I guess it’s fine to spam your own site isn’t it? When it’s 40% off at BC.com then I say hell yes! A portion of the proceeds do return to yours truly so I can continue skiing and reporting. Happy shopping and thanks for helping a brother out.
Monthly Archive for June, 2008
Our goal at Powderwhore Productions is to capture the backcountry experience and bring it back down to the valley for your viewing pleasure. With our slim budget we try to mix up the angles and get creative, but nothing fancy like cable cams or dollies. I had seen very little new and innovative ways of shooting in the mountains until I saw what Derek Wiess at Piton Productions was doing. I haven’t had this much fun behind the lens in a long time.
Wolverine Cirque Skiing from piton productions on Vimeo.
The Grunge Couloir (NE Couloir of Mount Timpanogos)
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle Sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. The word grunge is believed to be a back-formation from the US slang adjective grungy, which originated in about 1965 as a slang term for “dirty” or “filthy”. (Thanks for the above reference from my favorite site on the web, www.wikipedia.com)
Let’s get filthy!
Last Friday I headed an hour south for what might be one of the last ski outings of the season.
I parked at the Timpanooke campground (5:45ish) and took the trail that works through the trees and towards the ascent ridge.
The trail levels off and heads north. I broke off for the ridge here and encountered some road blocks.
It’s always worth the early rise to see how the great big ball of sky fire will present itself.
It’s true the Wasatch is too overcrowded. You can’t go anywhere without running into somebody these days.
First peek into the chute.
Full view of the Grunge. I ditched some gear at this point seeing that I could get into the chute cleanly from the ridge.
Things became spicy at this point! The huge rock butress was waking up with the sun and washing the sleepy (skull crushing rocks) from it’s face. I had been at this exact spot last spring and turned back due to rock fall. Realizing this hazard is just par for the course I decided to carefully proceed.
Utilizing my mad dodgeball skillz I kept thinking to myself “If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a rock” (really stupid now that I think about it from the safety of home). It was easy to run side to side out on the apron and avoid trouble. Yes, I had a helmet. (See I’m still being safe mom) Joking aside, this is a true hazard on this route and you should get an early start.
The chute was a beautiful place to be. It felt more like something from the Tetons.
Still plenty of singing missles in the chute, but I stuck close to the rock walls and used them as a shield.
A recent comment suggested I use too many pics. For Marit, here is the 250th photo of this chute.
Finally topping out (8:30ish) with a full view of Happy Valley.
Skiing has developed a rating system similar to the climbing world. The Grunge is rated S6, which is quoted as “Slopes continuously steeper than 55 degrees. Painful death from falling is highly likely”. Pretty simple then, don’t fall. I know I have some commitment issues, but it took me a few minutes to sack-up and drop into this one.
The traverse from ridge into the fall line gut was steep and exposed, but the snow was perfect corn.
Chips Ahoy! The rest of the turns were on firm, but edgeable snow packed with chocolate chip rocks.
The apron was moneyballs!
Bushwacking back down the ridge.
Found the trail again and followed it back to the truck.
Kissing farewell to the the best season of my life! I love a climactic finish!
I’m going to borrow my dad’s favorite line that he uses about his profession/obsession “If I knew of something more fun, I would do it”.
An interactive choose your own adventure trip to Kings Peak.
It’s a beautiful Sunday (day of rest) late in the spring do you-
A) Sleep in, eat a huge plate of flap jacks, attend the proper church meetings (assuring your entry into at least one of the top 2 kingdoms of heaven), play a round of golf and let your sprained ankle heal up.
B) Sleep in, eat a huge plate of flap jacks, borrow some archaic ski gear from a friend and go for a 30mile roundtrip ski to Kings Peak (heaven).
The correct answer is (B), proceed to Evanston.
You arrive in Evanston, WY and have the following options-
A) Fuel up with gas, beef jerky, water and head to the trailhead.
B) Spend the day betting on the ponies, drink “real” beer, browse some of the finest porn shops around.
That’s right it’s (A) again, continue 50 miles to the Uintah Mountains.
It’s 12:30pm at the trailhead and with 30 miles and 4k feet of vert ahead, you decide to-
A) Pack light with the idea of summiting and returning that day.
B) Plan on spending the night because who wants to do 30 miles in a day.
Switching it up with (B) as the answer. Throw that 30lb pack on your back and start hoofing it.
You encounter nice and dry trail for the first 4 miles.
2 foot deep “speed bumps” of snow soon impeed travel. What do you do?
A) Turn around because there is still plenty of time for beer, ponies and porn in Evanston.
B) Suck it up
That’s right you throw some duct tape around your boots and pant cuffs and trudge through it.
Breaking out of the trees for a moment you get your first glimpse of the summit. It appears-
A) Really far away
B) Really really far away
C) Where is it?
The answer is keep moving, it won’t get closer sitting there snapping photo’s.
You encounter a mixed bag of “skiing” conditions including-
A) Stream crossings
B) Mudd
C) Grass
D) Snow
E) All of the above
All of the above it is. (Thanks for the skis Guy, sorry you had to see how they were treated)
With the summit in sight (the large point on the right) do you-
A) Take the standard route through gunsight pass (tucks in lookers left and wraps around).
B) Take the direct route via the large chute (the gun barrell).
With hopes of cutting some mileage out of this slog you go with (B).
More decisions to be made. After 10 miles or so, it’s getting later in the day and you are wearing down. You make the call to-
A) Set up camp at the base of the chute and wait for an early morning climb to the summit
B) Ditch the overnight gear and go for the summit fast and light.
C) Continue on with all the gear and spend the night on the summit.
You melt some water and feel this one out.
With plenty of daylight you decide to ditch unnecessary gear and gun for the peak and back before dark.
One of the backcountry skiers great dilemma’s (next only to choosing between a Subaru or Toyota) is-
A) Boot up the chute
B) Skin up the chute (these skis were fish scale)
Final answer is (A).
You have worked hard to get to this point. Sit back and enjoy the view down Henry’s Fork from the top of the chute.
Alright get up and get moving this peak won’t climb itself. At this point in time-
A) You are feeling the altitude (since you haven’t skied in weeks).
B) The boots you borrowed are giving you blisters.
C) The ridge is twice as long as it looks.
D) All of the above, but you could care less because you are all alone in one of the most beautiful settings on earth with no signs of coming down from this rocky mtn high.
Obviously (D).
On the ridge climb to the top you use the following for motivation-
A) Singing your favorite Marilyn Manson tunes.
B) Speaking in the broken French you barely remember from your LDS mission.
C) Wondering if it might be fun to blog about this trip as a “Choose your own adventure” story
D) All of the above.
Again with all of the above.
The summit is nice and calm, clear and anti-climactic. Great views! Looking East.
North into Henry’s Fork.
And the endless view to the West.
Having left the trailhead at 12:30pm it is now what time at the summit.
A) 6pm
B) 7pm
C) 8pm
D) Time for a snack
B and D.
Gratuitous summit pic of your host.
Looks like the USGS has gone “green” with this new style of summit marker?
From the top the only choice is down. The best snow looks to be the East face which holds powder laced with stones.
Skiing down you-
A) Feel like it’s your first time ever on skis and barely manage to stay on your feet linking 3 turns.
It’s (A) and only (A), nothing resembling controlled skiing took place.
Looking closely you can make out the survival traverses used to descend the chute.
Back to the game of A, B and C. You find yourself back at the gear cache at 8pm. The plan was to bring a light summer bag and sleep with hot water bottles. Discovering you are low on fuel you-
A) Watch the sun setting and decide to camp here for the night anyway and ski out in the morning.
B) Watch the sun setting and realize the lower you go the warmer you’ll sleep and less you’ll have to travel in the morning.
C) Wonder how long it would take you to return all the way to the truck.
(B) with a little bit of (C) wins out. You pack up the gear and it’s off again.
You do your best Nordic Track impression on the flats and cover a lot of ground quickly.
With the sun getting lower you-
A) Freak out a little with the sight of recent cougar tracks and keep moving.
B) Make camp for the night.
C) Wonder how long it would take to return all the way to the truck.
Heavy on the (A) with sprinkles of (C) you keep moving swiftly blowing your whistle and banging your poles together to “scare” away lions and tigers and bears.
Congratulations you have made good choices that led to your safe return to the trailhead.
An 11 hour journey comes to an end.
Get some rest and we’ll see you next time.
A few weeks ago Darrell and I headed out to ski some chutes in Hogum Fork, up LCC. Our plan was to start later in the day, ski the Snapdragon, camp overnight, ski the Sliver in the morning and then ski out Hogum. It was a good melt/freeze cycle and we found some great corn on some interesting Wasatch lines. Warning this is a really long post with lots of pics and partial nudity.
Crossing the bridge at White Pine.
The Snapdragon was our first objective. We made fair time into the upper cirque. This really is one of the most amazing spots in the wasatch. I think the reason is that it doesn’t feel like you are in Utah, more of a Euro feel.
We booted up to the ridge via the open snow slope lookers left of the chute.
I was baking as we traversed the ridge.
Looking in from the top. Gulp!
Darrell prepares for the rappel. We brought some deadman anchors, but digging around we found a great big rock that would take a sling.
Double gulp!
For some reason rappelling isn’t like skiing, I’m happy not going first.
Safe and sound.
OK, my turn.
This is the first year in my skiing that I’ve done tons of rappelling and I’m really starting to enjoy it.
Not many folks go this far out of the way for a short ski, this is Darrell’s second time down the Snapdragon.
Skiing was fine, a little on the soft side.
Mad steep skiing skills displayed by Mr. Finlayson.
DF with Thunder Ridge in the background.
Just happy to be here, as long as I don’t get stabbed with these pointy handled poles.
I know, I know, this is a long trip report. Now might be a good time to take a break, grab a snack or something. That’s what we did. We set up camp amoung a rare group of pines. Darrell is a firm believer that water does melt faster when you watch it.
Here I’m taking mental inventory of my pack to see if I brought toilet paper.
The joy of spring touring. Trench foot was narrowly avoided.
Well rested and with dry feet, we woke up early and skied down to start up the Sliver.
This is looking down the Sliver. Darrell is catching up because he had to make some “dirty snow”. Always seems to happen when there is a long booter or skin track to put in.
You may recognize this as the “rock-on” symbol, which is most commonly associated with the music scene. It means the same thing in skiing.
This was my favorite pic from the outing. That’s the NW couloir of the Pfieferhorn in the background with Darrell popping out of the Sliver.
Standing on top, I almost felt like making some dirty snow myself.
Age before beauty. Darrell does his best Mark Holbrook impression.
Yes, this is on purpose. I thought I would throw a sick spread eagle in between my turns. I must say i nailed it. Next time I’ll get a grab in.
A bit more controlled.
The apron was high quality corn skiing. In fact the ski out to the creek was one of the best I’ve had.
High water made it tricky to find a crossing, but we cut down this log with our whippets and tight walked our way across. Don’t believe everything you read.
Hitchhiker myth #34- Showing some skin will increase your chances of getting a ride back up canyon to get your car.
It may have taken you as long to read/browse through this as it did for us to accomplish it? Congrats to us all.