11 of 12. Last week went up to Alta after work to see about getting turns in Gunsight for August. Rich and I found some snow, but it was more fun to be done than it was to be making turns dodging all the stone-fall that had collected in the snow. I’d still recommend it, but it honestly wasn’t the best snow I’ve ever skied.
Nice bonus, leaving the truck at 7:15pm and getting back without needing to use the headlamp. Getting turns in September is going require a good bit of hiking I think.
You can’t just point a camera at a scene and expect to get a good picture simply because you have an excellent lens and a sensor with tens of millions of pixels.
Instead of cragging in Lumpy Ridge on Sunday Sam, Jon and I decided to give the Culp-Bossier on Hallet’s peak a go. We hiked in with Polly and Nelson who had already made plans to climb it. At the base of the route Polly wasn’t feeling so great (altitude?) and so she roped in with Jon and I. We got a bit off route and by the time we had sorted that out and rappelled back on-route Sam and Nelson had caught up to us, however it was also 10:15am and I had a flight to catch out of Denver that evening. At that point it was either bail or commit to the 6 pitches left to climb, 700 to 800 feet to descend, the hike out and be leaving Estes Park by 5… probably wasn’t in the cards. So, Sam and I rappelled and bailed. Polly, Jon and Nelson finished the route, and got back to the car around 8pm (which wouldn’t have worked out in my favor…). I’m bummed we didn’t get to finish the route, but it’ll be there to try again and it was worth it to try beat the uncertainty.
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From Saturday in Lumpy Ridge:
Its been several years since I’ve made it out to the Uintas to ski, and Sunday I got to ski below the notch between Bald Mountain and Reids Peak with Rich and Renee.
This stuff was almost mandatory, the mosquitos are out in force
Looking back at the little bit of bushwacking, next up, boulder-hoping… then booting, then skiing
Almost to the end of the snow
Rich dropping in
back for more!
Tele-slush-turns. Photo by Rich
We then booted up a different slop for a few more turns:
Still have two months to try and find snow to link up things up for turns-all-year. Given how thin things were in the Uintas, September could be hard.
[update]: All the rest of the photos can be found on Flickr
Saturday’s adventures: fun simul-climb up the West Slabs of Mount Olympus above Salt Lake, involved some downclimbing but without (much) bushwacking.
The approach gulley, thankfully mostly devoid of snow
Self portrait, halfway up the face.
Brian from the top of the west ridge.
The climb up is definitely easier than the downclimbing back into the gulley, next time I might wait till later in the season when its not as warm…
Uintas sunrise on Flickr.
The route tick-list for August begins…
Film for the Weekend on Flickr.
Wanted to ski last weekend, but it didn’t work out. So this morning I headed up to Alta, and booted up to the Wildcat lift to ski back down. Definitely some good turns at the top, but the dirt covered sun cups that were down in the trees where less than amazing.
Self portrait
Better viewed large (click the image)
Only August and September to go (will probably involve a good deal of hiking with skis on my back…)
via Chamonix pente raide - Freeski TV S4E03
A Chamonix, le ski de pente raide c’est une affaire de famille : alors que les pionniers ont entamé l’aventure il y a 40 ans, leurs enfants prennent la relève…
{In Chamonix, the steep skiing is a family affair when the pioneers began the adventure 40 years ago, their children take over …}
“do I really need all that for my style of backcountry skiing? The way I formulate the question for myself before each trip is, if I go on 100 such trips, and need the item only the 100th trip, will I be grateful enough to have that item on the 100th trip such that I won’t have minded schlepping it along on the other 99 trips?”
Spent the weekend in Boulder to climb with Sam (and Mark & Katie for one morning). Good to get out and climb a lot and to hang out with a good friend.
Started in Eldorado Canyon on Friday: The Rincon Wall has some really interesting routes, bring the small gear!
After Eldo, we simul-climbed the First Flatiron. Spectacular views.
Highly recommend the Handbook on the Bookend at Lumpy Ridge.
I had wanted to get in a ski tour/ski mountaineering route in as well, but we didn’t make it the rental shop in time (my fault…). So we went back for another day in Eldo instead, which was also fun, and I can’t complain.
Visor, or no?
Good time glissading back down.
Still plenty of snow.
Alexander’s Basin
The garden is growing. Good salads and fresh herbs to follow.
“In life, the first challenge is to survive. The second is to do so in a way that allows us to live better.”
Taking off! on Flickr.
Polly diving in!
Rain in the city? Go practice self arrest.