As I drove from Golden through heavy fog on I-70 in the dark morning hours, I was expecting snow up high. Instead, I was amazed as I drove out of the thick fog. As I looked toward the sky, my eyes squinted hard. Were those stars up there? Indeed they were. And the sky was emerging blue as I met up with Mark in Bakerville and we made our way up to the trailhead. We were able to drive all the way to the summer parking where we began our hike.

We hiked with happy faces up the valley- happy to have been blessed with perfect weather, happy to have fresh snow on the ground, and happy to be able to skin up the trail instead of bootpack. Luck was surrounding us!

Gray’s was looking caked, and our friend Andy (as I found out later) was breaking the skin track up the face.

Mark skinning.

As we watched other skiers and climbers made their way up the valley, they all headed toward Gray’s. Mark and I were the first to summit Torrey’s that day, and no one was quick to follow.

A view of Evans and Bierstadt.

On the summit!

While powder surrounded us, the new snow had warmed quickly on Dead Dog since it faces east. Playing it on the conservative side, we skied down the ridge to the lower entrance rather than dropping in right off the summit. Mark dropped in first.

Though heavy, the snow was pretty good

A few shots of me.

Mark skiing the apron.

A better look at Dead Dog from afar.

After skiing Dead Dog, we ended up in a depression. In order to follow snow, we skinned our way up a couple hundred feet, making it so we could follow ski following the drainage.

We were able to ski to about 1/4 of a mile from the car! Not bad for mid-May in a poor snow year!

But, as we made our way out the valley, clouds began to surround Torreys and the other high peaks. We finished our perfect blue-bird day with snow falling all around us. What a fitting finale to our unbelievably fantastic day!

King Solomon was the goal. To make our lives easier, we set up a shuttle between Little Giant and Cunningham basins and began following the road up toward our goal. The light is always beautiful in the morning.

The road walk was largely dry, with patches of snow.

The snow was still holding well up high!

There were mining ruins everywhere.

We found ourselves ascending a southwest-facing grassy slope out of the Little Giant basin to reach the summit of King Solomon.

And though we thought we were on a pretty cool line, we were reminded of larger, tougher peaks to our south- the Needles.

Me, checking out the entrance to our line.

As we checked out the snow, we realized that our north-facing line was still rather frozen. So, we waited. And waited some more. We spent over an hour at the summit, waiting for the line to soften.

Jarrett dropped in first.

As it turns out, the snow was pretty good

Frank.

Me.

After skiing the steep upper part of the line, we still had a ways to go. We continued following the drainage downward.

The snow kept getting thinner and thinner.

Some parts were like this.

And there was some of this.

But, there were only a couple of willow bashing episodes and then the rest of the gully was free and clear.

Of course it ended with a nice cold stream crossing.

But all and all, it was a fantastic day.

A look bad at the day’s line.

Thanks Jarrett for showing us the goods- some of the best skiing we’ve had all season!

On Saturday we set our initial sites on Axtell. Being the day after a storm that came in with a lot of wind, we decided to try to stay below treeline. As we drove out the Kebler Pass road, we quickly realized that the snow-bridge that had given skiers easy access to Axtell the week before was now melted. This doesn’t mean Axtell is impossible to ski. But, it certainly makes it harder to access- more difficult than we wanted to deal with for something like Axtell. So, we decided on a back-up plan– to “backcountry ski” at ski area we would go.

A fox was there to greet us.

Frank wished the T-bar was still running.

The scenery was beatified with a touch of the new snow.

A look up the Gothic Road / East River Valley shows that the valley is quite dry. In fact, after skiing, we decided to check it out and could drive all the way to the closure at the East River crossing about a mile outside of Gothic.

To the Headwall!

Although slabby from the wind, we still enjoyed the Headwall ski. Frank.

Me.

A look back at our tracks.

Lower down the turns were even better.

Big track, little track

A few days later, I headed up to the same area for an after work solo ski. Here’s a couple of shots from ski day 112.

I like corn

With 112 days in the bag, I’m still in good shape to try to achieve my goal of 120 ski days. With my full-time job, this takes some work. Even more work in this bad snow year we are having. Still, I have hope and a goal. And I think I can get there if I continue to try Who cares if they all think I’m crazy. I’ve never really been normal anyway. Most of all, I’m still having fun!

Now’s the time to buy your ski gear for next year. That’s what I did, here, at Altrec. Please help support 14erskiers by clicking on the link below. Thanks!

On the road we saw evidence that the bears were awake, and likely starving after a long winter of torpor and little food to eat in the area.

The Headwall was looking pretty good!

But there was still lots of brown in the lower elevations.

We enjoyed the evening sun near the peak.

And the views were spectacular in the waning light.

Happy to be here!

Frank, ready to go on the upper entrance.

Me.

The smile says it all:)

Frank left a cloud of snow behind him.

The Headwall skied so well that we decided to make our way over to the Tower 11 chutes.

Frank.

Me.

I don’t think I’ve skied the Headwall in better conditions this year. With a full lap taking easily less than 2 hours, it’s well worth the effort, especially as an after work outing. Let’s hope that Mother Nature still has some spring snow in store for us

We made our way up to Catherine’s Pass, enjoying the occasional views the spotty squalls allowed us to see along the way. Me with Superior in the background.

Along the way most of us suffered from glopping skins. But, it was me who definitely suffered the worst. I decided to stop short of our goal, Sunset Peak, opting to ski off Rocky Point instead, while the rest of the crew continued upward. I hoped that giving my skins a bit of time to dry would be the glopping cure.

Frank, Josh, Jen and Jonathan making their way to Sunset Peak.

After the group reached the summit, they watched me ski my line.

On top of Sunshine, Josh got first tracks.

The rest of the gang on top.

Jonathan.

Frank.

Jen.

By the time we re-grouped, my skins we cured of the glop. Woohoo! So, we headed up and over Catherine’s Pass to Tuscarora and over to Wolverine.

In Wolverine, we found some steep and fun lines. Me dropping in to Zoot Chute and the clouds.

Jonathan, who also skied Zoot Chute.

The rest of the group skied Bronco Couloir. Jen.

Looking back at Wolverine.

We found some good turns lower down too. Jen.

Jonathan.

Frank.

We then skinned our way up to Twin Lakes Pass where we followed Grizzly Gulch back to the parking lot.

It was a fun day out for sure, but at the same time, I found it amusing that we could not get out of the site of a chairlift, unless we were engulfed by the clouds. I pondered at how different the typical Wasatch backountry tour is compared to touring in Crested Butte. In Crested Butte, our touring almost always takes us far from the ski area, often using snowmobiles for access. Except for a few select hot spots, it’s likely that we won’t see anyone else out skiing, or if we do, it’s not very many people. Fresh tracks are not hard to find. Yet, on our Wasatch tour, we saw a train of people. Almost every line had already been skied, in our zone and across the valley. And, from what I hear, that’s typical with the standard Wasatch places.

The plethora of people touring in a small area and the constant view of “civilization” got me thinking. Utah backcountry can be dangerous. And what makes it dangerous is the the number of people and easy access to ski areas. It’s easy to get caught by heuristic traps- “I can go solo because there will always be someone out there”, “If we don’t ski this now, somebody else will soon”, “Not to worry, if something happens, we are close to the ski area and ski patrol can help.” All of these are dangerous thought processes. I’m not saying that everyone gets caught in this mindset. But, I know I found some of these very thoughts popping up into my head. Does that mean easy backcountry and slackcountry are more dangerous than more remote backcountry? Do thoughts like these force people into terrain that that should not ski? I don’t know. That’s a discussion for our readers…

After our Grand Teton attempt, clouds moved in and unstable weather surrounded the region. While we had hopes of hitting more great Teton lines, it was clear that the weather was not going to cooperate. Rather than fight it, we joined it. We decided to chase the powder. We stopped for an afternoon ski at Grand Targhee which had 5+ inches of fresh.

A view looking back toward Driggs.

There were plenty of fresh tracks left, especially on the Sacajawea chair. So, there we went.

Frank.

Josh.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We began early, snowmobiling up Washington Gulch, and skinning up this southeast-facing bowl.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the ridge, which we followed to the true summit. Lots of cool looking frost hoar decorated the ridge along the way.

Just past the summit, we found a dogleg couloir that emptied into the eastern basin. But due to an overhanging cornice and some funky snow conditions, the entrance was tricky. We decided to save it for another time. But, Frank kept checking it out anyway

We followed the ridge to an easy entrance into the east facing bowl.

Frank dropped in first.

Jim.

Me.

After skiing the eastern bowl, we traversed skiers right toward an eastern ridge. I got this photo of the couloirs that empty into the eastern bowl. The one we had in mind is the obvious dogleg on the right.

We booted up to the ridge.

And then we kept going.

And going.

And going, until we were near the summit again. This time, we veered south, intending to ski the south facing bowl.

The south face had some good snow to offer. Me.

Frank.

Catching some air.

Jim.

As we loaded up the snowmobiles to return to the trail head, I took time to pause. With snow conditions rapidly deteriorating, portions of dirt road being exposed, creeks running wet, and an out-of-town trip planned for the following week, I realized that there was a good chance this would be the last time I use my snowmobile this year. Spring has sprung early and March skied more like May. For that reason, I kept calling it the month of “Mayrch”. Still, there IS snow and when there is snow there IS skiing. I’ll be skiing until I can’t anymore

So, I began this season once again with the goal of skiing 120 days. With my part-time schedule at the school, I have had a bit more free time this year and I’ve been able to ski 5 days a week on average. A month ago it seemed like accomplishing the goal wouldn’t be a problem, but the continual lack of snow since the beginning of March has put a damper in my plans.

That being said, yesterday I skinned up the mountain after work, a regular routine for me these days, and skied for my 94th day of the season.

The sunset was beautiful.

As I returned to the base, I caught this picture with both the mountain and the rising moon.

Though the snow is dwindling, I still hope to ski 120 days this season. In fact, it’s strange to say, but as this goal continues to seem more and more difficult, the more and more I actually want to accomplish it. Some potential out-of-state trips are in the plan and will hopefully help me in reaching the ski days I desire. But, only time will tell. For those of you on your bikes and over winter, I’m still hoping for snow. I’m just waiting for that big spring storm that will change the season

Me, skinning up the south-east facing ridge.

As we rounded up to the top, we realized we still had time, and decided to drop in on the west side. But, first we enjoyed a few fun turns on the ridge.

Frank enjoying the recycled pow.

Frank admiring his tracks.

Lower down.

Me.

We then followed a ridge back up to the top once again.

We then skied the bowl on the south side. Frank.

Me.

Despite the lack of snow in the month of March, we found good conditions- from recycled pow to corn. Another great day out!

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As it turns out, we found some good snow! Kim.

Jarrett.

Sydney.

Frank.

Me.

In spite of a snowmobiling mishap that took place post-skiing which resulted in a slightly damaged snowmobile and a pain in my chest that still has me wondering if I broke a rib, the day’s turns were worth the effort. North faces seem to be holding up surprisingly well in this hot dry spell we are experiencing. Still, the snow pack on northern aspects remains hollow and full of facets, so choose your lines wisely.

For those of you ditching the planks for the pedals, I’ve got news for you. It’s still ski season, and the skiing is still pretty good!