The Banana Chute, Mt Ogden - 36" is better than 11

It's not that our little trips up to Alta over the past few days weren't fun, it's just hard to consider sliding on grass/rocks skiing.  Driving up to Snowbasin Andy and I were optimistic we would find "real" snow.  The idea was to head up to Mt. Ogden and check out Ogden Chute.  

From the start we were pleased to find 2-3 feet of snow and the rare treat of undercast skies.  We raced up faster than comfortable with the hopes of skiing pink powder as the sun hit the upper slopes of Snowbasin.  Unfortunately we were a little slow and had to watch the pink fade to yellow before were out of the shade. We did manage to ski a short powder field with a bit of good yellow light though. 

Andy skinning

Round 1, photo by Andy

From there it was clear Ogden Chute was not even close to filled in.  Instead of forcing our way up it,  we decided to put a skinner up Mt. Allen. Looking from the summit to the NW, we found a nice little shot that has been on the list for a couple years.  Highly visible from I-15,  the Banana Chute runs from the top of Mt. Allen almost all the way to downtown Ogden.   Psyched with the idea of skiing something so aesthetic in October, we couldn't pass it up.  As expected, it was a little boney.  Patches a few hundred feet long were bottomless but just when you started feeling good, the rocks came out.  We skied until we were hitting too many rocks and then skinned our way back up Mt. Allen and headed out Snowbasin.   

Summit of Mt. Allen

Banana Chute

The ski out was enjoyable even though the E to S facing snow was already getting heavy and wet.  Although I'm tempted to go back on Saturday, the thought of more shallow, soon-to-be crusted snow might keep me away, maybe.

Exiting

Early Season Alta - Making do with 11"

While the mountains up north got as much as 42" of snow, LCC got a measly 11.  Not caring about our ski bases or our knees, Tom Goth and I headed up to Alta with hopes of finding a blown in Main Chute.  What we found was less than ideal but booting the rock lined chute with untracked snow all around us sure felt pretty good.  Soon...

Tom G mid way up Main Baldy Chute

From the ridge

A few rock filled turns

West Slabs - Am I in high school?

After getting out of the car at the West Slabs trailhead we popped the trunk and out stepped Jared.  The 37 year-old lawyer, father of 4, had ridden back there so we wouldn't have to take two cars. It felt like high school.  That set the tone for the day as Jared, Andy, Sam, Aaron, Uncle Roman, and I went for a casual stroll up Mt. Olympus via the West Slabs.  Chad Ambrose recently climbed to entire slabs, car to ridge in 46 mins.  That's fast.  Although we all would like to have a run at Chad's time, today was not the day.  After about a thousand pictures and 95 mins we hit the ridge. 

From there, we scrambled over to the true summit where, for some reason, a Bodybuilding Magazine style photo shoot broke out. Again, high school. Apologies to the one couple on the summit who had to witness it.  This certainly wasn't the view they were expecting.  

On the way down the pace picked up and eventually turned into a full on race to the car.  I haven't run that out of control down something in a long time but there's something about beating your friends that just brought it out.  For the record, Andy and Sam tied for the win.  We all felt pretty lucky to have so many great peaks within 10 mins of our doorsteps, especially Olympus. If you have the time, go do the West Slabs one more time before it turns into ski season. Every time I've gone it's been more fun than expected.  A few pictures...

The crew starting up

Andy a bit higher

A bit higher

Two of many

Uncle Roman and Aaron above the West Slabs

Aaron close to the N. Summit

An Asian celebration

Doubling Up On Salt Lake Twins - An FKT and a scramble up the Granite Half Pipe

The easiest way to "claim" an FKT is to head to a peak that has no KT's.  East Twin (11,330') just happend to be one of those peaks.  I did hear a rumor that a speedy CO guy ran up there for an easy run, took a few wrong turns and then went 1:32 to the summit so I guess there was a known time just no known time from a "hard effort." Still feeling a little flat from Lone I was pleased with the day.  32 mins to the lake, 1:15 to the saddle, 1:24:57 to the East Summit.  It will go much faster. 

It was a little breezy on top so I pulled a jacket from my bag and also, without knowing, threw my car key on the ground.  From there it was a casual jog back to the parking lot.  On the way out I ran into Adam who was willing to keep me company so we both headed down.  Once at my locked car I realized my mistake.  Luckily, Adam was there to taxi me around for the next hour or so.  After sorting out my mess Adam said, "you know you have to go back up there one day and find you key, right?"  I told him I'd go but it wouldn't be anytime soon...

Bad photo of the Granite Half pipe

Later that day Jared called and said he had been thinking about a scramble from Little up to Twins via a long low angle slab of granite that headed all the way from the road to the ridge.  He promised a guided trip up a "granite half pipe." Although I hadn't been too psyched to repeat a Broad's Fork ascent, this would be different. How could I say no?  

Jared guiding through the scrub oak

As I pulled off the freeway Friday morning at 6:30 it was still dark and it was raining.  I thought we had no chance of success without a miserable morning; all I wanted to do was go home.  Faced with a likely cold wet morning, all we could say was, "might as well go check it out."  After driving up the canyon the rain stopped so we kept "checking it out." A short, dark, hateful bushwhack had us standing on solid rock feeling pretty good.  The slab proved to be quick and easy and it led to a ridge which was a perfect combination of grassy patches and rocky scrambling all the way to the summit of West Twin.  To make the morning even better, while Jared was instagramming on the summit, it started snowing (way better than rain!) and, after a solid 5 seconds of looking I found my lost car key, right where I left it. From there we had a leisurely run out Broad's Fork and were home intime for lunch, a nap, and a little work.  As usual, "checking it out" was a lot better than going back to bed.

A sea of granite

Morning sun through the rain clouds 

One of the three steps we ran

Beautiful cross country travel

Heading towards West Twin

My key, as I found it

Coming down East Twin to the saddle

Lone Peak FKT - Sibling rivalry

Andy and I have been competing against each other for as long as I can remember.  Ever since our dad took us into the White Mountains of New Hampshire (1988?) we've been racing each other to the tops of peaks.  He beat me to our first summit, Mt. Lafayette.  I was only 6 at the time but for some reason I still remember the loss. Fast forward to high school and we were able to compete against each other for a couple years on the track.  We both ran the 400m and I got the win in our first race. For me, it was a proud moment. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that throughout the remainder of our high school careers he never let it happen again.  Since then, the competitions have just kept coming. I would like to think that having this little rivalry has made us both try a little harder. 

Recently, in that the same spirt of competition we've been racing to the tops of local peaks.  Since both of our schedules have been busy, many of these competitions have occurred in the time trial format.  A few weeks ago he went 1:51 to the summit of Lone Peak and put out a challenge to go give it a go.    

Summit ridge earlier this year

Saturday, Matt and I carpooled over to the Jacob's Ladder Trailhead, warmed up for a few minutes and headed out.  Route finding over the first few miles is relatively straight forward as all of the multiple trails end up funneling to the main, steep, tree lined trail.  From the top of the steepness, it's less clear.  Cairns are scattered all over.  I think I took a pretty good line until, in my haste, I lost the trail near the east side of the cirque.  Thinking the trail was just over a small series of ledges I started 4th classing it.  This quickly turned into 4th class +, and eventually looked like legit 5th class.  At this point, it seemed smarter to down-climb and find easier ground.  A quick down-climb followed by a little easy 4th class section popped me out right on track.  From there it was a few minutes to the summit ending with a total time of 1:40:50.  Matt also got a little lost but rolled onto the summit shortly after me.

Although I don't think 1:40 will be too hard to beat, I'm happy with the effort.  It certainly counted as one of my "workout" days for the week.  If nothing else, it will make my brother suffer again when he tries to go faster...

Summit time

Matt and I after our TT

Old Photos - Reminders of lessons learned

I've had a lot of down time infront of a computer lately and have been able to sort through a few old external hard drives.  So far I've looked through about half of the thousands of crappy pictures I've saved.  I might try and make it through the other half but for now, in no particular order, here are a few of my favorites.  I enjoy a lot of these as they are reminders of the epic failures I've had in the mountains.  Having climbed several of the routes that were so difficult at the time makes me appreciate how one can progress.  All it takes is a successful day once in a while to keep moral high and either a bad memory to forget the suffering or a twisted mind that allows you to appreciate it. 

Lars and I, first trip to the Tetons, 2004.  Apart from making all of us want to go back, this trip was a failure.  We slogged our way up to the Moraine campground with 70 lbs packs, froze for the night and then made it to the lower saddle before we bailed.  

Andy, with his arms up, celebrating a successful bail.  That's right, Lars is wearing jeans and sweater.

View from the summit of Mt. Athabasca, British Columbia. We climbed the very moderate Silver Horn.  This was possibly one of the prettiest mornings I've had.  

Athabasca

The site of our bivy during a winter attempt of the Grand.  We labored in the hideous snowshoes shown above all day and well into the night.  After I dropped my puffy off a climb and Andy lost an ice tool we decided to bivy. We went to bed cold and too frustrated to eat dinner.  I think we made it 100' above the valley floor.  Needless to say, we didn't summit. 

Moonrise over Snowpatch Spire, Bugaboo Provincial Park

Summit of Snowpatch, Bugaboo spire in the background

Every time I've been to the Bugaboos I've met great people.  This a some Spaniard we met on the Kraus-Mcarthy route on Snowpatch Spire and then hung out with for the next few days.  What a clown.

Apple Bee Campground

McTech Arete, Bugaboos. Classic.

Our old man has been telling us climbing stories since we were kids.  After retiring in the early 80's he started his second climbing career on the North-East Ridge of Bugaboo Spire.  

Tyler and Tanner, Oregon

Castle Valley

After driving from SLC to Cabo we figured we had to at least pretend to surf.  A few hours later we left the broken board at the rental shack and got the hell out.

Snowpatch Spire

Pigeon Spire

Rock Wars, Red River Gorge.  My first "5.10" trad lead.  I just watched a little video of that lead.  It was sketchy even though I thought I was being safe.  It's amazing I never got hurt...

East Ridge, Pigeon Spire.  5.4 and fantastic.

Adam from Mountainworks, on Touchstone wall.  He was our big wall mentor.  Unfortunately as a team we are 0-2 in Zion (Prodigal Son and Touchstone).  Although we failed miserably we learned many valuable lessons. The first and most important is that you don't need 200 lbs of supplies to climb a handful of pitches.  Turns out three full sized haul bags is a little overkill for Prodigal Son.

Andy on the crux pitch of Touchstone.  Our second wall attempt, our second bail.

First day backcountry skiing.  We rented some alpine skis and started walking up Timp.  Here Lars and Andy are wallowing in thigh deep powder in the middle of a HUGE slide path. Looking back this probably wasn't the safest day...

Looking Glass Rock and a sea of "eyebrows"

In summary:

1. Looking at my old pictures is likely more fun for me than anyone else.
2. British Columbia is amazing.
3. Hauling heavy bags sucks and is only recommended when necessary.
4. Snowshoes don't work well.
5. Learning climbing/avy safety can be dangerous even if you think you're being safe.
6. Meeting people while out and about can actually be enjoyable.