A MEGA week!

So I guess it's been nearly two weeks since I last checked in.  About a ten days ago, the Wasatch was looking rather grim--an extended, high pressure system parked itself on top of the range, hammering the snowpack with high winds and days upon days of sun exposure...  Despite my drive to ski everyday, Cobes convinced me to head to Red Rocks, outside of Las Vegas, for a few days of rock climbing in the sun.  At first, I protested, but then, finally acquiesced as the local forecast promised no respite from the spring-like conditions.
Here are a few pics from our two, mellow days in one of our favorite climbing spots within a six-hour drive. 

Leading out on the stellar third pitch of Armatron, on the very cool Brownstone Wall, Juniper Canyon.

Look closely just left of center--on our approach to Rose Tower, we were surprised to see this Bighorn ram and two, smaller sheep.

Coby inspects the next pitch from the spacious belay on the classic Olive Oil, Rose Tower.

Here's Coby, styling the pitch.  How aesthetic is the rock, eh?

After topping out on the Rose Tower, we enjoyed tremendous views of some of the more remote formations at Red Rocks; here I am scheming to return later this season to check out the Hidden Wall--seen here in the shade, just below the horizon. 

On our final day in Nevada, we awoke to high winds and rain; rather than stick it out to see if the conditions improved later in the day, we bailed for home--but only after a brief stop at the Red Rock Casino for one of the most regrettable breakfasts in recent memory.
Upon arriving in Salt Lake, the forecast called for a weak disturbance--a minor storm predicted to deposit only a few inches...  I woke up the next morning to discover much more, and, according to the NOAA weather models, a week of consecutive storms in the pipeline.  These days, I'm only working Sundays and so, needless to say, all I've been up to is skiing!!!  Here are some images of the past week--and the storm totals from the past seven days?  Nearly 7 feet of "the Greatest Snow on Earth!"

That's Shawn breaking trail--in 2+ feet of fresh powder--in Upper White Pine, about to lay the skin-track up the Columbine slidepath to our right.  We had the entire place to ourselves!

The sun whooped us, but we managed to put in a long-ish, but safe skinner to reach the upper bowl of Columbine, below the tempting--but probably dodgy--Birthday Chutes.  Here's Shawn nearing the top of our first shot.

Round 1!

Round 2!

Round 3!

Round 4!

Shawn, about to drop in for Round 5--he and his younger brother, Chris, back in Georgia, coined the phrase, "Rude Body Shock" to describe how he's feeling in this pic.  We were fully worked--but, it continued to snow!

Shawn heads back to the trailhead, two hours late for work, ready to destroy the 6-pack of PBR I buried by the lot.  And so we did...
Day 2 saw the crew back together again--my normal ski partners, Tyler, and his girlfriend Andrea, were out of town on a yurt trip while Coby and I were in Vegas.  On Tuesday, we decided to finish what Shawn and I started--to track out the Columbine slidepath--another 6k+ vertical foot day, but sans photos.  According to Cobes, our laptop is on the verge due to the enormous volume of pics from our various adventures; hence, there are no images from that day, but it was even deeper than the day before!
On Day 3, I decided to have another go at my old nemesis, the NW Couloir of the Pfeifferhorn.  The last time I tried to ski it, my buddy Alexis and I were fully bouted by the unexpected, icy conditions.  We made it halfway down the thing before realizing that, in fact, there was no snow left in it to ski.  The NW Couloir is one of the most classic, steep ski descents in the Wasatch; to get it, one must first approach the peak from  White Pine, climb it, then drop into the chute right from the summit, and then about halfway down, rappel a 50' section of cliffband to reach the apron into Hogum's Fork.  The pitch is 50 degrees at the chute's steepest, and the upper ramp is definitely a "no-fall" situation--my favorite type of skiing!

Tyler, tops out on the ridge above Upper Red Pine.  Getting here involved the standard slog from White Pine, a steep, deeeep boot-pack, then me tunnelling through the sizable, overhanging cornice.  Tyler's mellow looks--fully--harshed...  Shenanigans!

Once on the East Ridge, visibility was an issue, and as we neared the Pfeiff, there were several stretches where we suffered severe vertigo--I had no idea which way I was headed, whether I was nearing the corniced edge, which way was up, or down.  Hmmm.

Check out the lip of the cornice!  Though we were able to glimpse the Pfeiff intermittantly, the prospects were looking iffy for the NW Couloir...

Here's one of the rare sightings of the peak from the ridge traverse that afternoon.  Upon closer inspection, neither one of us felt too psyched about the huge wind slab high on the Hanging Snowfield, the last 200 or so feet to the top.  We decided--instead--to ski one of the chutes off of the Maybird headwall.  Yep, we waffled, but...

Tyler's the tiny dot just left of the rock buttress in the foreground.  The top was pretty drifted, and so we decided Tyler should ski it with a rope.  Nothing happened, and despite the flat light, we had a tremendous run.

 Looking back at our tracks--YAAARR!

The entire time following our run into Upper Maybird, we second guessed ourselves about bailing.  But as we continued down the drainage, it seemed we made the prudent call--it was probably OK, but, I figure, whatev... 

 A huge crown from Sunday night's natural avalanche cycle.  This one appeared to be about 4-5 feet deep!

Another crown from the same cycle, this one just to the north of the former.  Both slides occurred on Table Top, which, I believe, is the colloquial name for the top of Maybird apron.

Tyler and I opted to ski out the apron to the road; all that new, deep snow made the near-epic stream crossing all worth it!
The gang was back together for Day 4.  As we drove toward the canyons, several options for where to ski that day were suggested, but as we made our way to White Pine, the three of us notices two sets of tracks in the Y Couloir--a bummer, as we were hoping to nab first tracks, but a plus in that the motivated pair ahead of us that morning had already broken trail.  As we left Highway 210 for the streambed, another car pulled up and a group of four proceeded to follow us up the steep chute--not exactly the ideal situation for us, as any avalanche or debris, or even an errant ski or pole could potentially kill anyone who was below us.  Oh well.

 After the initial 400 or so vertical feet, much to our delight, we discovered that the pair who had beaten us to the punch that morning had only skied the last tiny bit.  The entire shot is nearly 3,200 vertical feet, and so, fortunately for us, we were destined for fresh snow, but only after we suffered through elbow-deep trailbreaking. 

 Andrea and Tyler follow the boot-track. This spot is less than halfway up, I think.  We still had some ways to go...

 Getting higher, but still not there.

The three of us agreed that the final 100 or so feet to the ridge would be too deep, and possibly too wind-loaded to justify climbing/skiing.  Here, Tyler readies himself as the gang of four who had brazenly followed us arrives; they turned out to be super-nice folks from Colorado, and despite our fears that they would snake us, the group thanked us for the track and graciously let us get first tracks...

 The view after the first 30 turns--still, something like 3k feet to go!

 Andrea less than halfway down.  And yes, the snow was that good!

 Andrea "rat-stabbing" her way down the Y.

 And more...

 Then, with about a thousand feet more to go, we ran into even more people booting the chute--despite us and the other four who had yet to start down!  We waited for the fastest three, then, with permission, skied past the last guy--who was dragging--and is just visible right of Tyler's pack.  Let the shit-show begin!

Tyler, always stylin'.

 A very foreshortened view of the mighty Y.  If you look closely or can zoom in on the image, the Coloradans are visible high in the chute.  We skied it from the top of the left fork, way at the top of the photo.

 Still PSYCHED to get more, we hopped into the car and after re-upping on PBRs at the 7-Eleven, drove into Big Cottonwood to ski the West Couloir of Kessler Peak.  To get there, we had to first skin up the Argenta slidepath, a great 3,200 vertical foot shot in its own right.

 Tyler brings up the rear.  There were still lines of untracked pow left in Argenta.

Tyler ascending the upper bowl.  After topping out on the ridge, the three of us decided to ski Argenta instead--the high winds and the late hour convinced us to call it on what turned out to be one huge day!
The remainder of the week saw even more snow fall on the Wasatch, and after a rest-day spent gorging ourselves at our favorite Indian lunch buffet and watching old episodes of NOVA from the library, we got after it again on Saturday--another 6k+ day, this time in Millcreek canyon, north of the Cottonwoods.  It was a good week.  YAAARR!