Lone Peak: Round 1

Had two shots at the South face of Lone Peak this winter- both were following big storms; both were excellent.

The Round 1 crew consisted of Mark Hammond, Zach Grant, Cindi Roller, John Jamison, and myself.  It was an interesting day as far as as the weather goes.  When I left home, it was drizzling rain in the valley and was pretty socked-in with clouds.  I had my doubts, but the forecast called for gradual clearing so we decided to go for it.  As things turned out, the valley stayed socked-in with a low-lying cloud layer for days while the surrounding peaks poked through into beautiful conditions.

As I reached Alpine, things began to clear up a bit; however there was still a distinct thick layer a few thousand feet above us. The city lights reflecting off the low clouds resulted in a strangely comforting glow in the early morning darkness.

We fired up the headlamps and started up.   The snow was deep and a little on the heavy side at low-mid elevations for Round 1. It kept globbing up on our skins and my hip-flexors were punished.

It was manageable however, and before too long we had broken through the cloud layer to cooler temperatures, clearer skies and faster trail-breaking conditions.  The light revealed the recently plastered landscape resulting from 2+ feet of snow the days before.

 The climb from the second hamongog to the upper saddle was amazing.

 As we neared the upper saddle, the wind picked up and we were a little concerned about wind-loading of the new snow on the summit ridge, and debated whether or not to shoot for the top. We opted for what we felt would be safer conditions, and skied down from the Lone Peak/Bells Canyon saddle.

The conditions for the descent were a little unexpected, but super fun.  While there was tons of new snow, the warming temperatures had created a supportive top-layer across the whole South face so we didn't sink through as deep as we'd anticipated. Instead, it was almost as if the whole face had been meticulously groomed with a 5" top-layer of fluff.  As a result, conditions on the upper face were fast and soft. Kind of apples and oranges when compared to deep, dry powder, but combined with the rolling terrain, still among the funner descents I've had.

By the time we'd reached lower elevations on our way out, the sun had been shining through the cloud inversion for awhile and we marched out in a greenhouse-like atmosphere.

TNF- Towers of the Ennedi

Wow- High quality. Really enjoyed this one.

Trepidation

It's a little harder for me to get out skiing as frequently as when I was in school, however I've had some great days in the hills this winter. The snowpack is deep, and in typical Wasatch fashion the conditions have been really good all things considered. I reckon I'll take a few entries to report on some notable tours from the past few months.

First up: Trepidation. I'm actually not quite sure (geographically-speaking) of its real name, but I do know it was an incredibly fun and memorable line. My friends Sam and Aaron refer to it as 'Trepidation' so I'll continue the trend. Our group consisted of brothers Sam and Aaron, their cousin Isaac, and myself.

We had originally planned to hit the East ridge of Timpanogos, but we got got started a little later than anticipated and warming conditions persuaded us to switch over to Plan B.

We skinned/booted up a prominent ridge that splits Primrose Cirque from Cascade Cirque (North East side of Timp) and continued to the summit of the sub-peak. I had purchased some new crampons and a Whippet right before the trip and it was fun testing them out on the Primrose headwall.




It's always a pleasure hanging out with the Inouye clan, and I'm always blown away by how fast they are on the ascent. It must be a genetic thing, because they've all got it. They smoke me every time on the skin up, and I've accepted my role as the caboose. At one point on the upper ridge, the snow firmed/iced-up considerably to the point that I kicked off my skis opting to boot and kind of figured this would be standard procedure. Sam and Aaron had different plans, and were somehow able to skin the whole section sans-ski crampons.

When I caught up with them at the top, we took a few moments to pause and take in the incredible views, and I put down a Snickers. The Timpanogos massif is one of the more alpine environments in the Wasatch range and is pretty spectacular. The added snow in the winter only enhances it, in my opinion.

By the time we reached our intended line, the sun had softened up the snow on that respective aspect to a nice, soft consistency- resulting in an amazing decent.

As a side note, we strategically shuttled cars that morning to simplify our exit. This detail slipped my mind as we began, and I left my truck keys in Sam's car. Fortunately we were able to flag down a ride back without much trouble.