This is a Wolverine:
This is a Cirque: a deep steep-walled basin on a mountain usually forming the blunt end of a valley.
This is Wolverine Cirque:
If you’re not familiar with Wolverine Cirque, well actually I don’t believe that’s a possibility. If you’ve seen a ski film or read a ski mag then you’ve seen it, you just might not know it.This is the most filmed, photographed and skied little piece of side country in the Wasatch Mountains. It’s a beautiful playground of short, but steep terrain that sees huge amounts of snowfall and skiers due to it’s quick access from both Brighton and Alta.
A few years ago I got a last minute invitation to join in on an expedition to Alaska for an attempt to climb and ski Denali. In need of some steep ski practice and aerobic conditioning, the Wolverine Project seemed like a good training day. The idea was to climb and ski all 16 chutes. There are more than 16 lines and numerous variations, but I based the project off the 16 named chutes from“The Chuting Gallery”.
Parking in upper Little Cottonwood Canyon, I started climbing at 6:45am. The plan was to start on Patsy Marley at the northwest end and work counterclockwise. I started with “The Huge Chute” at 8:00am. Conditions were a skiff on stiff, not that fun, but it held an edge. The boot pack was already set up “Granny’s”, so I used that as the stairway for the first 10 shots. Next up was “Tips and Tails” which didn’t live up to its name, it was very filled in with plenty of room for turning.I passed on “Bombay” chute due toa 10ft overhanging cornice. In it’s place, I skied the ?? chute, which doesn’t appear to have a name in “The Chuting Gallery”. Most of these East facing chutes had some avalanche debris of sorts, the chatter chunks kept me on my toes. “Granny’s” starts to wrap to a Northerly aspect and the skiing improved. Cloud cover kept the temps of the myself and the snow cool. I descended “Graceland” next, which was the best snow of the day, the ribs and ridges allowed me to avoid debris. The steepest line named “Roman’s” was next, it had a super steep entry and it made me wish I brought my whippets. The edges held and the spiciest dish was out of the way. That was #6 for the day, which I finished up at 9:30. “Zoot Chute” is another northern slope that had a sporty entry with exposure and good turns once in the gut. The halfway point came with #8 “Bronco Couloir”.
All the remaining chutes were virgin territory for myself. I knocked off “Big Bang and Pressure Drop” in terrible frozen debris. For quicker access to the remaining east facing chutes, I traversed across and put in a new boot pack up “Slipstream”. The top of Mount Wolverine marks the entry for “The Scythe”, one of the longer and better lines of the outing. However, I bonked hard on the way down and for the first time of the day I had doubts that I would finish all that I had piled on the plate. As I made my way down #12 “Scratch and Sniff” the sun finally broke through and helped soften the turning conditions. Another 514 steps (yes i counted, several times, it’s a bad habit of mine when I’m tired) put me on top of “Slipstream”, which I skied directly down and refueled from the cash I had left earlier in the day. A second wind luckily blew through and I busted out the last three chutes “Ragtime”, “Newt Chute”, and “Sushi Chute” in an hour, all of them had soft turning snow with some rollerballs. Traversing back around it was fun to look at all that had been skied during the 6-hour project and I felt like I knew the cirque much more intimately. I rested briefly and booted up “Granny’s” one last time in hopes of getting the west side of Patsy Marley in OK snow . I am certain that I didn’t have my skins on, but it sure felt like it as I skied down in the sticky and grabby snow, just what my quads wanted. Sitting down at the car felt really really good. Another wonderful day in the Wastach Mountains, check.
Stats-
7 Hours 56 Minutes
8,890ft up
8,890ft down
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