"Little Matterhorn"

AKA, Pfeifferhorn, is a nice little shark tooth of a mountain. Easily recognized by its similarity to the famous peak in the Alps, its the 5th highest in the Wasatch. On may 1st, it was not our original objective, but the unexpected sun forced us to bail on a more exposed line down the road. We were equally stoked on the new mission, and the incredible powder it would deliver for the first day of May.



^The northwest couloir was the objective, as seen in this photo from 2010. Typically, a 60 foot cliff chokes out this line halfway, requiring a rappel over the gnar. But in this winter of epic proportions, we were able to shoot right through as if the cliff didn't exist.


^morning light comes though the trees and consumes you with intense heat, than its back to the frigid shadows.


^tried to make quick work of the chilly north woods.


^the south faces of little cottonwood canyon looked tremendous.


^seemed like a pretty mellow spring day down in the valley for most folks.


^eventually we make it to within reasonable distance of the peak. just a quick ridge hop and a skip and we're there.




^ a shot of the lovely timp massif


^ Once at the top, Neil makes his way down the northwest ramp. Considering it's May, it was no suprise that the upper half was intermittent powder and ice. At least we didn't have to stop for the otherwise mandatory rappel. After flashing the choke, the line finished off with some fluffy deep powder turns.


^ a shot of the north face, taken in 2010. A very aesthetic peak indeed.


^ well that was fun. Finished it off with a four thousand foot exit gully. The strong sun had worked the snow down low, turning it from dry crystal powder to wet mank in a hurry. Its that time of the year. Eventually the snow will melt, but with another cold storm on the horizon, the endless winter continues.

4X4 or Chains required!

Thats what the sign read at the bottom of little cottonwood canyon. The local sheriff was busy NOT enforcing the restrictions, so the road was choked up with knuckleheads fishtailing up the road on their summer tires. After narrowly averting multiple barney's, we were finally turned around at the climax of stupidity, about half way up the canyon. No big deal however, its the end of April and the powder continues to be epic. There's another canyon thats a bit less busy...


After a day of howling winds and rivers of graupel, the clouds gave way to the sun.




Neil eyes the classic, 3000' big cottonwood funnel, known as Argenta.


Ty finds waist deep conditions off the headwall.


The new snow was touchy, and cohesive soft slabs would wrinkle with good energy and tension.






the record breaking winter continues....




.

work....

shooting pictures with the rossignol snowboard team was pretty sweet. A little bad weather wasn't enough to keep us down. In fact, one day we constructed a snow fort on the patsy marly ridgeline while waiting out the fog. Nothing like a ripping bonfire on a snowy mountain.

Neil, hard at work....

Utah pow season opener....

Just like that, another sure to be classic winter in the Wasatch has begun. And boy did it start off nicely. All it took was one storm cycle to put down a blanket of snow so deep that it allowed us to go wherever we chose. Jim Harris and I chose to ski the north chute off the summit of mount superior for our first run of the 2010/11 season.


^ Like most of my favorite runs in utah, this one began with a steep skin track.


^ the skin track ended on the summit of Mt. Superior. I wasn't anticipating skiing off any big peaks in october, but when nature calls, one must go.


^ The last of the storm makes its way up and out of little cottonwood canyon.


^ Jim happily makes the first turns of the year down this wasatch classic


^ Cardiac Bowl on Oct 27. shhhhwiiiing!


^ nice little playground for the day


^ A skier on High Ivory smokes a fat bowl of wasatch ice

and for some HD video documentation....      http://vimeo.com/16293201

Mount Superior

Mount Superior and its razor sharp spine to the north, Cardiac Ridge, make up some of the finest big mountain riding in the Wasatch. The access is relatively easy (minus the exposed knife ridge bootpacking) and the terrain choices are endless. To get the goods, dawn patrol missions are the protocol. My brother and I scored a couple sweet lines in the area last season.....

The south face of Mt. Superior



youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxzbxfjzOs

Hypodermic Needle

Yesterday was a good day. I had a chance to hit one of the best lines in the wasatch. Its known as the hypodermic needle. Everything but the approach is appealing. The top 1200 feet is a 50 degree couloir thats just wide enough to make some hop turns. Then, it empties out into a massive apron to finish off the run with endless powder turns.

I was stoked to get a call from my buddy Jim, asking if I wanted to ski something big and steep. Naturally, I was down. After all, I love skiing things that are big and steep. We rallied at sunrise and made our way into little cottonwood canyon.




^ Sunlight hits the peaks on the south face of little cottonwood canyon


^ The objective as seen from the trailhead. A long way to travel


^The impressive Pfeifferhorn comes into view as we continue up the mountain.


^ A great view of the south faces of little cottonwood canyon. Lots of sick runs over there. Folks were getting after it.


^ After climbing thousands of feet over the course of a few hours, we finally got a clean look at the objective. The needle is the prominent chute on the right. Still, a long way to travel.


^ during the final push to the summit, some fast moving clouds moved in. During a break in the clouds, the Pfeifferhorn appeared and the NW couloir was visible.


^ Jim drops into the needle. The conditions were as good as they get.


^ Looking back to the top after a successful descent. In the foreground is a crooked old tree that has survived many large avalanches.

Here is a helmet camera clip from the decsent:

Fall turns to winter

the first week of october brought the first winter storms of the year. Enough snow to play around a little bit, but a good sign that big snows are on the horizon. For a few days the landscape was striking. The contrast between the new snow, and fall colors at their peak was money! Its very uplifting to live in such a beautiful and ever changing environment.


nice contrast

sick views from 10,420' :


bananza


colorful aspens along the wasatch crest


Looking across the central wasatch, the stoke level rises!


the cottonwood canyons. millions of people will soon gather here.


Neil grinds out the first turns of the year down the shoulder. Beyond sketchy. Shark fins are looming beneath the snow.

Here is a little snurf action. Its always fun to sort of de-progress in a way by snurfing (no binders). Plus you only need a little snow and a grassy slope to have fun. I'd like to try and ride an entire mountain without bindings one day. going back to the roots.

click for HD

Couloir in the Clouds

This past easter weekend, the usual crew of myself, neil, zach, pouch and the addition of Forrest Shearer set out on a tour to hit some little cottonwood classics. We started off with a hike up the usual beaten down sheep trail known as the flagstaff skinner. After some ridge line traversing, we made it to the entrance of our first line of the day known as the "hallway". The hallway is a pretty gnarly couloir that dumps out into "the Tube", a 2000 vertical avalanche path down to the valley floor.

contemplating the exposure of the entrance to The Hallway. photo:pouch

dropping into "the Tube"

After skiing the Hallway/Tube, we traversed down the valley to the next objective of the day, The Benson and Hedges couloir. This is a classic couloir, aesthetic in every way. When we arrived at the base, the chute was enshrouded in thick, milky fog. No worries though. There is only one way to the top, so we started booting right up the center. 1300 vertical, 40+ degree pitch, massive granite walls, and deep snow added to the pucker factor which was already slightly high!

Zach and myself getting ready to bootpack up that chute into the abyss.

Siebert surrounded by granite

Here's Zach, trying not to fathom the idea of an avalanche.

Here, Forrest Shearer makes good use of the couloir we just climbed up, only to climb it again!

Big thanks to forrest for showing us the way! The central wasatch is an epic place to ride mountains and this trip really made me realize how much more I have to explore. On another similar note, another round of winter is slated to impact utah for the rest of the week. The weather station folks are predicting 40inches or more in the mountains. The endless winter continues!

May 2nd was a pow day

winter has been over for at least a month now, however may 2nd seemed to prove otherwise. Neil and I went touring for the first time in little cottonwood canyon. this is what we found: