New Year at Maybird Gulch

For this New Year tour Eric, Mike, Richard, Scooter and I went from the White Pine trailhead to Maybird Gulch. Considering our very thin snowpack we went in with very low expectations as far as any quality skiing is concerned and we were just planning on a longish workout tour. Once in Maybird we got a vivid reminder of the low density facet layer at the bottom of our snowpack: A deep and powerful collapse at about 10,200 on the flat and thankfully far from any steep slopes. This happened in an area where Mike and I had established our “base camp” a few years back. After clomping around till the Small Pass we decided to try some low angle runs below the Hogum Divide and into the central part of the gulch. To our surprise we found some really fun powder and a great ski on a legit snow cover! We did a few laps on this good stuff and then had a lot more excellent skiing on the ski-out. All in all a fantastic way to bring in 2014.

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

From left to right: Mike, Richard, Scooter and Eric.

Hogum Divide. With a higher resolution one of my favorite
 spots in the Wasatch, the Obelisk, would be visible here.

In the background, the majestic Pfeifferhorn. In the foreground
a reminder that Richard is part of nature too...

Safety in low angle.

Mike and Eric on their second lap.