WPBG) dropping clinets into Rocky Basin, they usually ski the lines on lookers left for higher quality snow on a more easterly aspect, then picking them up in the drainage at the lower right of this frame. WPBGs don't ski it very often, presumably becasue this is a primarily south facing slope and snow quality is consistently better over the ridge on the north slopes of Session's Mountian. Plus I've seen alot of slides running down this basin. The combination of steep terrain, big temperature swings of souths aspects and poor access (only a few, sloping, LZs in the lower basin) likley contribute to WPBG choosing to NOT ski this very often.
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| Good thing I was billy-goating. First run tracks with a small wind-pillow release on Crescent/Mark's Ghost Divide. |
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| First turns down upper Mark's Ghost South. |
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| Another quality skinner. |
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| Lower Crescent Bowl |
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| Rudy's Flat snow depth 105cm (41in). |
Thanks, Owen. I think conditions were a little too welded when I went. I'm thinking that next time I'll hike into Willey Hollow, then skin right up the middle of Rocky Basin. There is a ridge that can be billy-goated to the top. On the way up, if the snow doesn't seem stable, I can abort. It's such a pretty area.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd ever go there mid-winter, though; just in the Spring; especially if you say you've seen a lot of slides in there.
The truth is I'm terrified every time I go B/C skiing. Everything is very calculated before-hand and continually re-evaluated as I go along, but it just takes one bad decision to get buried.