The Upper Crust

November 17, 2010


Utah has been lucky to squeeze 80 inches of snow out of the Fall storm clouds.  This has meant the opening of Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird, last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.    In reality, this means the ski areas have enough snow to get their favorite groomers open.  You know how Famous Internet Skiers love their white ribbons of death.  On south facing slopes, or where the powder packer has been, this snow amounts to about 12 inches of base.  Up high, in chute country, this stacks up to a lot more, as much as 80-100 inches in places.

L_H forecasted a decent cycle last week, and the Allison/Colby/Porter crew pillaged as much storm day pow as we could.

With the desire to start skiing in the sun shine, the FIS took off early Friday morning to find some soft snow and a delectable sunrise.  Dwyer, Louise, and myself were out to see what the local powder-hounds had left above Greely Hill.

sup

Superior poked it’s way out and showed us why it’s one of the meanest mountains in the Wasatch.  And the most fun to ski!

Not a single (nor double for that matter) chair has turned at Alta, but the skin track and ski track were both well pilfered.

lower high t

But that’s OK, we’re here for the sun rise, and whatever leftovers we could harvest.  The Pfeifferhorn was the first of all the mountains to see the eastern light.  And it did not disappoint.

pfeif

Followed by the Coal Pit Headwall, Monte Cristo, and then Superior.  In the far distance, down valley you can see the Oquirrh Mountains, the Stansbury Mountains, and the Ruby Mountains in Nevada.

For posterity sake, here is a little closer look at the ridge containing the Hypodermic Needle.

After we enjoyed sunrise we let gravity take us down the hill, the way it was meant to.  On skis —

skiin

The snow proved mighty crusty, and we’re wondering what the weekend would be.  For the Upper Crust was stout early Friday morning, and we had big plans for Saturday.

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Read about the author:   Porter Haney
Enjoy this TR? Read another: TR: Central Gully, Huntington Ravine

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8 Comments

  1. Greg
    wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 3:08 pm  
    1

    very very nice!!

    one question: is Dwyer skiing with a crash pad?! He reminds me of the VT legend/beast the “artic hermit crab”

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  2. Ben
    wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 3:58 pm  
    2

    Awesome shots!!! I can’t wait to get out there… 3 weeks from tomorrow!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Greg
      wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 10:32 pm  
      3

      I’ll mark my calendar for a dump in VT ;)

  3. Harvey44
    wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 4:35 pm  
    4

    Nice work! Some of those chutes look pretty pinchy. What does it say about me if I really like the skin track/uphill shots the best? I’m demented…

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Porter Haney
      wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 4:48 pm  
      5

      Thanks Harvey – you’re not the only one. The plate that I had in my ankle was making skinning much more enjoyable for me than skiing — lots of pinching with skiing. Got that sucker out yesterday.
      pins

  4. icelanticskier
    wrote on November 17th, 2010 at 7:32 pm  
    6

    ayup, intersting approach to track up what you ended up down tracking. ah, gotta love the ways of the wasatch skinner ;)

    lake, i mean fake peak down to the lake of it’s real namesake. boulder basin lookin, uh bouldery.

    nice tour!

    rog

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  5. Les
    wrote on November 18th, 2010 at 12:08 pm  
    7

    daaaaamn. color me jealous as hell on the EC right now!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  6. K_C
    wrote on November 22nd, 2010 at 9:37 am  
    8

    Beautiful pics! Glad you got that hardware outta there, sounds like it was making for some painful schuss.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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