major tom couloir

“If you feel safe in the area that you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting”. -David Bowie-

Challenge accepted Mr Bowie.

I moved to the Millcreek area last year, and since then I’ve been staring out the kitchen window into Neffs Canyon. I’ve been up Neffs several times in years past, but not a ton. The low elevation snow has made the access and skiing up there pretty good. After a few great trips down the Whipple in the last few weeks, I started wondering what was along the ridge to the west. Some google earth sleuthing revealed a possible couloir farther down canyon, but the clarity wasn’t great. Best to check it out in person. I went up solo two days ago and broke the trail to take a peak in. Turns out, it’s a very hard chute to scope using satellites in outer space and in person. What was clear was that several mandatory rappels would be included. I didn’t bring a rope! What a dope. So I skied back home in the soft north facing powder.

Yesterday, Ben Peters and I headed back up slightly more prepared for some top down exploration. Not sure I know Ben well enough to understand if that look on his face is saying “Where the fuck are you taking me?” or “Does my afro look good?” Maybe both.

These unique ribs and tight fins protect a full view of the chute from revealing it’s secrets. As best we could tell there were at least two large raps down low and one or two just to get started. If we just skied back out Neffs we’d never know the answer.

Curiosity won. We could see some large stout trees to loop for anchors, but we armed ourselves with branches to use as deadman anchors just in case. A pack full of branches gave us just enough of a false sense of security that we needed to fully commit to launching ourselves at it.

We could have probably climbed back out this upper section, but it would have been really rough. Pretty committed in the direction of gravity and working it out one way or another from here.

I was glad when we found good skiing for a solid section for several hundred feet. Long enough for us to justify bringing skis. Ben is fun to watch. He’s one of the strongest skiers I’ve seen.

Conditions were a mixed bag of softening pow and firm snow that had been flushed by sluffs and slides. Seen far better, skied far worse.

Rap #3 was a short one over two small ice bulges. Could have aired it out (and it probably fills in later in the year), but we placed a deadman. I stood on the buried branch while Ben guinea pigged it switch, to the road.

This is the first time I’ve used anything under 7 mil for rapping. The 5mil cord is an excellent tool for ski mountaineering. It’s small and light enough that you can bring it out even if you’re not sure you’ll need it and not pay much of a weight penalty for your decision. Thanks for the hook up Skimo.co

Happy rappy? When your partner weighs 50lbs less than you, can you really consider it a proper load test?

More and more debris piles the lower we got. Another skiable chunk of skiing in chunks.

Then we came to the large cliff that we had spotted from far above. This monster overhang is hard to imagine ever filling in. There was a great tree far skiers left that we used as an anchor. Ben making sure the rope would touch us down on solid ground.

Me following after. The ropes didn’t quite touch down and we had a fun chance to slide off the ends and drop into soft snow.

Another short section of skiing was followed by……surprise….. a long rappel! Final one though. We weren’t sure if this was good news or bad. Sliding down snow and ropes had been pretty smooth. How bad could south facing, low elevation, dense brush in the Wasatch be?

It doesn’t look like it from the following photo, but the final rap could probably be skirted out skiers right in a big year or later in the season. We decided not to fuss around. We looped a small patch of shrubs and rode friction down the thin green line.

We skirted debris and found great snow in pockets.

We paid for our dance with the devil in lashes, many lashes, but it was well worth it. The brush was thick and nasty, but the snow stayed soft and deep enough underfoot. We kept moving fast to get it over with with. Ben didn’t seem to mind, but he is from the East coast where I believe this is considered an open powder bowl.

Sometimes the skiing is so bad that it’s good, or comical at least. Sometimes Ben’s jokes are so bad they are good. What do you call a skier who quit skiing in stream beds? An extreme skier.

I’d always wondered what was behind that iron gate just off the north side of the road in BCC. What you usually find I guess, large houses and pools.

Almost had to end the day with one final rap, but we decided to just send it!

In celebration of life and exploring new spaces we felt like a small tribute to the late great Bowie would be fitting. And so we’re calling this line that included plenty of time dangling off ropes, “floating in a most peculiar way”, Major Tom Couloir.

All in all we used the rope 5 times. However, I could see this line going with only one rap in a good year, or later in the season. I wouldn’t call this a classic, but it’s pretty damn cool to be able to find a 2000ft adventure line within a two hour hike from home!

Could you end an “EPIC” day any better than getting picked up by the local Epic Beer rep and sharing beverages as he drove us all the way to our cars at Neff’s Trailhead?!

What a fucking winter it’s been and more snow on the way!