Marc's super awesome, super late Utah trip report (March 8 - 14)

[Marc]

Yeah, I know, three weeks too late for any of the beta herein to be useful, but I have some pretty pictures. Unfortunately not a lot of action shots because the snow and terrain were so glorious, and because Austin didn't come with us, but oh well.

We flew in Sunday, got there at night, and stayed in Midvale (1/2 hr from SLC Airport). Monday we went up LCC to Alta. It snowed over two feet throughout the day Monday.

The weapons used (the orange T-stix are mine, yes I tour on a tele ski)-

View from motel parking lot, sunrise over LCC-

Extended Stay Suites... cheap and, well, cheap. And our sweet rental minivan being molested by Nate and Neum in the background-

At Alta:

Dumping:

After the snow, it was basically bluebird the rest of the week. Day 2 we went to Solitude. An unfortunate choice, as we found out they're Aspen-snobby there, however, the terrain was decent.

Waiting for shuttle at BCC, Nate (nlmasopust) and I enjoying a totally platonic man hug-

Should have went for freshies at Snowbird, but bottomless freshies anywhere = good times, wide smiles, under the masks that is-

Also, some painful runouts at Solitude, none at Snowbird... not many at Alta.
Painful runouts-

Got skied off towards the end of the day-

Day 3, tour into and ski Porter Fork from Mill Creek B... next post-

 

[Marc]

Tour into Porter Fork was about 1.5 miles... not bad but not the kind of access you'd get touring in LCC. We stayed away from LCC today because of the Avi danger. Where we were was soft and stable... well bonded to the hardpack underneath...

Starting up-

On the trail-

Refueling-

'Round the bend we see the goodies-

Getting closer, a little more winded than I expected... combination of altitude and snow and ice sticking to the bottom of our skins-

Bootpacking the final bit... threading a pass in the big cornice (15 ft or so)-

Nice view from the top-

Neum agrees-

Surfing the pow-

S tracks... we started up on the ridge to lookers left-

 

[deadheadskier]

I thought you quit skiing?

 

[Marc]

Day 4 was Snowbird. Amazing place, three HUGE bowls. Unfortunately not too many pics. Well, I didn't take many, I think Nate's gf Mary did, but I don't have them as yet. Just a couple of Nate and me skiing.

My form suffering from three full resort days (open to last chair) and a 4000' vert day of touring-

Nate looking no worse for wear-

Day 5 was a rest day, so we could do a big tour on Day 6, which we did. We went up to Park City and poked around a bit-

Wasatch brew pub (makers of Polygamy Porter, among others)-

Driving back from Park City-

The Oquirrh Mountains to the west of SLC valley-

Salt Palace at Great Salt Lake-

Walking out to the waterline of the Great Salt Lake... had to walk about 1/2 mile from shore because it was low-

No comment-

Mary in front of the Oquirrh's with the mountain range just this side of Bonneville in the background-

Next up- Day 6 and the epic bicanyonal traverse!

 

[RootDKJ]

Great TR!

 

[Marc]

Day 6, ~5000' vert, which we did accidentally because we got a little lost initially. The route started in LCC. We climbed up Tanner's Gulch, over the saddle between the Twin Peaks and down into Broad Fork, the favorite spot of the Wasatch Powderbird Guides, as we found out, to our chagrin.

Halfway up Tanner's, you can see LCC road to looker's left of Nate's right arm-

Stopping for food and a rest-

View down Tanner's from the very top, LCC road quite a distance away-

This is the view we saw as we crested the saddle to the northwest, SLC in the background, the awesomeness that is Broad Fork in the foreground-

One of the twin peaks in the background-

Neum eating-

The two bowls in the background are Gad Valley and Peruvian Gulch at Snowbird-

The ridge in the background we attempted to climb to summit Dromedary peak... the snow was all faceted and eroded like sugar under our feet. We abandoned the effort without getting too far...

Action Neum!-

Nate in the chute-

 

[Marc]

Last few from Broad Fork.

Neum getting his-

The chute we skied, the saddle at the top, and evidence of a pretty big slab that let go probably five days before we skied there. This was the reason we went up Mill Creek on Day 3 rather than ski exposures like this. By the time we got to Broad, it had consolidated under sun and high 30's weather, even at close to 12,000'-

Broad Fork... notice all the tracks from the heli skiers. One could ski in here every day for a whole winter and not hit every line in the place. It's simply amazing. Enormous. About 50 times the size of GoS or Tucks-

And then, because we didn't follow the skin track out, we had some nice bushwhacking to get to BCC road, but we did eventually without much incident.

So we completed a bi-canyonal traverse, and found some amazing skiing.

All in all, just a fantastic trip. I can't wait to go back next year, hopefully in better shape.

 

[severine]

Nice pictorial, Marc! Looks like an amazing trip!!! :beer:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

nice TR

 

[dmc]

well played my friend.. well played...

 

[Marc]

well played my friend.. well played...

Thanks d, it's not India, but it was still an adventure. It felt so good to get away from the resorts and into the back country, but I don't know if I really had any bad turns the whole trip. Wait, let me check.. nope I didn't.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Great report , fantastic shots -- awesome natural beauty , nicely done Marc !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!