Naive to Think ‘Powder,' March 7, 2021

I was naive to think there would be creamy powder in the shade but I found only unsupportable crusts (wind and sun) which provided three tough turns and a yard-sale, so I moved to the sun and the corn was smooth and buttery. Actually I never went down, but it’s no fun getting tripped by breaking crusts then momentarily butterflying your arms to avoid the face-plant. 

West Dude Pk, from the start of the North Canyon single-track. 

The real Dude, kind of hidden by a sub-ridge.

Rudy's Flat under snow, 113cm (44.5in).

Lower Rectangle Bowl under 139cm (54.7in).

Sad to see old trees taken out by the big wind event of Fall-2020. This was a fifty foot Douglas Fir, with about 7 feet of circumference at the base, so I’m guessing 100 years or more? The Rocky Mountain Douglas Fir like this one have shorter life-spans, rarely live longer than 400 years, compared to the much larger Coastal Douglas Fir which can live over 1,000 years.  

Coyote tracks become negative-prints once the wind has its way.

Blacks Peak peaking above the corniced, Bountiful Ridge.

Creamy Corn.

Rectangle Ridge across the way. My First run was down the drainage while hoping for powder, but I found only crusts. My labored turns can be seen dead-center and lower middle right.   

And even worse turns at the top of Crescent Bowl. Nasty breakable crusts made for some wild turns.

I did find a few creamy “powder” turns but they were few and far between.

Douglas Fir, female cone, identified by the cockroach tales under every scale.

Blacks Peak, always a welcome view.

Cool dead trees along upper Crescent Ridge.

Finding soft turns in the sun in lower Crescent Bowl. My first run was down the shady drainage, second was on Crescent Ridge which provided more sun and better turns, the third was down The Rectangle which was almost over overripe corn as it was getting soft. Still, fun turns were found.

Creamy in middle Crescent.

Upper Crescent was still a bit breaky-crust, hence wild, big turns. 

Wind crusts/pillows evident on Rectangle Ridge, as seen from Crescent Ridge while skinning up.

Skinning up Crescent for #3.

Looking down Crescent. From the valley this opening is shaped like a crescent moon.

Turns on Lower Crescent.

Ran out of water then remembered the orange, which was manna from heaven.

See the two skinners across the KPF Traverse? The high one is less brushy but it gains elevation, unnecessarily, of say, 20-30 feet. "Big-whip!" you might be saying given your 4K+ days, but I’m lazy and get annoyed with and unnecessary work. The best line for efficient travel, both up or out, is ZERO elevation gain across the scrubby face, from the big Doug Fir on the ridge, the one with a bifurcated trunk 20 feet up (it’s the biggest tree seen here on the nearer, right-descending ridge, middle right in the frame), straight across (SW) to the Moose Beds near the rocky switchback of the Mueller trail. Yeah, that flat line is now a bit of a bush-whack so most folks go high, but the bush-whack is minor so it’s worth it to go flat so your return is effortless once you are dead-tired from skiing all morning. Why side-step when you can glide?

Turns down The Rectangle, and below (following picture) with a bit of zoom. Big roller-balls following me near the bottom, a sign it was gettin too wet and time to head home.

The view of the Mueller Trail at approximately MP 5 from the high point of KPF, quickly melting out of the snow. 

 

Too Late - Too Warm - Too Lazy, March 5, 2021

I aborted my ski day at Rudy’s Flat (see post title). I worked today and hoped to take off at noon, but the calls and delays kept coming so it was after 3pm when I finally broke free. Way too late to even try on a hot, spring day, but what the hell, sometimes the most improbable days are the best.  

Incidentally, on the way out I saw my life pass before my eyes. While descending the North Canyon road, I took off my skis to walk across a rocky, bare spot. I normally just walk the bare spots with skis on, but this one was particularly rough and I wanted to minimize the damage. When stepping back into the skis I suddenly heard a truck engine at a high RPM. I couldn’t see it but from the engine noise I could tell it was close and moving fast, so I scrambled to get my skis on, which of course meant I could get them on, tech-bindings requiring a bit of finesse to step in. I was on a very narrow spot of the road and I was standing in a wheel trench when that damn truck came flying around the corner. It was  heading straight for me and not slowing down, instead, the driver had it floored, tires spinning on the icy road, in order to ascend the steep section where I was standing. I had to jump off the road to avoid being run over, the driver glaring at me as he spun by. Of course he had “In God We Trust” Utah license plates, and Trump stickers all over the bumper, but the 'Trust in God' was ALL on me to avoid death. It’s ironic how way too many Utah drivers spray the religious shit but showing nothing of an inclination toward God.  

KPF

Nature or nurture? This spot, before KPF, was a meadow surrounded by tall Canyon Maples and it was a long-used, bed-site for a large animals, either a Moose or Elk. Now, cleared for over seven years, this site is still used as a bed for a large animal. It’s probable that the animals using it as a bed-site seven years ago are now dead, so it’s interesting how generations of animals go back to similar locations. 

Snow-stake just peaking out. In a month it will be fully exposed.

123cm (48in) at Rudy’s Flat, but melting fast. 

Bountiful Peak through the trees. (9,269 ft)

Session's Mountain, East Peak (right - 9,252 ft), West Peak (left - 9,224 ft), and Rocky Basin. 

Too wet and warm. Time to go home. 

Crows Foot - Left Toe, March 2, 2021

When working from home and you have only an hour or two (sorry boss!) for lunch, and you 'need to ski damnit!' you take what you can get, you go ski the foothills. Real skiers dismiss low-elevation skiing as contrived and desperate, and maybe it is,  ski-quality snow is short lived and rocks abound just under the surface, but I’ve been surprised how good low-elevation skiing can be. That said, for depth and snow quality, you need to ski "low-elv” runs during or soon after a storm. It was almost a week since the last real storm so I was not expecting much, but the conditions exceeded expectations on all fronts. Powdery on the NW-N-NE aspects, and nary a rock. Plus, and perhaps most importantly for one who HATES crowds, the Crows Foot never gets skied. In decades of skiing Davis County, the only ski tracks I’ve seen  on the Crows Foot are mine. Yes, a brushy approach that often does not have full cover, it’s a study in skinning-booting-skinning-booting, but I’ve learned to enjoy grunge-skiing, if only to be alone. Today I was all alone. 

View SE over City Creek Canyon when topping Stonehenge Peak (6,654 ft), named for the dozens of rock towers that I destroy up there each summer. A modest rock cairn (three rocks, six inches high) is necessary at trail junctions, but a five-foot tall pile of rocks topped with an eight-foot PVC pipe flagpole with a flag is just a monument to a weak mind. God is the supreme creator, humans can never improve on divinity.    

At one the balds, I came across an explosion of feathers in the snow, presumably a Coyote feasting on a Grouse. 

Ripping to ski.

Powdery, albeit a bit wind-drifted at the top.

The skiing was awesome but getting a touch wet. If I had gone early this morning it would’ve been all cream, but in a new job I don’t have the flexibility to ditch for half a day.

Rollers! It’s tough to see in the photo, but this is steep! Approaching 40 degrees in the lower reaches. 

What goes down must go up. Too brushy to descend the drainage.

More rollers produced by my turns.

There are some big cliff-drops if that was my thing, one over 50 feet (not shown), but suicidal with a thin base.  

Skinner back up to go back down.

I can’t fake smile, it looks too fake.