Bogley

[FirstTracks]

Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Pulling in the Wildcat parking lot at 10 am today looked like a midweek mid-winter day. There had to be 150-200 cars in the parking lot...the place was a madhouse!



Mt. Superior is already looking mighty white:


Tracks were already being laid everywhere. We had 10 people in our crew: Skidog, Bob Dangerous, Dale, Pat, Jon, Graz, Graz's friend Mars, Dale and Pat's son Brad, a friend of Brad's, and yours truly. Skinning up was a long lemming line.











We headed for the top of Wildcat.



Once regrouping there and deskinning the group split into two -- Bobby D, Dale, Pat and I headed down through Wildcat trees while the others opted to lap the upper face.











It was bottomless. Literally. Bob made the wisecrack, "This is more snow than Park City will see all winter!" Our first pitch was tracked up yet fluffy, but once we rounded the corner into Wildcat trees it was untracked the whole way to the parking lot. Amazing!! One heluva preseason day -- this ain't Rocktober. I hit only one minor rock on a traverse - I hit nothing while actually skiing.

1,300 feet of vert. I shot a helmet cam video the whole way, but regrettably the Oregon Scientific cam I'm trying really can't handle exposure on snow. Add that to the fact that I shot 3/4 of it rotated 90 degrees by mistake, and the fact that it was aimed too high, and regrettably I don't have any usable video footage to share. I've got to get a good lipstick cam for the DV camcorder.

Total strangers were exhanging high fives in the parking lot. Amazing.

[CarpeyBiggs]

:hail2thechief: :hail2thechief:

[FirstTracks]

CarpeyBiggs wrote: :hail2thechief: :hail2thechief:

:nod:

Graz just emailed me a few of his pics.

Yours truly skinning up from the base of Corkscrew. From here we got out of the guns via the Collins Road. Guns ended atop Corkscrew:



Skidog at the top of Wildcat:



Jon below the Wildcat ridgeline:

[stefan]

ahh the usual alta pawdy :2thumbs:

[FirstTracks]

Skidog from our group got lots and lots of face time in a Fox 13 story tonight - click here to view the video on Fox 13's website. Nobody expected a backcountry experience, and the crowd frankly made it rather festive. There was more than enough untracked to go around.

[Brian in SLC]

FirstTracks wrote: Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Better in October 2004, IMHO. One of the few times I put my rock skis away before November.

Pretty good skiing yesterday. Solid feeling base up high with around a foot of powder. Seemed to get some lake effect later in the day too, to keep it fresh.

Folks are chomping at the bit, to be sure. Not sure I've ever seen those kinda crowds before. BD swap was nuts, too, on Saturday.

High pressure parked for awhile. Hope it doesn't get too warm up there in the next couple of weeks.

Maybe this year we'll get a good mid to low elevation snow pack...

Ermines were out, and, haven't quite changed color all the way yet...cute little buggers.

Cheers,

-Brian in SLC

[stefan]

Brian in SLC wrote: FirstTracks wrote: Day 2: The best October turns of my life. Period.

Better in October 2004, IMHO. One of the few times I put my rock skis away before November.


oh yeah! that was epic. 122" from oct. 17-31, a chunk of which was dense snow forming a very nice base. halloween/nov 1 ... simply bliss

still have the avi report from halloween eve ...


Code: AVALANCHE INFORMATION
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004 7:30 PM          HAPPY HALLOWEEN
 
Good evening, this is Drew Hardesty with the Forest Service Utah Avalanche Center with your backcountry avalanche and mountain weather information.  Today is Sunday, October 31st, 2004, and it’s 7:30 pm.  We’ll be issuing afternoon bulletins for the next week on an almost daily basis.  The danger rating and information within this bulletin will expire Monday night by 6pm.  Don’t miss the annual Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center ski swap at REI on Saturday, November 6th.  Gear drop off will be on Thursday and Friday evenings.
 
Current Conditions:
This storm is pounding the mountains with a vengeance.  As of 5pm the upper Cottonwoods have picked up 25-30” of 7% smoke.  The Park City and Ogden mountains have about a foot with the Provo mountains about half of that.  In the Cottonwoods, it’s still dumping with another wave expected to add perhaps another 4-8” before it’s done.  Unbelievable.  The northwest winds have been less than 15mph and the temps were in the teens and twenties.  With the turning and riding conditions are epic, and I suspect that folks will be talking about this October for years.

Avalanche Conditions
With this much snow and some hourly snowfall rates exceeding 2”/hr, avalanches are the rule and not the exception.  The snow was exceedingly sensitive and both natural and human triggered avalanches ran on a variety of aspects above 9000’.   Most ran on Friday’s rime crust or within the new snow, averaging 12-18” deep but reportedly not propagating very far.  Typically, slope angles needed to approach 38-40 degrees to get things to run, and once they did, they would run fast and far, entraining a lot of snow along the way.  At least two skiers were caught and carried in separate incidents in upper Little Cottonwood with only bruised egos to show for it.   Slope cuts, cornice drops, and jumping on test slopes will tell you all you need to know for this type of hazard.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that there was one report of an avalanche that pulled down into old snow.  A cornice drop on a steep northeast facing slope in upper Little Cottonwood pulled out one of the ‘rogue’ wind slabs from last Thursday, producing a slide nearly 2’ deep and 50’ wide.  Clearly, another inch of water weight combined with the thump of a cornice drop was enough stress to initiate failure in a layer that hadn’t produced any slides for a few days.   
 
Remember, for the most part, the unopened ski areas are not doing control work, and are just as dangerous as the backcountry.   Alta will be closed to backcountry touring on Monday to do control work.
 
Bottom Line:
The avalanche danger for Monday will be MODERATE on slopes steeper than 35 degrees.  Human triggered avalanches will again be possible.   The danger will be more pronounced in the upper Cottonwoods because they received the most snowfall.  Tonight’s 10-20mph winds should be enough to deposit fresh wind drifts along the lee of ridgelines and steep breakovers that will be sensitive to the weight of a backcountry traveler.  If the winds exceed the forecasted speeds, the danger will rise rapidly.  Lastly, once the sun pokes through tomorrow, the danger of wet loose snow avalanches will also rise to MODERATE.   
 
Mountain Weather:
Lake effect snowfall should continue in earnest in the Cottonwoods through Monday morning.  Another 4-8” are possible.  The northwest winds are expected to become more northerly around midnight with ridgetop wind speeds expected to be 10-20mph.  8000’ highs will be in the upper twenties, with 10,000’ highs in the low teens.  We’ll get a break for a few days before the next storm, slated to arrive on Wednesday.

[Brian in SLC]

stefan wrote: AVALANCHE INFORMATION
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2004 7:30 PM Current Conditions:
This storm is pounding the mountains with a vengeance. As of 5pm the upper Cottonwoods have picked up 25-30” of 7% smoke. The Park City and Ogden mountains have about a foot with the Provo mountains about half of that. In the Cottonwoods, it’s still dumping with another wave expected to add perhaps another 4-8” before it’s done. Unbelievable. The northwest winds have been less than 15mph and the temps were in the teens and twenties. With the turning and riding conditions are epic, and I suspect that folks will be talking about this October for years.

Nice go back!

Yeah, the 04/05 and 05/06 ski seasons were pretty darn good.

I moved here in '85, so, can't speak for anything prior to that (83/84 musta been huge though, based on folks kayaking down State street)...but...I seem to dimly recall late sept/early oct of either 85 or 86 was really good too.

Bet the cap'n remembers this stuff. I'll have to dig up my old calendars (where I record my ski daze).

Cheers!

-Brian in SLC

[stefan]

Brian in SLC wrote:

I moved here in '85, so, can't speak for anything prior to that (83/84 musta been huge though, based on folks kayaking down State street)


well, i remember it, but i was a wee lad of 8 years of age. i skied most fridays and saturdays that winter, and have very fond memories. that's the kinda year people remember as "it was always snowing." yeah 83-84 and 94-95 are the two biggest on record. course i wonder if 83-84 is larger due to discrepancies from the updated measurement system.

although the flooding on state street was spring '83 rather than '84. though for years i got that confused.

bdc wrote:
...but...I seem to dimly recall late sept/early oct of either 85 or 86 was really good too.


here are some alta DOT totals (course different from collins plot)

totals are Nov-April (not full year snow totals)
81-82 - 696"
82-83 - 637"
83-84 - 743"
84-85 - 457"
85-86 - 599"
86-87 - 381"


bdc wrote:
Bet the cap'n remembers this stuff. I'll have to dig up my old calendars (where I record my ski daze).


yes, i'd enjoy hearing tales of the days of yore.

[stefan]

Brian in SLC wrote:
I moved here in '85, so, can't speak for anything prior to that (83/84 musta been huge though, based on folks kayaking down State street)...but...I seem to dimly recall late sept/early oct of either 85 or 86 was really good too.



you're prolly talking about this storm

Quote:
SEPTEMBER 22-26, 1986 - Cold moist air collided with warm moist air from the remnants of Tropical Storm Madeline to give Utah a taste of winter-like weather. Some valley locations received up to 3.00" of water from the storm, while up to three feet of snow fell over the higher mountains.


powder mountain opened oct. 1 (for night skiing)

[Summit42]

Very nice TR and pics :2thumbs:

I am somewhat stoked for the season .. I really need to make up for last years injury and it really sucks that I need new ski boots.... :frustrated:

[Sombeech]

Excellent write up and pics. Much appreciated. :cool2:

Keep 'em coming! We've got the best snow on earth, and not enough Trip Reports!

[FirstTracks]

Sombeech wrote: Excellent write up and pics. Much appreciated. :cool2:

Keep 'em coming! We've got the best snow on earth, and not enough Trip Reports!

TY. I promise to do my part to change that this winter. I posted 75 trip reports last year to our own FTO forums, and I'm already x-posting them to our new US&S, so what's one more x-post? :haha: I like what you folks are doing over here and will do my best to patronize it.

[stefan]

FirstTracks wrote: so what's one more x-post? :haha: I like what you folks are doing over here and will do my best to patronize it.

great ... keep 'em coming :2thumbs:

[accadacca]

Stoked to see these pictures. I was caught in whiteout conditions driving home from Moab on Saturday night. :snowcloud: