Got out this morning for a quick lap on Argenta with Charlie. Snow was pretty good overall, a bit dense in spots from wind and a little sun effected on west aspects nearer the bottom, but fun nonetheless. This was my first time skiing Argenta and it is a quick objective from the sense you get right into the business from the car—no wasting time on flat ground. Unfortunately, the skinner is in typical Wasatch shape going nearly straight up in many spots, particularly on the first third or so.
A view looking from the top of the First Moraine. This is approximately the view from the lodge except this one is 1000′ higher.
January 27 thru February 3, 2018
Carly and I took a ski trip to British Columbia at the end of January. This trip was organized by one of Carly’s MBA friends. Dave usually plans a big trip up to BC every year and this year we were able to join in. We drove up to Nakusp, BC over two days from SLC. We opted to sleep in the van which turned out to be great for this type of trip. The 8 hours of driving per day went by reasonably well. We did have a little bit of a scare at the end of the first day when the van was making a funny noise. I suspected a wheel bearing and we opted to try and get it fixed ASAP the morning of the second day before getting into the middle of nowhere BC. Luckily a Chevy dealer in Missoula, our chosen rest stop for the first day, had the parts and was able to push us through in just a few hours. We made it to Nakusp in good time and weren’t even the last ones to arrive at the meeting spot.
The lodge is in the backcountry and accessible only via helicopter in the winter. I’ve only flown on a helicopter one other time so I was looking forward to the ride in. Despite it snowing pretty hard we had no trouble getting into the lodge. The visibility was pretty low for the ride in and the pilot stayed a 100-200′ off the trees for visual reference.
The accommodations at Snowfall were great. Despite being in the first year of operation it was quite plush. Full kitchen, in-door pee toilet, comfortably heated, electricity, drying room, the works. Backpacking will be rough change of pace in the future.
Skiing was amazing. The snow in BC falls at a warmer temperature than here in the Wasatch and it forms these pillows on terrain features. These features would be something to avoid at home because you probably would hit whatever was under the snow. In BC these pillows were usually many feet thick and soft. It snowed on average 6″ per day for the trip. This was good and bad. It created some poor visibility and unstable snow. This kept any of the 16 of us from getting on any big lines. It did however refill the few areas were were able to access.
We got a few hours of clear weather about mid-week. This afforded some amazing views of the terrain around us. It reminded me of my previous trip to BC with Christina and Drew. The experience was quite good and I’m hoping I can make this an annual occurrence.
In November 2016 I headed to Chamonix, France to feel out a seemingly unbelievable opportunity. That trip was my first to Chamonix and I didn’t get a peek at the riches that the area has for mountain scenery and fun. The clouds hung low for the duration of that trip and snow fell frequently. Since that date things have accelerated significantly and at the beginning of May it was time to return for a longer and more productive trip to solidify the gel that has started setting. In short the opportunity was to work with Blue Ice, a small Chamonix based climbing company. I would go along with Bill Belcourt to discuss opening an additional office in Salt Lake City. We would head the hardgoods design effort here in SLC and softgoods would continue out of Chamonix. Six months after the project kicked off we are six strong in Salt Lake and augmenting the team of 13 in Chamonix. Stay tuned to see what we’re working on…
As for the trip. Adam and I headed out at the beginning of May just as one of the team from France was leaving a visit to the US. The itinerary was to visit a number of suppliers, climb, ski, and live in France for the bulk of May. Check, check, check, and check.
The afternoon of April 14 we had a cold front move through the state and generate some pretty crazy weather. Â Dust from the many large dry lake beds was whipped up in the winds which gusted to 90 mph in some of the canyons. Â Because of the crappy air quality in the winter we have air quality sensors around the state and the one in SLC spiked to almost 300 micrograms per m^3. Â This is described as “Hazardous” by the EPA, or in other words: “This would trigger health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population will most likely be affected.”. Â Luckily this warning is based on a 24 hour average and the spike was only a few hours long, but it was impossible to see the mountains or more than about 1/2 mile.
Particulate matter (dust) in the air before the cold front moved through. Â During the worst inversions we get about half of this value.
After the front the temperature dropped, precipitously about 20+ degrees in 10 minutes and continued to fall after that as it began to snow. Â Keep in mind the max temp at the SLC airport was 75 degrees on April 14.
My backyard at about 7:00 am on April 15. Â I think this was the most accumulation we had all winter in the valley.
So what does one do when it snows in Utah? Â Go skiing of course!
Skied this morning at the Bird. Conditions were…awesome compared to a normal East Coast winter…good compared to a normal Utah winter…very good for this Utah winter. I did get 1.5 clean shots into Mineral Basin as the roped dropped. Best turns all year for sure. Last night after work was apparently the holy grail as we had some wind overnight and today adversely affecting the snow. The guys that dusk patrolled last night said it was the deepest they’d ever skied and they are not fresh off the bunny slope types. All said and done:  Snowbird 45″ and Brighton 22″. Solitude, Canyons, PCMR, Deer Valley, Snow Basin all already closed for the season so who cares?  They did get much less due to the magic vortex of snow generation that is Little Cottonwood Canyon.
This is what happens to people in Utah on a weekday after a big storm during still the lowest snow total year on record in the Wasatch.
Its a shame Road to Provo (terrain below the rocky peak) wasn’t open. It doesn’t matter any more though as you’ll see.
Mineral Basin did open and I was fortunate enough to hit it. After all the riff-raff snowboarders got swamped in the massive drifts along the untouched traverse it was me and and 14 other skiers that got to shoot some bottomless untouched white gold. After this shot my next was still exceptionally good but not totally clear of tracks.
Fast forward to the same afternoon. I went home in a t-shirt, the yard is clear, grass is even greener than before, and I’m thinking I might need to mow this weekend. Even as I was leaving the resort a little more than a hour after my best turns of the year the snow was starting to get wet and heavy due to the powerful sun. Any unopened terrain at Snowbird probably will be punchy crust tomorrow.
Here’s the 5 day temperature readings at the airport. Â Pretty easy to see when the cold front came through.
View back up our playground. Carly and I made the two rightmost tracks. Adam and Stephie the matching turns in the center.
January 1, 2015
Today Carly and I headed out for a tour with Adam from work and his girlfriend, Stephie. Â We headed to Porter Fork off of Millcreek Canyon, a place none of us had visited before. Â The weather was bluebird but cold, similar to the last day Carly and I went out. Â We got a good start for New Year’s Day, leaving my house around 9:15. Â The first leg of the skin was easy and up a road that has had some snowmobile traffic. Â The second section was a bit more technical and primarily involved Adam breaking trail to gain a ridge below Gobbler’s Knob which we figured was Cabin Run. Â Carly and I were tuckered from the 5 mile and almost 3900 foot skin so we dropped in a little farther down the face than Adam and Stephie.
The snow was pretty good. Â Not quite as soft as the last day we were out, but still pretty good in spots. Â There was a bit of a sun crust in spots so it required a little more backseat style. Â I have to say that during those turns down untracked snow makes all the time spent getting there go away. Â The next section brought us through some great trees, nicely spaced and good snow. Â At the bottom of the trees we entered the survival ski portion of the tour. Â Pole Canyon was a heinous death march through bushes and downed trees across the drainage. Â Definitely the worst ski out I’ve had as in addition to the schwack it also had a couple steep sections that were a bit technical. Â We eventually all persevered and made it back to the snowmobile road and out to the car 5 hours and 45 minutes after we started. Â Garmin track here.
![Settled powder, but about 12\" deep for the most part.](https://www.petewilk.com/nextGen-gallery/2015-01-01-porter-fork/2015-01-01_24853.jpg "Settled powder, but about 12\\" deep for the most part.")
