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View Full Version : Trip Report Central Wasatch, early season



outsider
12-20-2012, 01:40 PM
Well, not much of a trip report, but maybe a bit of ski stoke to get things going? Although terrain below about 8K is still pretty limited, this last storm cycle was helpful. Been getting out some since early Nov - haven't carried the camera very often, but here are pics and words from a few of the days...

The season got off to quite a start with a large storm - I sent a helper out to measure the snowpack depth. Conclusion : time to get out on skis!

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Went up Cardiff with thoughts of Cardiac Ridge... there was a nice trail broken until it jogged off to the High Ivory area.

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After that I was on my own. I normally enjoy trail-breaking, but this was something else. In over 15 years I can't recall taking such a beating - total trench warfare.

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Running out of time (and energy), I had to call it quits before top-out. Frustrating, but at least there was some reward to be had.

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Across the way, Hardesty, Kobernik, et al were having a good time.

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Some warmer temps and storms then melted most of the lower snowpack away. An outing in the Meadows was very nice, except for getting out the lower elevation portion. With options limited, we were out there with quite a few other parties. (50 people?!)

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This most recent storm put the south aspects back into play. I skipped out of work for a few hours to get in a few quick runs in West Bowl, with an excellent out run off the Emma ridge.

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I love it when the skiing is high quality right to the car. Now if we can stay on the storm track and make this a regular occurence, maybe last season will be forgotten! :haha:

-john

Sun Dance
12-26-2012, 12:11 PM
Pardon my ignorance but you are climbing with skinned/waxed cc or telemark type skis to access these areas, right? Not snowshoes with skis on back?

Just getting into the Wasatch Tours series and it's fascinating. Any other books that are decent updates on these?

outsider
12-27-2012, 07:21 AM
I use skins on a telemark setup. These days, most people in the backcountry are using AT gear. Skin tracks and snowshoes do not mix well - skins are the way to go (much more efficient).

The Wasatch Tours books are great, probably the best resource. The Bradley book is so-so, but of interest if you want to get into the more remote mountain ranges of Utah. There are a couple of useful maps of the central Wastach out there - I believe one is an Alpentech (?) that has both great aerial photography and a decent map. The other map is new and shows skier names for places all over the central Wasatch - see http://wasatchbackcountryskiing.com/papermap.asp.

accadacca
12-27-2012, 08:29 AM
Gotta love it! :snowguy: