Good timing

> Record day in Jackson yesterday! Read the subtitle to the photo...

Off to Jackson Hole

Steel*Wool on skis has decided, with some sadness, to bail on the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse this year.  Various reasons but mostly because it's a record snow year in Jackson and neither of us have been there to ski the resort or Teton Pass....so we're off Tuesday through Sunday.  Cheers!

The NEW Chutes and Ladders

Stunning day up high today.  Hayride got the afternoon off work so headed up to the E.P.C (and ladders) around 2pm.  None of that stuff that blows snow around, 45 degrees and bluebird sky, 4" of new snow.  Quietest day I've had up there I think ever.  The snow down low was pure May corn so we weren't expecting many good turns.  It got softer as we headed up the north face to EPC and Squirrel-Huck gully, but then anywhere the hot sun hit today was crusty, even on the north faces.  Good thing we put the invisible tarp over these glades.  This place is my new favorite place to ski, by far. The new Chutes & Ladders. Hour and a half to the top, back at the car in less than a 3 hour trip.

Traversing over from the top to Big Johnson Chute. 

Hayride skiing down. This picture doesn't do the view justice at all.

As we went down the first run, we traversed right only to find more unexpected chutes, one after the other. I just don't get it, how have we never come up here before...?! It's amazing. I've lived here almost 20 years now, skied here 10, and never found this stash.  It just goes to show, it's not the area that gets boring, it's the person that gets complacent, at least in this case.

Felt kinda like spring is here out there. Soon it'll be time to hit the high peaks in search of corn-surfing-fun-in-the-sun. Powder, and corn, are the closest I get to surfing here in Colorado.

Squirrel-Huck Gully

Solo skintrack, Wasatch style because of practicality (don't mess up your turnage spots!)

The top of the first run, Twin-Tree Hill.

And the big whopper, I'm calling it Big Johnson Chute. Zero degrees north facing, literally. Starts at 10,500ft-ish, ends 1,300ft lower down. Yes, it was amazing. You missed out, Pilots. I'll take a 4-pack of TenFidy or an Abyss if you want me to lead you there.

About 600ft vertical down from the last photo...and I was only halfway down! 

Nobody could go ski today so I went anyway. Headed back, once again, up to E.P.C. and Squirrel-huck gully (named after the crazy squirrel that hucked a huge air after completing a 30ft log-ride across the gully the first time I came up here). 

Another 'surprise' storm left 3" at the house and another 5-8" up high (sounds like a broken record, eh?).  The weather was calm and sunny at the ranch, then as i hit the schoolhouse it was whipping wind creating a whiteout.  Classic tunnel conditions at the parking lot.

I dig solo excursions into the woods, not better than with friends, but just different. My mind is calmer, I hear more things around me, i notice the snowpack and weather conditions more, I go my own pace, I find better skin-tracks (or at least nobody cusses me out if I don't), and search for spots that may not have a good approach but I only have myself to get turned around only to end up at the top of a cliff and have to boot-pack back up 100ft in punchy recycled powder (yes, that was reality today).  In between Squirrel-Huck Gully and the Whaleback is Big Johnson Chute - the longest continuous line at the tunnel that I've found.  The line I've been eying for years...check.  I'm usually not a 'check-box' type of dude but sometimes the shoe fits. 

Happy Spring Forward all.

The storm that didn't come...kinda

 The "Potential Storm Announcment (PSA)" (or is it Public Service Announcement...?) came out on Thursday about how we were gonna get the biggest storm of the year to date...that's like saying "it's great there no wind up here!"  ..and then it gets windy. 

Of course, the big storm didn't come.  The 10-20" decreased to 3-5" in the forecast and then we actually got nothing in Ned.  Oh well.  It's a funny occasion when the forecaster apologizes on email to everyone. 

The Pilot and AK came up anyways to see if we could find some fun in the EPC region again.  Turns out, the new snowline is 10,000ft because as we drove up to the tunnel, it just started dumping...a lot.  Another 5" of fresh had fallen and we were just finding gold everywhere.  The wind of course helped deposit some 'sympathetic' snow too. 

The Pilot traversing probably the largest snowbank in this area.  I want to come back in summer to see the elevation difference.  No snow on the east side, and the wind deposits all the snow right under his skis. 

The skin up is rather large (1.5 hrs at least) but the payoff is excellent.

The Pilot is mid jump turn in the middle of the picture there.

Skinny skis

Does this look like someone on skinny skis? This is Hayride at Prospectors yesterday on the Asnes Holmenkollens which are a mere 52mm underfoot. These are not 'all about the down' by any stretch. His 'regular' backcountry skis are over double that underfoot.

 It's really not possible to describe how it feels to rail a telemark turn in 8" of new snow on these skis...but you really should try it if you don't know what it's like.  (And study these movies, especially "Revenge of the Telemarkers".) There's an element of danger - you're not totally sure you can pull it off, but when (or if) you do, it feels like you just cornered on a roller coaster.  The skis are so unstable and do NOT float that you must actuate your downhill knee to make sure the ski goes the direction you want it to. The turn initiation has a delicate surgical feel to it, cutting into the snow slowly. Once you get the downhill ski on edge, you have already dropped the uphill ski's knee which is what really starts the carve...and then hold on for the ride. Even though you're somewhat slowing down in the turn, you're really accelerating until you come out of the turn and initiate the next one the same way.  

The beauty of these skis is their practicality and utilitarianism. They go everywhere, the user just has to learn to use them.  They're not easy to ski downhill.  Without skins, and just the right wax, we were out for 4 hours going up, down, and all around.  A little rise in the trail? Just jog up and glide down the flatter or downhill other side. There's an element of FLOW to skinny skis, more fluid than the farming of turns with heavier Tele or AT gear (not that there's anything wrong with that, i love that too!).

The best part about the ski was that on the uphill we both were hurting, not feeling ready at all for the Grand Traverse in 3 weeks.  It wasn't that much fun truly. Then we got up high. There was no wind up high which was just weird. It started snowing and then the visibility was nil. I mean ZERO...we couldn't tell if we were going up or down.   As we got over to the Prospector's area, the snow got deeper and softer.  We both were surprised at the amount of 'blow-over' from the other side of the Divide that has happened these last few days.  Traversing is the way to find new lines and that we did.  Unfortunately, the south facing slopes had such a bad crust that the new snow just broke off of it and we both took short spills because of that.  But as we got more north-facing, it just got better and better. It was supposed to be a crappy snow day but turned out to be one of the better powder days we had.  And it's always knee deep on skinny skis.

...and on down...

Wednesday BC

Old man's mocha (it's really quite good!)

 Hayride came up with the "Old Man's Mocha" and i must admit, it's REALLY good.  And it has serious power in there...2 shots espresso mixed with a warmed up bottle of Ensure...you have to try it.

The Pilot and fellow BCS racer AK came up to get some turns yesterday.  It was sunny, warm, and the snow was frozen solid except on the north faces.  We headed to the same northside EPC slopes and the Whaleback just because it's so damn fun.  Found some soft snow in the trees with windslab punchiness on the exposed slopes.  We bootpacked up a bit, "peaked out" on Marmot Poop Rock, stared at the rad view, and then hiked down about 200 vertical feet over scree and the high alpine grasses to get to the slope we wanted to ski (very Montezuma's Revenge race-like - lap 8).  Found even more alley's to add to the ever-expanding EPC list up there.  Now we just have to link them all together in runs with no short traverses.

the Pilot and AK skinning up the southside

AK hiking up with 007 in the background

The Pilot doing his best impression of skier/explorer on Marmot Poo Rock. (my camera shutter didn't open all the way for some reason...)

  

AK ripping the downhill, this kid (ok, he's 26, but still...) rips on skis.

The Pilot on the down