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In case you have been skiing too much to keep up on your internetting, you better check out the following. Andrew McLean just finished up a 10 day odyssey up and down the ‘Classic’ lines of the Wasatch. See the full story here at www.straightchuter.com.

 

I was lucky enough to tag along on two of the lines and snapped some pics of the man of steel will.

#7 The Hypodermic Needle

Here is Andrew topping out of the ‘Y’ Couloir.

I’ve been a huge admirer of Andrew and what he has done in the mountains for a long time. However, we haven’t skied together much due to the fact that I’m too slow and Andrew hates Telemark skiers. Luckily Andrew was tired enough by day 7 that I was able to at least maintain visual contact on the ascent.

AM conducting some business at the top of the ‘Hypo’.

This really is an amazing line for steep narrow skiing. It gets better later in the year and becomes wider with less rocks to step through.

The man is a ginsu knife on skis, he slices and dices with accuracy.

 

#8 Lisa Falls

We booted up Tanners at sunrise.

Dropping down the saddle into upper Broads Fork we got a good view of the Dromedary Traverse (in green), another one of Andrew’s first descents in the Wasatch. In fact, I don’t think it’s been repeated and you can see why. 

The ridge walk to the top of Twin Peaks is one of my favorite spots in the Wasatch.

Added bonus is you get to scramble some fun rock ledges.

Pretty nice views towards Lone Peak.

This pic captures the somewhat dizzying 5,000ft of vertical that drops to the Little Cottonwood Canyon road.

The choke was tight and full of debris.

There was some fine corn to be had.

The snow ran thin in spots requiring some portaging. Look closely you can see Andrew’s dart throwing skills. 

Lisa Falls does indeed have a waterfall which requires some rope work to descend. Andrew is so accustomed to rappelling ski lines he now does it with his eyes closed to make it more of a challenge. 

It was fun to get out with Andrew and his crew for a couple of big lines. Congrats on the Classic 10 in 10 it’s a pretty amazing feat! Looking forward to see what Andrew comes up with next.

 

 

Yesterday was one of those unforgettable days where conditions exceed expectations in every way. I had tried to ski Little Pine many years ago and a friend and I were turned away a few hundred feet from the ridge. Yesterday Jonah, Andy J and I plowed our way to the top and skied it in primo conditions.

High res HERE.

Watch on youtube here HERE.

We’ve been skiing our fill of mellow angle pow so far this season. This is a shot from last Saturday up near Alta. The Wasatch mountains take a fair amount of snow to coat them from all the sharp pointy rocks and season ending stumps. It’s good to take it easy early in the season and work up to big lines, chutes and drops. 

This is where the 80 inch rule comes in. I believe it was Andy Jacobsen or Andy Rosenberg who introduced me to one of the most important rules in skiing. The 80″ base rule (we use the Alta ski area snow totals) is quite simple. Take it easy until there is an 80 inch base then let the badger out of the cage. This pertains most importantly to hucking big cliffs. I have seen many break the rule and end up broken. Anything before 80″ is just pre-season training time to get in shape. This is time to dial in the gear, make plans for the season and be patient. Not always easy to do, especially in a winter that starts slowly such as this. 

I even tagged a rock on this little sunset shot.

Alta’s base at the time of this post=79″. And it’s still snowing. Bring on winter!