As we all dream about those blower pow days, we start to lose our mind dealing with this horrendous inversion and high-pressure system in Utah.   If you spend too much time in the valley, you probably have acquired the tasty inversion plague that I have wonderfully become accustom to.  I mean, come on Utah, we are DUE for some snow and clean air!

Photos: You’ll see a few shots of Cardiac Ridge that look over to the Big Cottonwood side of things.  The rest are on our trek up to the summit.

Myself and a few buddies decided to hell with the snow conditions and bad air, let’s go for a hike.  Where to go?  We checked the bucket list…. Mt. Superior it is.  We’ve all stared and drooled over this majestic peak while drinking beers on the patio at Goldminer’s Daughter, Alta, but had yet to conquer it.  Let’s be honest, the skiing and snow conditions were not desirable, but the weather was great and the avy danger safe.

We were at the trailhead at 5:50am geared up and ready to rock.  Headlamps beaming, we began our skin up following the telephone pole line to the ridge.  This was the easy part.  As the sunrise peaked over the silhouette of the mountains, we had arrived at the ridge where it was time to de-skin and boot pack…. for 2 to 3 hours (we like to take it slow and steady ha). Boy am I glad I have some touring specific boots with a full Vibram rubber sole.  This boot pack, at times, was a bit hairy with slippery rocks and steep drops on either side of you.  Yes, mother, we had our helmets on!  Regardless of the long trek up to the summit, we were determined to make it to the top and check Mt. Superior off the bucket list.

About 4 to 4.5 hours later, we had arrived.  They say it’s one of the best views in the Wasatch and that’s no lie.  At 11,132 feet, it’s hard to beat. We soaked up the view for 20 minutes or so, snacked on some munchies, and geared up for the crunchy ski down.  Like I said earlier, the ski conditions were not ideal at all.  One, two, three turns of nice soft snow and IMMEDIATELY into teeth-chattering sun crust.  We expected this.  Slow and steadily we picked our way down the 3,000 foot vertical drop. 5 hours round trip we had made it safely to the car STOKED on our mission accomplished!

Imagine the south face of Superior  full of soft powder… we now have the route dialed and are ready to shred the living shit out of it next time.  On your bucket list or not, every Utard should take the opportunity to ski off this peak before they die.

Praying, praying, praying to the snow gods and thanking them for a wonderful morning of backcountry skiing regardless of the snow conditions!

I found this fellow stokebird the other day at Snowbird. After seeing several old time stokers like this guy over the years (let’s call him Bert), I finally realized how spoiled we are this day in age. Powder skis, phenomenal outerwear, goggles of optical delight, 21st century steez factor, high performance boots, just to name a few. Spoiled? Bert would probably laugh in my face. Has the snow changed in quality since he started skiing? Probably not.  Has the gear changed? Compare your skis to his and the easy answer is yes.

This guy may have seen or heard of Gore-tex, powder skis, 4 buckle boots, beanies, helmets (!), goggles, etc., but that hasn’t changed his mindset on style when hitting the slopes. Rear entry boots buckled up, neon yellow straight boards (I’d say at least 195cm+), old school onesie, sunglasses, and no beanie, this guy gets ready to load the tram with no fear nor shame. I wouldn’t put it past him, there’s probably a flask of peppermint Schnapps tucked into that onesie too.

How much money did you spend on your setup this year?  I can guarantee Bert’s was capped off around $300 way back when he purchased it from a local shop.  Mine retail value? Meh, roughly $1500 for boots, bindings, and skis (No, I did not pay full price ).

Nowadays we have options galore– techy or stylish, powder boards or all-mountain carvers, avalanche airbags… You get the point. Do you think we will ever convert Bert’s generation of stokebirds over to the new trends and gear? Could we convince him wearing goggles and a helmet is actually cool? Who knows? Only time will tell.

Merry Fackin Christmas ya’ll!! Stay safe and pray for MORE snow!

First preseason tour at Alta, UT.  I’m the closet person to the camera along with a friend Mike just above me.  You can see Mt. Baldy in the distance.  We skinned up just below Baldy Shoulder.  Although there’s early season snow pack, we still managed to get some face shots as we gingerly skied down avoiding any rocks in sight. POW POW POW!

The video (Sunn, Pat, and I) and first three photos are of me climbing at Ambush in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  This is a sick spot.  You can find two 5.8s and one 5.9 at the lower wall.  Here I am absolutely crushing the 9 with style!  My buddy is on another rope next to me using a grigri suspended halfway up the wall.  Thank you Sunn for the sick shot!  Sunn put together a short video of our day as well.  Check it out above if you haven’t already.

The next two photos are of myself on the wall just above the spot pictured above at Ambush.  Here you can find a few 5.10s and an 11.  Don’t they tell you to keep your feet on the wall?  Yeah… about that.  Thought this photo was full of stokage anyways.

Here’s a sweet photo of me belaying at a spot near the Dog Lake Trailhead in BCC.  Check out the beaut of a color combination!  Utah fall at its finest.