Between ten days of skiing and then having the Outdoor Retailer show come into Salt Lake City, it has been a good reminder of how fortunate I’ve been to have so many excellent skiing friends. I’ll occasionally go skiing solo, but it is people and friendships that really animate the mountains for me. Below, I’ve attached a few photos from friends who partook in the 10 in 10 descents.
AM sinking into the upper Needle. photo: noah howell
Strategy
North facing lines are a bit of a double-edged sword, which is why I decided to ski them all first. They preserve powder longer than other aspects, but can also have lingering avalanche danger. They can go from being “in” to dangerous with just a small storm, then remain that way for 4-5 days (or longer), so my philosophy is to ski them when you can, then leave them alone when they are sketchy. South facing is just the opposite, where the slopes don’t preserve powder for very long, but they tend to stabilize quicker. With any luck, south facing slopes will cook down within a few days, so even if you miss the 24 hour powder period, after that it doesn’t matter as much whether you are a day late or five days late as you’ll be skiing firm snow either way. East and west facing slopes (known as “the off-aspects”) are somewhere in between and can be a crap shoot. The Needle is east facing, but because it is in such a deep cleft, it stayed soft.
AM sliding into the lower entrance to the Pfieff. photo: jared inouye
The lines and the approximate vertical to climb/ski them:
The Y-Couloir – 3,200′, north, 2-4 hours RT
Argenta – 3,250, north, 2-4 hours RT
Stairs Gulch – 5,000′, north, 3-5 hours RT
NW Couloir of the Pfiefferhorn - 4,750′, NW, 4-6 hours RT
Coalpit – 5,000′, north, 3-5 hours RT
NE Couloir of Lone Peak - 7,750′, north, 6-8 hours RT
The Hypodermic Needle - 4,990′ east, 4-6 hours RT
Lisa Falls - 5,000′, south, 5-7 hours RT
Little Pine – 3,300′, south, 2-4 hours RT
South Face of Superior - 3,000′, south, 2-3 hours RT
Total Vert = 45,240′
As a few partners pointed out, it would have been far easier to lump a bunch of these together (Pfieff, Needle & Coalpit can all be done in a day), but that would be beside the point of a Top 10 in 10 project. The name “The Chuting Gallery” originally came from a day tour that connected the NW Couloir of the Pfieff, then The Hypodermic Needle with a finish out the Y-Not just for good measure.
Chain gang of big booter luv in the Y-Couloir. photo: courtney phillips
Picking the Lines
I had picked out about seven definite “classic” lines and had a list of five or so others, but after skiing the first whack of them I decided to keep the top ten list to the central Wasatch. Areas like Timpanogos, Nebo, Box Elder or the Wellsville range are not only slightly removed, but are also so big that you could almost pack in ten classics in each of them alone. Of these areas, the big classics would include Cold Fusion on Timp, Box Elder and the NW (?) Couloir on Nebo. Other considerations might be some lines in Wolverine Cirque (steep, but short), Heart of Darkness (great visuals, so-so skiing), Tanners (big, but undulating) and a few others. In the right conditions, its hard to go wrong.
A helpful prescription from a friend who was along for one of the rougher descents.
As a side-note, with the twenty-plus inches of new snow Utah received in the last two days and with more on the way, I wouldn’t ski any of these lines right now and it is back to low-angle trees, or Geh Flat Powder as Dylan says.
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Wasatch BC Skiing Park & Rides
With Salt Lake City being so close and the access to the Tri-Canyons being so limited, most Wasatch backcountry skiers end up carpooling for all or part of their trip up to the trailheads. There are seven or so Park & Rides to chose from and the choice of where to meet can sometimes be more difficult than where to ski. If I hadn’t wasted so much time thinking about all of the various Park & Ride permutations, I could have been a Cardiologist.
A big factor for me is that I HATE getting my car broken into, so I avoid LCC and BCC as much as possible as they are plagued by vermin who will smash your window for the pennies in your change drawer. Cowboy Partners is nice, but you are out of luck for food, shopping or poo’ing. I like the Swamp Lot, but you have to double back to get to BCC. The 7-11 Mud Lot is central and has easy access to beer, but don’t drop your glove there.
There are so many factors that it boggles a single-celled ski mountaineering brain. Technically the Big Cottonwood Park & Ride is the best and the quaint little 3800 lot is the worst, but it all depends on where you are going.
I go for 3900th whenever possible (easy freeway access, longest carpool, nearby shopping and getting cuter by the minute) with the Swamp Lot being a close second (surrounded by houses and roads, so less theft, and central for many Sandy partners).
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