Thanks Giving Snow in the Wasatch

This time of the season most skiers manically watch the weather forecasts in a mix of anticipation and anxiety at what the upcoming season may (or may not) be. Here in the Wasatch, we know that anything can go, from hardly enough snow to properly ski the backcountry to epic winters where pretty much every ski day is a powder day. That's a big range. Hence the mix of anticipation and anxiety...

So, it is quite the relief to see that the NOAA mountain forecast, as it stands right now, at 9,400' in Little Cottonwood Canyon (near to Alta) is really amazing. Here is the data (click to enlarge):

A snow forecast is rarely looking much better than this!

One of my favorite things to do on a good forecast:
Go down the days and add up all the minimums and
maximums expected an add them all up. Here we are
looking at 2 - 4 feet in three days! And we are still
only in November!

Boa at The Canyons

A couple of days ago, from the Murdock side of things, I saw that Boa had a compelling white cover, to see those pictures click here and scroll down to the last two pics. Now, from a distance, snow covers often look a heck of a lot better than up close. So, before I lug my skis all the way up there, I figured I invest in a hike and check it out up close. I hiked up under the lift and walked down Boa. And sure enough, it was a mixed bag. Although some parts were 1.5 feet deep others had very little snow. I decided to wait to ski it till next snowfall which hopefully is no more than a week or two out. Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

Had to take this one from the very bottom at a little past 7.

On Upper Boa: I obviously got beaten to it.

Looking up its clear that in this season aspect is everything.

Looking down towards Lower Boa.

This is where you end up if you ski down Renny's Ridge,
the white stuff at the very top.

Not all that bad but the snow is in pretty bad shape so
another shot of snow is required to make this fun.

Wasatch - Murdock Peak and Surrounding Ski terrain

Today I went to Murdock Peak to check out the snow situation on those slopes as well as North Bowl and surrounding areas. I found a bit more snow than expected. At the bottom of North Bowl and Todd's Bowls, there was about a foot - foot and a half on the north-facing. On the South Facing, on the other hand, mostly on or about zero snow. The "base" we now have on the north-facing is facetted and promises a long presence of the feared Wasatch deep-buried instability for months to come. In any case, here are a few pictures (click to enlarge):

Jupiter's West Face and, to the left, East Face needs a fair amount of
 more snow before being of any sort of use. 

Little Water Peak in Mill Creek is looking like it's on its way.

Cardiac Bowl is pretty well filled in as well as the Cardiac Shutes.

North Bowl holds about a foot - foot and a half in the
shaded areas. Below is the North Bowl ski-out.

Loki in the foreground and Canyons Resort's Upper Boa to the left...

...and Lower Boa.

Skiing the Timpanogos Snowfield

A couple of weeks ago I had a decent ski day under pretty horrendous conditions. I got myself to the Aspen Grove trailhead (for above Sundance and started working my way up with skis and ski boots on my pack (for directions click here). Temperatures were in the low teens when I started walking at 7am and it was snowing a fair amount. The forecast said it would end at about 10 - 11am, so I figured by the time I actually ski I would have a shot at some visibility and views. It is not the first time I do this but probably the gnarliest yet in terms of conditions. The higher I got the, less visibility and by the time I got off the mountain at a little before 4pm, although it had subsided a lot, it was still snowing. The pictures were not too many nor too great but here goes (click to enlarge):

What the load looks like for the first three hours or so.

Nothing like a rock shelter for this mega transition involving first getting
out of the hiking boots, into the ski boots, and only then are we back into
the regular transition effort....

When switching from hiking to skinning, the hiking
boots replace the ski boots on the pack. Here the hiking
boots are strapped into the compression straps.

Up here its winter on Timp and Loki is loving it!

A short break in the snow gave this opportunity for a shot at the cabin.

On the way back down: One the waterfalls...

...and another one just below.

This is a testament to why one should tread on Timpanogos in winter
only with the utmost respect (this is less than 30 min from the trailhead).

These pictures were taken a few years back on a beautiful September day. This was probably my most pleasant outing to Timpanogos of them all.

Booting up...

...skiing down and be lucky enough to stumble into a pro photographer
 on the way up. He took both these shots.