Wasatch Solo: February 2018

Oquirh's from the North Salt Lake Bench.

I did a quick hit this morning on Meridian Peak, which tops out at 5,973 feet, a low-elevation affair with the prerequisite thin snow pack. I call it Hokkaido East, not for deep snow of course, but for the sort-of-similar flora. Hokkaido, Japan, has the deepest and lightest powder in the world and those who 'know' say it puts Alta to shame, but the vegetation of Hokkaido reminds of the foothills of the Wasatch with its deciduous Canyon Maples and Gamble Oak. So no, there is not tons of snow on Meridian Peak, but I still think it looks like Hokkaido.

This has been a strange winter. Warm and bone dry, and when I finally give up on winter it starts to snow, which it has done now almost continuously for the last two weeks. I've been too busy with real-life stuff for skiing higher elevations, where the snow is deeper but the approaches are much longer, like at least a half day commitment. The result is I haven't skied in two weeks. But there is hope when the foothills get a foot or two of snow. I saw several trip reports saying the foothills were good, so Sunday morning I went for the shorty-short-short approach hoping for deep cover. And??? Yes, it was OK, not great, but a day on skis is better than a day not on skis. Besides, why amplify expectations when you're headed to stuff barely topping out at 6,000 feet? It is what it is. Just go with it. The cover was thin, between 10 to 20 inches (drifts), and on average just barely enough to ski but still a damn fine day on skis! Admittedly, my standards this year are pretty low. I hit the ground a lot and I was glad I went with my old rock skis (eight year old Black Diamond Justices). For the descent I chose a grassy hill to minimize the damage. I knew it was grassy - with few rocks - because I often ride my mountain bike up the adjoining drainage during the summer. The skiing was fun, if slightly off-fall-line (big right turns, shallow lefts) but I received NO core shots. I almost went down once or twice when the skis abruptly hit ground, nearly causing a face plant, and I saw dirt flying once when glancing over my shoulder. It is what it is.

And BRRRRRRR! It was frigid and cloudy at the start, sunny and warm at the finish. The clouds hung over the mountains until I was about done, but when it came out the sunshine felt wonderful on my face.

Antelope Island in the sun while I'm still under clouds.

An old corral from a forgotten era on Meridian.

Antelope Island from the flanks of Meridian Peak.

I felt bad that I made these deer run up a snow-covered hillside. Wish I was that fast.

Still a gray day when I topped out on Meridian, but the sun was bright to the west.

This was an accidental shot . . . and I hate selfies, at least of me. Just too old and haggard to be flashing my face all over the place.

No motors? No worries, on my best day I could never motor anywhere. My legs are slow. That said, when I was in high school in the late '70's these foothills were torn to shreds by four-wheeler's and it has taken four decades to begin to repair naturally, although, the old Jeep roads are still evident, even under snow.

View south towards Radio Canyon and Radio Ridge, and Salt Lake City beyond. That drone is a huge waste of time.

West view and the Great Salt Lake looking very blue beyond the now land-locked Antelope Island (far right out of frame).

It tracks and follows extremely well, but such a waste of ski-time.

I really made more than three turns. These are the final three after skiing down the SW face of Meridian (hidden behind) and then down the drainage of Radio Canyon (Jones Canyon on some maps). Besides, that hill directly above my turns looks even more sketchy (thinner cover) than where I skied. Conditions were cold and powdery with just a hint of sun-crust from yesterdays very brief sun (like 5 minutes).

Meridian Peak is the high point in the middle of the picture, barely visible behind its lower sister peak, the rounded hump just above my three turns. Radio Canyon (Jones Canyon?) is the right-side drainage and Radio Ridge on the right.

Such a beautiful day when the sun came out on the new snow.

The old CCC terraces (built in the 1930's during the depression) still visible.

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.