If you keep your expectations low and look in the right places, the Wasatch backcountry has some pretty good skiing. The trick to finding it is to look in what is usually the most avalanche prone areas around – high, north-facing and wind loaded. Narrow chutes seem to have held on to almost all of their snow so far, as evidenced by the Alta Ski Resort opening Main Baldy Chute yesterday while much of the rest of the area is rocks.
- Skinning skills…. or hospital bills. Dylan Freed and Courtney Phillips tip-toeing up a steep chute filled with rocks, ice and crusty snow.
- Even some of the open, exposed slopes were good, if you could find a high one with minimal talus underneath.
- Dylan Freed at speed. Smoke’m if you got’em.
- DJ Freed slicing and dicing in a Wasatch chute.
Dylan was skeptical when I called him the night before with glowing reports of knee deep powder, but came along for the exercise. After the run above, Dylan even let on that it “Wasn’t too bad.” which is a pretty high compliment coming from the Wasatch’s toughest customer. :)
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Knee Deep Powder!?! Ya’ll are spoiled with all that early season pow! Out here in California is either dry, or warm and wet … but it’s just now starting to get cold enough for the snow to stick. Anyway, there’s a great resource for anyone looking for snow-conditions in Utah: OnTheSnow.com. Here’s the link to the Utah page: http://www.onthesnow.com/utah/skireport.html
I would skip Whistler and head to Rogers Pass, tragic vs. epic