Report from December 16, 2023

The plan today was to ski the south face of Mt. Superior, UT.

I’d been trying to ski it for a few days but it didn’t quite line up.

So today, I paid the $25 to park in LCC for backcountry skiing and headed up at about 8am.

The snow was so gross on the hike up to Cardiff Pass.

Refrozen turds…

On the pass, I used ski crampons and it was a mess.

Once I got on the shoulder of Little Superior I asked myself:

“What the hell are you doing? Is this all for ego? Is this because you are antsy from no new snow?  Is this because you just wanna get a shot?”

It was a bit of all of that…

Across the way, I saw endless fields of untouched powder.

I quickly made the switch.

I ripped off my skins, dropped into beautiful, cold, dark, powder, and started up into the sunshine.

I was instantly in a better mood.

The scary feelings of Superior melted away…

This was a zone I’d never skied before.

The skinner up was surprisingly hot.

I was so hot up on the ridge that I didn’t feel good.

The bootpack up to the top of the ridge-peak was a helluva lot harder than I thought it would be.

There was a folding camp chair on the summit 🙂

I met Brad and Colton on top and they were cool.

I found a spicy little entrance with a mini-mandatory air and went for it with full faith that the snow right after the air would be good.

Immediately after I landed the air, the snow wasn’t good…

Fortunately, it turned good about 30′ later and saved me.

I arched the biggest, fastest, funnest turns I could all the way down to the valley floor.

I was happy.

I’d been anxious about Superior and the icy, melt-freeze setup since the previous day.

Flying low over blissful powder was a much better call.

And I learned a lot.

I know have some fun ideas of neat stuff to ski the rest of the week.

The Wasatch is a much more open place when the avalanche danger is rated “Low.”

Today:

• 5.8-miles
• 3,700-vertical-feet
• I did not see any signs of avalanche instability but the guys I met were sent a photo of an avalanche that had occurred just to our north on the same ridgeline – the slide happened on a steep, unsupported rock slab – maybe from the heat of the day?  I can’t confirm that the avalanche happened today.  The crown appeared to be 2′ deep or more.

Avalanche Forecast

Weather Forecast

Photos