Little Superior SE Face, UT
The slope was simply amazing. One of the most breathtaking descents I’ve ever been on. This was what skis were made for.
Near the bottom you get into a 100-yard wide slope lined by pine trees. There is a little bit of an “NES car racing effect” going on in that the valley doesn’t appear to be getting closer despite the fact that you’ve been skiing for 2000 vertical feet. Porter descends between the “goal posts” and couldn’t be happier.
Dwyer “Thanks-for-hauling-my-dukes-up-while-you-let-me-skin-on-your-Dynafit-rig-Greg-cause-I-needed-to-move-faster” Haney enjoying his duke rig for the descent.
Suddenly we left the “pine highway,” and cut back up under the aforementioned terrain trap. We stoped to admire our descent, when suddenly the most amazing thing happened. One of the heli-ops returning to base in the Snowbird valley spotted us preparing to schuss the lower snowfields (which had been aggressively farmed already) and swung back around, presumably to give clients a look at the three happiest skiers in the Wasatch… or maybe just to scope out the run for their next trip. Either way the effect was amazing. Schussing down a mellow 500 vertical foot “victory” powder field with the heli screaming down overhead was surreal. Here’s Dwyer showing off for the mechanical bird.
Whether lucky, smart, or stupid–or some combination of all three–this was one of my best days of skiing ever. Also included, but not pictured was a descent of Toledo Bowl. Most importantly however, to top it all off, the day was shared with some very very good friends. I’ll toast to that.
Porter is now officially on board with Famous Internet Skiers, and will be providing a more reliable stream of on-the-ground reports and STOKE from points west. He definitely proved he was worthy by playing tour guide for this amazing trip! Please welcome him, and look forward to content from him in the very near future.
Read about the author: Greg
9 Comments
Dwyer
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 11:16 amNary was there a tastier Bud Dry consumed than when we reached the road to gaze back up at the splendor of that magnificent line.
Greg
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 11:19 amINDEED! Of all the pictures I snapped that day, I can NOT believe that I didn’t get a shot of that refreshing Dry Brew popping open to greet the glorious crisp Wasatch air.
Ben
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 11:50 amNicely done! I’d already heard about it, but it was still great reading…
Superior really is an amazing mountain. You’ll have to get back out there sometime and ski from the top!
powhounddd
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 1:44 pmWell done.
christian
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 5:39 pmholy hairball batman
Mike Austin
wrote on February 16th, 2010 at 7:56 pmNicely played lads…
Micky O
wrote on February 17th, 2010 at 5:06 amMust get out west soon!!!
Ben L.
wrote on February 17th, 2010 at 9:08 amSweet. I was out there the week before x-mas and superior was looking pretty bones. Glad you guys got it better. Greg: have you ever skied off the back of superior? Great tour is off of back, up cardiac, down back side then about 5,000 vert to BCC. Probably too early for you guys to do that this year but it is an amazingly long decent with a great skin/ski ratio.
Greg
wrote on February 22nd, 2010 at 9:21 pmHey Ben, no I haven’t been into Cardiac yet, but plan to as soon as conditions permit. It was on the list, but that bowl faces a good bit more north, and featured a good bit more facets. People were hitting the far skier’s left portion of Cardiac before it turns into a rock wall, and even that was beyond our comfort zone. There were very few tracks right up under Superior in Cardiac… people really weren’t really willing to risk it. Thanks for the comment!