Another solo ride on my break while working at Snowbird. This is what split shifts are all about: SplitBoarding!

On my work break from 12-3 pm I made my way up Mt. Superior to do a little pow slashing! When I made it to the road at the bottom I hopped on a bus up to my car, made it back to work with time to spare. This definitely makes driving up the canyon to work worth while.

Mt.Superior

Some photos and video of my 1st trip to the “beast” with friends Alex Gavic, Phil Parrish and Abe Dintaman

This was my “recon” photo. I like to get an idea of the line I want to ride, then take a photo of it to use as a reference when I get near the top. In this case I was looking at multiple lines down the middle of the mountain near the top then making my way lookers right for an exit.

 Making our way up to the main ridge line while looking at Flagstaff Ridge.

Another “recon” shot. After making it to the ridge and traversing past Flagstaff, Mt. Superior came into view. I snapped this as I noticed a pocket of powder about 3/4 of the way up the west ridge. The conditions on this day are known as ‘sh!t-f&ck conditions’. AKA sun-baked and icey-chunder. It was the first time in a long time that the avy conditions were low danger. The thought of having an actual powder turn 2 weeks after the last storm was driving me wild.  As you can see we still had a long ways to go!

Abe chillin’ on the ridge. We’re gaining in elevation. Such a beautiful feeling!

Photo Credit: Phil Parrish

As the elevation got higher the risk became a bit greater. This is one of the toughest sections of the climb. A true no fall zone….

Nearing the top, Cardiac Bowl comes into view. This is definitely  a “recon” photo. I will be back for this!

Looking east from the top!

Standing at the top looking west at Monte Cristo and the SLC valley way back there in the sad smog.

Check out this quick video of what it’s like to hike a ridge 3,000FT off the base of the canyon.

The rest of the line wasn’t worth including in the video. ICE, chunder and more ICE. Great for experience. Not so great for video!

After 5 hours , 9 miles and 3,000 FT elevation change it feels great to be down.  I had an excellent time. I highly recommend the journey to anyone with the skills. Time to celebrate!!!

]]> http://spreadstoke.com/snow/mt-superior-utah-lcc-feb-2014/feed/ 1 http://spreadstoke.com/snow/skiing-mt-superior-utah-jan-2014/ http://spreadstoke.com/snow/skiing-mt-superior-utah-jan-2014/#comments Fri, 24 Jan 2014 19:16:57 +0000 http://spreadstoke.com/?p=1336 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!]]>

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!