Heart of Darkness 3/10

Trying to get a bit more steep skiing in before the storm, Joe Brett and I headed out Monday morning to ski the 'Heart of Darkness'. This line lies near the summit of Monte Cristo, along it's North Ridge.

Heart of Darkness

We started out early at the Chapel parking lot. There was a solid booter all the way from Cardiff Pass to the summit of Superior, so it only took a little more than two hours to get there. We continued along the ridge towards Monte Cristo and threw on the skis at a false-peak close to the summit. From here we made a few turns down the ridge and towards a large V shaped opening in the rock. This is very visible from the summit of Superior, and we were able to scope out our entrance. 

Gaining Cardiff Pass

The entrance to 'Heart of Darkness', with 'Rampage' directly behind it

The 30 foot rappel into the couloir went well. I went first and dodged a few rocks as Joe and Brett followed. Once I threw my skis on, it was necessary to side slip/step through the short section that was only just barely the size of my skis. It soon widened out a little bit and it was possible to make a few hop turns, being cautious to not clip my tips or tails as I went down. Towards the bottom of the chute, it widened out to an appropriate size for one to make actual turns through the end of it, and then into the apron. As we all finished our ski descents, another skier was just topping out on 'Rampage', a angled snowfield that can be skied. It looked like a blast!

Psyched for the rap!

Inside the Heart of Darkness

Getting in some hop turns

Brett making his way through the chute

Being fortunate enough to bump into a friend on the summit of superior, they agreed to help us out with a shuttle and took our car to the BCC park n ride in order to get back for work on time. Thanks big time! Therefore, we enjoyed a good distance of skiing all the way down Mill B, only having to take off the skis for a few sections. A quick hitchhike out of Big and we were back to the car. Another great morning getting on some steep terrain!

GH

Wyatt Couloir / Cardiac Ridge Chutes 3/9

Stable conditions, great snow, beautiful days: time to get after it. Just looking for a partner! After several tries I managed to get connected with a friend of a friend, Joe Lohr, who was psyched to get up early and get in some steep skiing. As I rolled up to his house early that next morning we introduced ourselves and told stories of skiing while we headed up the canyon. We were the first people headed up Cardiff and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the start of Superior east ridge.

From here we got a good look over at Cardiac Ridge and decided to go check out Wyatt Couloir for our first run. Wyatt Couloir is a thin steep couloir about 100 or 200 feet lookers right of Lightning Bolt Couloir. Lightning Bolt would have been fun if it hadn't have slid a few days prior, making the second bend covered in rocks. Next time though! According to Chuting Gallery Wyatt is one of the harder rated lines in the Wasatch. While I'm not too fond of the ski rating system, higher rating means steep and narrow, and steep and narrow means fun! I'll take his word for it and check it out.
Feeling a bit sluggish this morning, Joe broke trail for most of the bootpack up the couloir. For the entire second half I had to wait behind a rockband as large ice chunks, snowballs, and the occasional rock plummetted through the choke. Once Joe was almost to the top, he was stopped by some rotten snow and rocks. I moved up towards him, took a look at what was blocking us from the true top of the line and figured it wasn't worth it for 20 feet of side stepping on ice and rock. We transitioned here and got ready to drop.

Cardiac Ridge: Wyatt couloir is the very thin couloir towards the right. Our second line is the zig-zagging couloir between Wyatt and Lightning Bolt

Joe making his way through the apron to Wyatt

Waiting to climb up

Up I go

I was pretty curious to see how Joe would piece this line together. He is a snowboarder and I was interested to see what hop turns down a steep and narrow line would look like. Instead of this, I watched as he stepped up and pointed the way straight through the couloir into the apron, only turning very slightly at a few of the more open spots. Inspired by this, I followed, throwing in two hop turns to warm the legs up, and then straight lined the couloir out to the apron. Carrying a ton of speed into the apron, I threw in some huge turns in soft snow to control my speed. With the adrenaline pumping and stoked on our line, I skied up to Joe and exchanged high-fives.

The wind and cloud cover had prevented from warming up the snow as much as we expected. It was still soft and light. Therefore, we judged we were fine to head up for run number two. This time, we booted up a line just to the lookers left of Thunderstruck Couloir, intending on skiing Thunderstruck. However, at the top we scouted out another line between Wyatt and Lightning Bolt that looked like a ton of fun. It zig-zags from left to right to left, opposite of Lightning Bolt. I dropped first and went off the initial 5 foot cliff section blocking the upper headwall with the rest of the couloir. Carrying speed into the first turn I hit a patch of ice that sent me sideways. Luckily, I could see this coming and rolled back to my feet without any harm being done. Phew. I continued threw my controlling my sluff as best as I could. Despite the fall, the line was still a blast and got the heart pumping once again. I watched as Joe sent it down the line, slowing down where I fell after watching what happened to me. We once again exchanged high-fives before throwing the skins back on.

Our second line of the day. Awesomeness!

Joe riding out after slaying the couloir

Making our way back up to Superior

Since the snow was still not too warm on the north facing slopes, we decided to head up to Superior via the north chutes. Once again, Joe broke trail and headed up. I followed, dragging behind a little bit, tired from previous week of skiing. We made it to the summit in about an hour and took a look down the South Face. Joe had never skied it before so we thought it would be a good option for our exit. Since it was late in the day, we played it cautiously, keeping eyes uphill to make sure there was no wet activity above us. We enjoyed the 3000 feet of spring skiing back to the road. A quick hitchhike, drive to the Valley, and Chipotle burrito later and we were back in Salt Lake.

GH

"The Dome" to Homicide Chute 3/8

Around 8 on Friday night I heard from a few friends that they were planning on going up Superior. Still unsure of what I wanted to do the next morning, I thought heading in that direction would be a good start. Jon, Ren, Matt, and I took off early, around 4 a.m, because of a few late morning commitments that several of us had. As we made topped out on Cardiff Pass, we could see a long train of headlamps trailing us. Busy day on the Mt. Superior highway.

Jon and Ren making their way up the ridge

Matt climbing the ridge after another gorgeous Wasatch sunrise

We battled through some strong winds and made our way to the summit in about 3 hours. Having to make the booter slowed us down quite a bit but we were in no rush. The whole way up I was eyeing a peak along the upper section of the south ridge called 'The Dome'. I had seen several very cool pictures and videos of strong skiers charging through this line and knew it was a classic goal for Alta freeskiers. After enjoying a bagel and coke on the summit, we got ready to drop. I committed to skiing the dome and started off a bit earlier to get into position. My friend Jon, a really good photographer (check out his stuff at http://www.jonathonchandler.com/) got in position for a picture of this as I made my way through some rocks and steep snow to get on top of the dome. As I dropped I picked up speed quickly down the steep line. With each turn, my upper body would go into the sides of the wall. A hell of a lot of fun!

Photo: Jonathon Chandler

 Howling to the bottom of my line I stopped to watch the others drop. All three of them enjoyed great snow through the upper section and made their way through a system of chutes and gullies. Other than one ski that took a small trip down part of the south face, everything went smoothly. The snow was soft enough to go big on several cliffs all throughout the run.

Jon Chandler

Ren Walkenhorst

Matt Kestle

A little more than halfway down the face I said bye to those guys and traversed right, into Suicide Chute. It was a quick boot pack up the upper section of the chute to gain the top of it. From here my intentions were to drop into Homicide Chute, which goes southwest off of the backside of Suicide. I had never skied it before but heard good things and wanted to check it out. It was also untracked and the snow looked great. It started off as a bowl with trees spread out across it, then moved into a chute that hugged the large walls of Monte Cristo to skiers right. A few chokes after bending towards the road and I was dished out into a gully that led me back. A great alternative to Suicide chute that has similar skiing but much less crowds.

Plenty of snow here!

After being dished out into the gully

I met my friend Matt on the side of the road, who had just barely picked up the car and gotten to me as I made my way out. We were back in the Valley by 10, perfect time to get a quick bite to eat before heading to work (taking students xc skiing up at Brighton). Great way to start off the day!

GH

Holy Guacamole!? 3/6

The Route!! (Holy Guacamole)

Ever since stumbling upon the abundant and awesome backcountry skiing resources in the Wasatch (Chuting Gallery, Wasatchbackountryskiing, blogs, Backcountry Skiing Utah, etc.), I've spent the last few years pointing to dozens and dozens of lines identifying them by their named run and all sorts of information I've learned about them. They are everywhere throughout the Wasatch, no matter what canyon or peak you come across, local badasses ski these lines on a regular occasion. This includes many lines that don't even look like a ski descent in the first place. While this constantly has me looking at all these named descents, it also has me looking at worthy lines that aren't named or 'established'.

That has me looking at a few different lines throughout the Wasatch, keeping my eyes out for when they become amply filled in and stable enough. Not knowing about the line also adds a sense of mystery and adventure to the line.

This leads me to the other day when I took a morning lap down Holy Toledo before work. As I made my way back up Pole Line pass I had my eyes set on the backside of Toledo Peak, between Holy Mole and the west ridge of Toledo. Other than one line involving a rappel (Holy Poblano), I didn't know of any established lines down this face.

I saw three possibilities, two of which interested me. The line furthest lookers right was mostly just traversing underneath the ridge and exiting a small choke, nothing too exciting. A bit left of this was another potential exit which looked like a few quick turns, or scrambling, through a tree covered section would get you through. However, the next line to the left looked the best. It followed a winding gully all the way through the upper snowfield until it drains through a large cliff section. From here there's a small thread of snow that provides a possible line of passage zig-zaging through the large cliff. Scouting out the line I had a good idea that the line would be steep, narrow, and exposed, but it was impossible to tell how steep, narrow, and exposed it would actually be.

Justin making his way Toledo Bowl

A few days later I had talked my usual ski partner for this type of business, Justin, into checking out this line. We scoped out a few pictures I took and decided that we both felt comfortable attempting the lookers left line. We made quick time up Toledo Bowl and made the summit in about an hour. It was a windy morning and we watched the dark clouds of a storm role in as we hunkered down on the south side to get ready for the descent. From the summit the line drops off into a slight bowl skiers left of the summit. We found that the best way to enter was directly under the summit. Instead of downclimbing past a few rocks we decided to keep the skis on the entire time and sidestep over them, getting some style points. This became good practice for what we'd encounter later.

The entrance to the line, right from the summit

Justin did a few ski cuts to make sure there was no lingering wind pockets before dropping into the line. He skied about a hundred feet to where the gully turns right and stopped at a safe spot to keep eyes on me. I followed and enjoyed great snow through this upper section. There was still a good amount of soft snow through the whole upper gully that made for some great turns. As we moved towards the cliff section we paused to look at the picture on my phone to find where the thread of snow intersects the cliffs. It turned out we moved a little too far right into a larger opening, and we had to move back left to the original gully to find the entrance.

Getting closer to the cliff the skiing got a lot more exposed. The drop off in front of us was a few hundred feet and any fall, stumble, or sluff could most definitely be fatal. From here, right above the cliff, we could get a good look at what the rest of our line looks like. While I expected it to be narrow and steep, I do admit that I underestimated those two aspects. The line was just as steep as the cliffs to our left and right, the only difference is that a thin section of snow stuck to the rocks below us. Any fall here would not be good.

We only brought along 30 feet of cord with us in case we needed to leave a fixed line. Looking back, it might have been a good idea to bring much more and our harnesses in case rappelling was a necessity. Determined to hang onto this cord in case we needed it further down, I wrapped it around a dead tree and tied the ends together to use it as a backup for getting through the entrance into the cliff.  Although it shortened the length by half, this way after Justin went down he would be able to untie the ends and pull it through. Justin watched as I stepped my way through this first crux and crossed over some roots I could grab onto while I waited for him to get through.

Justin making way through the first crux

After this first crux entrance we were both able to make one spooky turn before the next choke. This one consisted of side stepping about 15 feet on rock and snow until it narrows into a 2 foot wide section of snow. We both agreed that this was the hardest part of the route. It involved some techy ski placements similar to foot placements when climbing, and an awkward move to lower oneself off of a horn on the right side of the line. We were almost through!

Piecing together part of the second crux

After this second choke, we saw that the only exit comes from traversing left and jumping off a small rock band. Even in this last section a fall would sweep you off cliffs that lay under the fall line. But the snow was good and this was nothing compared to what we just went through. However, as I made my way out of the line, I did let my sluff build up a bit too much and felt it roll over my legs with enough force to give me a quick scare. I cut left out of the way and enjoyed more great snow out to the bottom of our run. Overall, one hell of an adrenaline rush for the morning. A quick skin up to Cardiff and we enjoyed some more turns on our way out, making it back for Justin's class at noon.

One last turn to get through the tricky section

Home free!

This line turned out to be exactly what we were looking for this morning, exciting and adventurous. It was very technical in spots but we both felt comfortable. In regards to what this line is we cant find any documentation of other people skiing it. I did hear from Tetonsandwasatch that this line is actually Holy Poblano, one he put together a few years back. However, after looking at several pictures I still think that this is seperate line, further west than Poblano. I put together this picture of the lines on the backside of Toledo to try to decipher which lines are which. If anyone has some insight on any mistakes of this definitely let me know! Apologies if I'm mistaken.

Due to the abundant great skiers in the Wasatch there's definitely a fair chance that it's been skied before, especially with a higher snowpack. However, needing something to refer to this line as, Justin and I chose the name of 'Holy Guacamole'. This sticks to the trend of the 'Holy' lines on the backside of Toledo Peak, and lets be honest, who doesn't love guacamole!

GH

Little Pine Couloir 3/5

Little Pine Couloir

The alarm went off at 2 a.m. Tired and confused I got up, drank some coffee, and pulled all my gear into the car. I met Brett and Carl around 3 outside Brett's house, as we said our good mornings and cruised up towards the mountains. Carl had to be back at 10, hence the nature of our early start, so we took two cars so Brett and I could get some laps in at Alta when he heads back. It's been a while since I've started this early for a ski or line, so I didn't mind getting after the true alpine start this time. Joking on the early hour, our slogan became 'dark n' early'.

Our goal for the morning was Little Pine Couloir. Little Pine is one of the many awesome south-facing LCC slide paths. It stretches right from the road 3200 feet in an uninterrupted 40 degree line to the ridge between Big and Little. We arrived at the White Pine Trailhead sometime around 3:45 and walked briefly down canyon before spotting the line in the dark and crossing through just a bit of brush to the bottom of the apron. I managed to forget my headlamp this morning and ended up learning my lesson from it.

Getting closer

After the first few hundred feet with our skins on, we reached a large amount of debris shortly inside the actual couloir. Convinced that we would be able to throw the skins back on shortly, I had the idea of shouldering the skis for the mean time. Another few hundred feet later we realized it would be much more efficient to throw the skis on the pack and boot the rest of the way. So we did. For a while.

Three thousand feet later we topped out the couloir just as the sun was coming up over the mountains. Our early morning wakeup was rewarded with some magnificent views of sunrise. We traveled a bit on the ridge to a small subpeak where we watched the sun come up above Alta. On this traverse I managed to know off a small wind pocket that was hanging onto some slabby rock. Nothing serious but something to keep our eyes out for.

Enjoying that sunrise

Sun coming up above Alta

After enjoying a delicious bagel I threw on the skis and got ready to drop. Brett went first and slashed a wall on the skiers right side as Carl snapped a picture. I did the same then met up with Brett at a safe spot lower down. The snow was mostly soft for the first hald with a fair amount of powder on top of a firm crust. The lower section was a bit harder but still very enjoyable. We cruised to the bottom, enjoying every turn. From there we parted ways and Brett and I went up to Alta to get some 'cool down' laps. A solid 9 laps latter and that was all our legs could handle for the day.

Carl enjoying the top bowl section

Sending it down the couloir

Brett enjoying the turns

Woulda been a great panorama if the sides weren't funky

GH

Holy Toledo 3/3

After spending the last week surfing throughout the coast of California, I was eager to get back up into mountains. While surfing is extremely fun and I thoroughly enjoyed all the time spent on the beach; I gotta admit that it was nice standing up and riding a line for more than 10 or so seconds at a time.

I decided to take a cruiser up to Toledo Peak and get some turns in before work. Parking at the Chapel lot at Alta, it took about an hour to summit. The snow on the north facing aspects looked much better so I chose to drop into Holy Toledo. Holy Toledo goes right off the backside of Toledo bowl into Big Cottonwood. It's fairly wide for the most part, but I was able to find a tighter variation for the top section.

After enjoying the great north facing snow, I made my way back up to Cardiff Peak to return back to Little. The south facing snow was soft and enjoyable corn. No complaints with that either. I made my way back to the car just in time to avoid the snow getting too warm. Psyched to get back on skis again and enjoy the Wasatch mountains!

GH

Monte Cristo Direct 2/5

It had been almost a week since I had last gone skiing. Sickness had me staying on the couch all throughout the weekend and the beginning of this week. I was itching to get out for another adventure and to enjoy all of this fresh new snow. Finally I felt good enough to get out and explore a bit yesterday morning, despite the cold and windy conditions.

With all this built up energy for adventure, Koby and I set our sights on getting after Monte Cristo Dirrectissimo. We pulled all the gear the night before, and then logged a few hours of sleep before setting out early to get on the trail.

The line

It has been pretty interesting seeing all of the traffic heading up Mt Superior these last few days since the snowfall. For this reason I've always called it the Mt Superior Highway, but I really enjoyed another person’s comments on it yesterday, in which you have to go through downtown Los Angeles to get to Superior. None-the-less we were happy to have a well established skin track and booter the entire way up.

We battled through the strong winds throughout the ridge and made it to the summit of Superior in less than 3 hours. Our line drops Southwest, while all the other traffic drops southeast to the classic south face descent. We were very tempted to ski the headwall, where one can get the classic ‘end of the world photograph, but thought that it was best to save that for another day. There was low risk of anything sliding but if anything did go it would be very high consequence.

It was a windy one

As we were getting ready to drop, I heard something funny coming from behind me and looked over to see a slide carrying two members of another party down a north facing slope of Monte Cristo into Mill B South. We had been watching these two ascend the slope for some time now, and were relieved to see the two of them pop to the surface when the slide settled. One had pulled his airbag but still got partially buried. A few yells down to them, and we confirmed they were ok and didn’t need any assistance. Still a bit of a scare to see something like happen so close to you. A further reminder to stay safe out there and always travel at a safe distance from each other in avalanche terrain.

PC: Random dude atop superior, post-slide

We put our sights back on the run in front of us. The psych was high. I dropped first and enjoyed about a thousand feet of thigh deep powder getting to the anchor, howling at every turn. The snow was so light and there was plenty of it. There had been one other to ski this way, and whoever that was cut out the Monte Cristo Gully. More than two-thirds of this decent was untracked..

I inched up and clipped in to the anchor, some old nuts and a peton on the skiers right side of the couloir. I hear that sometimes this first rappel can be avoided with a deeper snowpack but I’ve never seen it that filled in. Koby came in and followed up to the anchor while I got the rope out and started setting it up. The first rappel was only about 15 meters, leading to a snowfield that has a slung tree on the right hand side. I went first since I had done the line before and knew where the next anchor was. The next rappel was about 30 meters and took about the full length of the rope.

We made it through both rappels quickly and found ourselves in front of even more fresh snow. The snow got a bit heavier near the bottom, as expected, but still plenty deep and a lot of fun. As I was cruising to the end of the run I had to make a quick stop, avoiding a 40-50 foot waterfall drop off, blocking us and the road. We had to backtrack a little bit and make our way up the walls of the couloir to exit.

I still can’t get over how much fun this morning was. It was the most snow I’ve skied all season so far, and to do it on such an awesome run just added to the overall experience. Days like this just show me how much fun backcountry skiing is, and reaffirm why I love the activity so much. 

GH