First ski of the 17/18 season

Went back to the Timpanogos snowfield and it held quite a bit more snow than a couple of weeks ago. That snowfield is how I get September skiing in in Utah but you gotta want it pretty bad! One, the skiing is good, not great but good. Two, you have to be your own pack mule carrying a bit over 40 lbs for 3,500 feet and some before you start skinning. Then you have to gain another 1,000 feet before you get your first turn in! However, if you’re into that kind of thing, this is the place for you. I was solo so no pictures of me skiing but you do get to see me at the Emerald Lake Shelter (base of the snowfield) with my impossibly heavy pack.

I was planning on a few laps but I only got one run in before Loki (my dog) got hurt with a pretty impressive gash on his left forward leg (see picture below). Now I had to book it down asap to make it to the vet before they close for the day. I had to drop those 3,500 feet and six miles half-running (best I could do) with that heinous load on my back. I made it to the vet in Park City with about 6 min. to spare. Thankfully White Pine Veterinary Clinic puts the dog first so they were willing to do the overtime for Loki.

Here are yesterday's pictures:

Aspen Grove parking lot when I
was still excited about the load.

Hidden Lakes Cirque is now mostly white.

Yours truly not a little self-satisfied and getting that load to the
Emerald Lake shelter. Foto credit: Wade from Mississippi.

The snowfield has improved a lot in the last two weeks...

...especially the higher part to the Saddle.

Loki standing right in the way.
That's before he got hurt (see below).

Although this was my first ski I did not have to break trail.

This is after the first lap. Loki "caught an edge" and
the "rescue mission" was in full swing.

The "before" pictures: Same place - 11 years ago

These pictures are from September 30, 2006, when I went up with my son, Nico (he was just 14 at the time):

Nico ready for a bright and early start!

Pretty good cover in the higher cirque.

Nico and I toiling up the interminable snowfield.
That day was a lot sunnier than yesterday.

Finally on top with a fairly long ski ahead of us...

...and finally the reward!

The Mt Timpanogos Snowfield is Back!

This used to be presented as a “permanent” snowfield in reaction to more ambitious word choices such as “the Timpanogos glacier” that you can find here and there in the literature (not naming any names here…). That snowfield was proven un-permanent when it vanished some years ago, and up until and including last summer, there wasn’t a flake of snow on that field, only desolate rock.

Having been up that mountain a lot of times, I have noticed, in seasons past, that even one good storm can produce surprising amounts of snow and a reasonably good snow cover. Considering further that last winter produced a copious amount of snow, and it just snowed up there yesterday afternoon and parts of the night, I figured a visual inspection may be in order. Although quite curious, I was not overly optimistic thinking it would take quite a few seasons to rebuild a thing like that. Well, I got to find out that that snowfield is very substantially back! It is close to the shape it was in when I last skied it. One or two more decent seasons and this thing may start feeling a lot more permanent again… While waiting for that, the short term is very encouraging as can be seen in this NOAA forecast for this week at 10,300’ (bottom of the snowfield):

The graphics for this forecast only goes till Thursday night. After that,
the text version says "Chance of snow" from Friday till Sunday included.

The snowfield, when full, starts by the Emerald Lake Shelter at about 10,300’. It is encased by a triangular cirque with the following boundaries: at its west the Mt Timpanogos summit (11,748’), at its east the Mt Timpanogos shoulder (11,161’), and at its southernmost point the saddle where you start skiing (11,300’). The map below shows the Saddle and the Shoulder, materialized by the dashed line is the best ski line i.e. the one with the least double fall line.

…and here are today’s pictures (click to enlarge):

First impressions are everything! This is the view that opens up
about an hour into the hike up.

Same view but including Primrose Cirque which
holds some of its own snowfields.

"The Timp Glacier" in all its splendor and at about 90% of the best
I ever saw it.

Closing in on the upper part of the snowfield. The very top
 is why it's not at 100% as the first 100 or so feet need more snow.

A couple of guys came up from the Timponeke trail with their skis. This one
is booting up with skis on the backpack.

Partial view of Emerald Lake as seen from the shelter.

First snow on the forecast!

This week we get our first snow forecast of the year. On September 12 that is not so shabby. This must obviously mean an epic winter coming our way - without a shadow of any doubt at all!

This is the Park City forecast at 9,400' elevation...

...and this is the Alta forecast at 9,400' elevation.