Expect the Unexpected

Driving down from Wyoming to Utah I could clearly see that snowfall south of Wyoming has not been the same as up north. Slowly, mile-by-mile my expectations of things to come were becoming more and more negative as I got closer to the yellow cloud covered city of Salt Lake and the temperature rose nearly 15 degrees.

I traveled to Salt Lake to do two major things: get a tux for a friend's wedding and get my car re-registered. It just so happened the Outdoor Retail Show was also going on at the same time (that I actually planned for as well) and thought I would show up and do my normal thing. I ended up seeing everyone I wanted to see and met some new people in the process while drooling over new gear.

I also had intentions of skiing in the state that I once called home bringing back some nostalgic memories. On Friday, Seth and I (a fellow Columbia #Omniten member) got up early and instead of going to the show, hit Little Cottonwood Canyon for a quick skin and boot pack up "Suicide Chute", a 35 degree chute just South of Mount Superior. I think the name is much scarier than the actual line but nonetheless is a Wasatch classic that you can read about in "The Chuting Gallery".


The morning's avalanche report had a "Low" rating and rightfully so with the warm temperatures and lack of new snow. We got up there around 11:00am started skinning and hit the base of the chute to see two people already in it. So we waited in a safe zone. Then waited some more. Then some more to realize that no one was coming down. Were they waiting for us and both of our groups were playing the conscientious game? After about 15 minutes of waiting for them to drop we started back up again, got to the top to see no one up there. They dropped the backside, contrarily named "Homocide".

Making my way up (Photo by : Seth Yates)

Playing the waiting game. (Photo by: Seth Yates)

The snow in Suicide was variable/unpredictable to say the least. It was good snow to drop onto though when considering the bombproof stability which makes things near stress free.

Skier Seth Yates skiing through and out the chute

The next day I took a day off, then the next headed over to a friend's house for enchiladas to plan a trip down to Provo to hit a chute on Buckley Mountain near Provo Peak. What started as a group of 4 became 6 when I got added on and so did a new friend, Eric. Not an ideal number.

At any rate, we headed to the trailhead around 7:00am from SLC and started hiking about 45 minutes after that. The trailhead starts at about 5400' in elevation and at such a low elevation, was covered with dirt. Not my idea of fun especially when everything is well enough covered with snow in Wyoming that it's skin in and skin out from car to car.

Snow coverage is bad at low elevations.

Provo Peak itself ends at about 11,000', giving us a solid day if we were to hit both Provo Peak and the Chute located on Buckley Mountain.

Provo peak center stage.

What we thought would be a quick jaunt up Provo Peak turned out to take a little longer than expected. We ended up bailing on the idea of the peak and going for just the chute instead. The day was hot. So hot that the snow stuck to our skins, glopping with every step that we took making it feel like there were small children clinging to our legs. Thankfully I had bought (and remembered to bring) my glop stopper for this very reason. I just never expected to use it, in January that should be renamed Junuary.

Taking us nearly 6.5 hours covering, in total ascent and descent, 11.5 miles, some of us were not too stoked considering we could of taken a more direct route. But hey, that's all part of the adventure or so we tell ourselves to keep ourselves sane.

Change in objective.

John breaking trail.

Reaching the top of Buckley Mountain, we looked down to see an incredible view of a inversion covered Provo. Besides the obvious inversion, the surrounding peaks located in Rock Canyon was a sight I have never seen before as I have never toured in the area. That was a valley that you could see for days.

Inversion over Provo

Logan and John taking in the view.

We started dropping one by one into the chute and when I dropped I couldn't believe it. The snow was not sun crusted or wind affected at all. Just blower. This little section of snow was heavily protected from the elements and it showed. I apologize to anyone looking to ski that, as it's probably pretty farmed after 6 of us dropped it.

Bucky getting a slash in. (Photo by Logan Julian)

Yours truly. (Photo by Logan Julian)

After getting back to the car, all of us smelling like we just went for a half marathon run (we were pretty close to it in mileage) we finished the day at the greatest Maverick ever. This would end my trip in Utah, making it all worth while: getting to see Utah friends and out-of-state friends, getting some sun and getting to shred some nice powder.

It just goes to show you, if you go into something with low expectations the only way to go is up. Unfortunately, sometimes those low expectations are actually met, but because Utah rarely if ever disappoints, this was not one of those times. So I guess sometimes you have to expect the unexpected.

I didn't learn anything this weekend.

The wrong way

Stats were compiled using the Suunto Ambit 2 S

Parting Photos:

Peeing with a view.