Not a lot of time, take it when life isn’t looking . . .
Great snow today, about 10 inches of 3% density powder on a supportable base, but I’ve never seen so many skiers on Bountiful Ridge. Santa must have been very generous this year, there were a lot of newbies experimenting with their new toys, and it’s easy to spot the newbies, which is always good for a big laugh. That sounds elitist but who can resist a laugh when extremely obvious common-sense mountain awareness doesn’t even begin to register under that sparkling new Dynafit TLT helmet? Is it just me or is everyone 'mouth-agape' to see someone skin straight up a 39 degrees slope, in a huge puffy-down jacket, drenching every layer with sweat (way over-dressed), and, when their skins fail because the slope is too steep and they’re too stupid to do a kick turn and put in switches, they remove their skis and try booting in hip-deep snow? Who does that? Stupid newbies that's who, because every one is now on Insta and TikTok spraying about abut how bad-ass they are, and everyone skinning is Guerrier and everyone riding ski lifts are pure shyte-heads. Yes, funny, but also really sad.
It’s always crowded up there during the Holidays and for a few weeks after, but today was off the charts. The Wasatch typically has a two to three week spell of high pressure and unseasonably warm temps during January, so the deteriorating snow conditions scare away the crowds from low elevation haunts such as Bountiful Ridge. But it never stopped snowing this winter, guaranteeing good snow when in a typical year Bountiful Ridge has long periods of shit, when Grizzly Gulch is perfect. All that quality snow helped bring in the crowds. This is a small area, it isn’t covered in any guide books, but it is now everyones ‘Plan B’ when there is no parking at Mill D or White Pine. Effectively it’s now a mainstream destination on the SLC backcountry ski circuit. What the hell? Why? Yes, the Wasatch front has over 2 million residents, so it’s not really surprising that everything is now crowded, but why here? It requires a long, brushy approach, it sits at a low elevation, it has bad westerly aspects so it’s prone to sun-crusting or Bountiful cement, and it’s small, so the marque lines get skied out quickly, usually within hours of a new dump, so it is still a bit puzzling why it’s now so crowded? The exponentially expanding population is reason enough, but other factors certainly helped advertise this pathetic, girly, little backwater of nothingness: Strava, the Powder Project and pure word-of-mouth have all contributed to the crowding of this once solitary area.
But today was good. Yes too crowded for my liking, but when there’s a crowd you go to the hidden splendors, where I still I found a few untracked lines
I forgot my good camera, so limited to only the 360 POV camera, which can catch some gems, but mostly garbage. Here are a few OK shots . . .
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Awesome.
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