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Wasatch Backcountry Update – 10 Feb 2014

Wasatch Backcountry Update – 10 Feb 2014

| February 10, 2014 | 2 Comments

Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it. Two weeks ago we had such a rotten base layer that I was facetiously hoping for rain, which seldom happens in the Wasatch, until of course it started to rain at 9,000+ feet in February. This seemed grim, but then the temperatures dropped […]

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Wasatch BC Report, Jan 13 – Wild Weekend

Wasatch BC Report, Jan 13 – Wild Weekend

| January 13, 2014 | 4 Comments

In 24 hours, the Wasatch went from some of the worst skiing of the season, to the best, and then back again. A much needed storm finally rolled in, but was accompanied by warming temps, howling winds and  a touch of rain, which created a zipper crust all over.  Polly described it as “skiing through […]

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Wasatch BC Conditions – 11/23/2013

Wasatch BC Conditions – 11/23/2013

| November 23, 2013 | 3 Comments

Executive Summary: A nice excuse for locals to wander around in the mountains, but hardly worth traveling out-of-state for. Yes, there have been quite a few photos of people bustin’ pow in the Wasatch, but that has more to do with the lens craft of good photographers than reality. It is still very rocky, shallow […]

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Wasatch Backcountry Alliance

| October 1, 2013 | 11 Comments

  I’ve often thought how wonderful it would be to show up at a Forest Service meeting with a big sack of cash.  “Here you go, I brought this for you.  Keep it.”  While this may sound crass and borderline illegal, it is essentially what all of the ski areas and guiding concession do by […]

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Look Who Just Showed Up In Park City

Look Who Just Showed Up In Park City

| September 3, 2013 | 2 Comments

  Ahhhh.  Hate heat.  Summer bummer.  The end is in sight! ________________________________ Help support StraightChuter.com and keep as cool as a dog in a Ruffwear Swamp Cooler Dog Vest from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…  

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Retro Pfieff

Retro Pfieff

| June 4, 2013 | 5 Comments

In the process of organizing my photos, I found this classic 1992ish image of Alex Lowe skiing the NW Couloir of the Pfiefferhorn in the Wasatch Mountains. A lot has changed since then, including Alex no longer being with us.  More than anyone, Alex was the guy who showed me, and many others like me, […]

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Stocks, Rocks and Crocus Shock

Stocks, Rocks and Crocus Shock

| March 14, 2013 | 3 Comments

Seeing the front-page news of stocks hitting a new high only reminded me of the miserable performance of my personal tracking index – the Wasatch Snow Depth Fund (NASDAQ – WDSUX) which is tracking towards a record low. As a measure of intense personal displeasure (IDP), the recent heat wave and lack of new snow […]

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First Ever Public SkiLink Meeting Recap

| March 1, 2013 | 9 Comments

I’m not sure what prompted this meeting, but I was secretly hoping that Mike Goar of the Canyons was going to use it as an occasion to admit he had made a horrible mistake with SkiLink, retract the proposal, and offer everyone a free ski and/or bikini waxing at one of the resort’s empty facilities.  […]

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Last Night Race and a First SkiLink Open Forum Discussion

| February 26, 2013 | 0 Comments

Tonight, Tuesday Feb 26th at 7:00pm, is the last night of the season to get yer suffer on at Brighton as part of the Wasatch Citizen Series ski mountaineering races. These events have been a great source of low pressure fun and even in the worst conditions 40-50 people have been showing up for them. […]

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Little Cottonwood Canyon – Hurry Up & Wait

| February 25, 2013 | 29 Comments

This line of stopped cars heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon road looks, smells and feels like a traffic jam, but there’s far more to it than just that. At the heart of the problem is that the Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC) road is a narrow, winding, steep, two-lane  mountain road which is threatened by 36+ […]

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